Pioneering Merit Badge
Pioneering
Merit Badge
Boy Scouts of America Merit Badge Hub
Boy Scouts of America
Merit Badge Hub
Pioneering Merit Badge Overview
Pioneering—the knowledge of ropes, knots, and splices along with the ability to build rustic structures by lashing together poles and spars—is among the oldest of Scouting’s skills. Practicing rope use and completing projects with lashings also allow Scouts to connect with past generations, ancestors who used many of these skills as they sailed the open seas and lived in America’s forests and prairies.
Pioneering Merit Badge Requirements
The requirements will be fed dynamically using the scout book integration
1.
Do the following:
- (a) Explain to your counselor the most likely hazards you might encounter while participating in pioneering activities and what you should do to anticipate, help prevent, mitigate, and respond to these hazards.
- (b) Discuss the prevention of, and first-aid treatment for, injuries and conditions that could occur while working on pioneering projects, including rope splinters, rope burns, cuts, scratches, insect bites and stings, hypothermia, dehydration, heat exhaustion, heatstroke, sunburn, and falls.
2.
Do the following:
- (a) Demonstrate the West Country method of whipping a rope.
- (b) Demonstrate how to tie a rope tackle and the following knots: clove hitch formed as two half hitches, clove hitch on a bight, butterfly knot, roundturn with two half hitches, and rolling hitch.
- (c) Demonstrate and explain when to use the following lashings: square, diagonal, round, shear, tripod, and floor lashing.
3.
Do the following:
- (a) Using square and tripod lashings from requirement 2c, build a Tripod Wash Station (or with your counselor's permission, another camp gadget of your own design).
- (b) Using rolling hitches or roundturns with two half hitches, and round lashings from requirements 2b and 2c, build a 15-foot Scout Stave Flagpole (or with your counselor's permission, another camp gadget of your own design).
- (c) Using shear, square, and floor lashings, clove hitches on a bight, and rope tackles from requirements 2b and 2c, build a Simple Camp Table (or with your counselor's permission, another camp gadget of your own design).
4.
Explain the differences between synthetic ropes and natural-fiber ropes. Discuss which types of rope are suitable for pioneering work and why. Include the following in your discussion: breaking strength, safe working loads, and the care and storage of rope.
5.
Explain the uses for the back splice, eye splice, and short splice. View a demonstration on forming each splice.
6.
Using a rope-making device or machine, make a rope at least 6 feet long consisting of three strands, each having three yarns. Whip the ends.
7.
Explain the importance of effectively anchoring a pioneering project. Describe to your counselor the 3-2-1 anchoring system and the log-and-stake
anchoring system.
8.
Describe the lashings that are used when building a trestle, how the poles are positioned, and how X braces contribute to the overall structural integrity of a pioneering project.
All pioneering projects constructed for this merit badge must comply with height standards as outlined in the Guide to Safe Scouting.
All pioneering projects constructed for this merit badge must comply with height standards as outlined in the Guide to Safe Scouting.
9.
Working in a group, (or individually with the help of your counselor) build a full size pioneering structure, using one of the following designs in the merit badge pamphlet:
- Double A-Frame Monkey Bridge
- Single A-Frame Bridge
- Single Trestle Bridge
- Single Lock Bridge
- 4x4 Square Climbing Tower
- Four Flag Gateway Tower
- Double Tripod Chippewa Kitchen
- Another type of structure approved in advance by your counselor
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Discover more about "Pioneering"
Knots have thousands of uses and there are dozens of useful knots. See how well you know your knots by taking this quiz.
Keep your stuff out of the dirt by building a table for your camp. It’s easy if you have the pioneering skills.
WHAT YOU’LL NEED
Two spars up to six feet long (or long enough to be lashed to both trees) and about 3 inches in diameter
Several shorter spars, the number depending on the distance between the trees
Two sections of rope, both around 25 feet in length
Four sections of rope, each around 50 feet in length depending on the diameter of the trees (Each can be made with two sections of 25-foot rope tied together with a square knot, or a sheep’s bend knot if rope is of two different diameters)
WHAT YOU’LL DO
Step One: Pick out two trees up to five feet apart with nothing between them. Have one person hold one of the longer spars horizontally across both trees. Tie a clove hitch around one spar right next to the tree, then use a square lash to attach the spar to the tree.
Step Two: Repeat the square lashing to the second tree at the other end of this spar, and repeat the whole process with the second spar on the other side of the tree. The lashings on both sides of the tree will have to overlap each other to ensure that the spars are level with each other.
Step Three: Lay the shorter spars across the two spars that are now attached to the trees. Lash the shorter spars to the longer spars with a floor lashing.
Step Four: Enjoy your new camp table.
Relax around camp by building a comfortable chair. It’s easy if you have the pioneering skills.
WHAT YOU NEED
Three spars about 4 inches in diameter, two 8 feet long and one 12 to 15 feet long
Four sections of rope, one 30 feet long and three 3 to 4 feet long
6-by-8-foot (or slightly bigger) tarp, folded into an isosceles triangle
Three heavy rocks slightly smaller than baseballs but larger than golf balls
WHAT YOU’LL DO
campchair-1
Step One: Determine which ends of each spar are the thickest, and designate those as the base of each spar. Lay the two shorter spars together on the ground, parallel to each other, with each base at the same end and even with each other.
Lay the long spar down in the opposite direction, with its base at the opposite end from the bases of the shorter spars, with only about two feet of overlap at the tops. Keep them all parallel.
Use the 30-foot rope to perform a tripod lashing around all three spars.
campchair-2
Step Two: Fold each rock into a corner of the triangle-shaped tarp and twist to create a pocket that will hold the rock. Then tie one of the three shorter ropes around the pocket holding the rock by wrapping a few times and tying off the end with two half hitches.
Be sure to leave 2 to 3 feet of rope available. Repeat for each corner.
campchair-3
Step Three: Attach the tarp to the tripod by wrapping the remaining rope around each spar once or twice and finishing with a taut-line hitch.
The longest spar should act as the back leg of the chair, so attach the rope at higher point on that spar to create the back of the chair.
