Barrel Sling
binding knot
Life-safety notice
TyingPoint's illustrations are for learning. For any life-safety use — climbing, rope access, rescue, or load-bearing rigging — seek qualified in-person instruction, and always inspect and test every knot before you trust your weight (or anyone else's) to it.
Lifting a barrel or drum by rope, with nothing on the container itself to clip or hook onto, is an old problem with a simple traditional answer. The rope is laid out and a loose overhand knot tied in the middle of it. That knot is then opened out flat until its two crossing parts form a wide ring, the barrel is stood upright in the centre of it, and the ends are drawn upward so the opened knot rises up the barrel's sides. The two ends are joined above with a bowline, and that bowline is the lifting point.
It is worth being blunt about the mechanism, because it is commonly described wrongly. The arrangement does not cinch. Nothing tightens on the barrel as the load comes on. The rope running underneath the base carries the weight, and the opened knot around the sides is there to stop the barrel tipping out of it. The hold is entirely a matter of where the rope has been positioned - which means the positioning steps are the knot, and rushing them is the failure.
Two rules govern that position, and between them they account for almost every way this rig drops a load. The rope must sit well above the barrel's centre of gravity: below it, the barrel tips and slides straight out the moment it leaves the ground. It must also sit clearly below the rim, or it rides up and slips off over the top as the load settles. There is a band between those two limits where the rig works, and outside it there is no knot skill that saves it.
The third check takes a moment and is the one most often skipped: the strand running underneath must be centred beneath the base. A rope offset to one side lifts the barrel crooked, and a crooked barrel is a barrel working its way out.
None of this makes it a rated lifting method. It is improvised rope work with no rating, no inspection regime and no designed safety factor, and it should be understood that way rather than as a technique that happens to lack paperwork. For anything heavy or valuable, or anything lifted where people are working, a proper rated sling is the right equipment. Whatever is being lifted, nobody should stand or pass beneath a suspended load.
It is also worth separating this from the knot it is most often confused with, including on this site. The barrel hitch lifts a drum upright, using an opened-out overhand knot around its sides. The true barrel sling lifts a barrel lying on its side, using a cow hitch around a strop - an arrangement Ashley also catalogues as the bale sling. They are two different rigs for two different orientations, and the names get swapped freely enough that it is worth checking which one a given source is actually describing.
How to tie the Barrel Sling
- 1Lay the barrel on its side - this is the sling's whole point, and the difference from the barrel hitch, which lifts a barrel upright.
- 2Take a strop (a closed loop of rope or webbing) and spread its two sides apart.
- 3Pass both sides of the strop underneath the barrel, so it lies across them.
- 4Raise the two ends of the strop together above the barrel.
- 5Tuck one end through the other and hook it to the lifting eye - drawn tight, the result is a cow hitch around the barrel.
- 6Separate the two turns well apart along the barrel before lifting. Ashley's own caution is that turns left close together let the load tilt and slide out of the sling.
Strength & security
A strop passed under a barrel lying on its side and tucked through itself, forming a cow hitch. The load is carried on the two turns running under the barrel; the hitch grips by squeezing them together as the lift comes on, so the sling holds the barrel horizontally rather than gripping its sides.
Cautions: Ashley's own caution is the one that matters: keep the two turns well separated along the barrel. Turns left close together let the load tilt, and a barrel that tilts slides straight out of the sling. Because the barrel travels on its side, this is for closed containers only - use the upright barrel hitch for anything open or holding liquid. This is an improvised rope hoist, not rated lifting equipment: never stand under the load, and use a proper rated sling for anything heavy, valuable or lifted over people.
FAQ
Why does the barrel sling grip tighter as you lift?
It doesn't, and that is the most important thing to understand about it. There is no cinching action - the rope does not tighten on the barrel as the load comes on. What holds the barrel is where the rope sits: the opened knot around the sides stops it tipping out, and the strand running underneath carries the weight.
Does the barrel sling work on any shaped container?
Shape matters less than position. The rope has to sit well above the container's centre of gravity but clearly below its rim, and the strand underneath has to be centred beneath the base. A container that makes either of those impossible - a pronounced taper, a bulging middle, protruding fittings - is one to lift by other means.
What's the alternative to a barrel sling for hoisting a drum?
Orientation. One takes the drum standing up, one takes it lying down, and the rigging differs accordingly. Ashley lists the second under a third name again.
Should I test a barrel sling before a full hoist?
Yes - a quick test-lift of just a few centimeters, checking that the barrel hangs level and the sling has seated evenly, catches a poorly seated sling before it becomes a real problem higher up during the actual hoist.
What rope diameter works best for a barrel sling?
Something substantial enough to grip firmly around the barrel's circumference without being so thick it becomes unwieldy to weave through the interlocking bights - for a typical drum-sized container, a rope you can comfortably close a fist around usually strikes that balance.
Gear that pairs with this knot
- Rated polyester lifting sling
This page is blunt that a rope sling is an improvisation — for anything heavy, valuable, or lifted over people, a sling with a stamped working-load limit is the right answer.
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