Tripod Lashing
binding knot
A freestanding tripod - for hoisting camp gear, hanging a cooking pot, or supporting a shelter's peak - needs three poles that spread apart evenly and stand stably on their own once lashed, which takes a genuine extension of the shear lashing's two-pole hinging principle to three poles instead of two. The tripod lashing achieves that with a woven, over-under-over wrap across all three poles laid side by side, one of them deliberately reversed end-for-end before wrapping so the finished stand splays evenly rather than lopsided.
That reversed middle pole is a detail worth understanding, not just following by rote: laying all three poles the same direction (all butts together, all tips together) produces a tripod that tapers unevenly once spread, where reversing the middle pole balances the taper and lets the legs open into a more even, stable stance.
Like the shear lashing it's built from, the wraps here are kept looser than a square lashing's, with modest frapping turns rather than maximum tension, since the whole point is allowing the three legs to hinge open rather than locking them rigid. Getting that balance of enough tension to hold the wraps neatly, but not so much that the legs can't spread, takes the same practiced judgment a shear lashing calls for.
Once spread and standing, a well-built tripod lashing distributes load across all three legs fairly evenly, which is part of what makes it stable enough to trust with real camp loads - a hanging cooking pot, a hoisted pack, or a shelter's ridge support - provided the legs are spread to roughly even angles rather than left unevenly splayed.
Bushcraft and pioneering instructors often use the tripod lashing as a practical test of whether a student has genuinely internalized the shear lashing's tension principle, since the three-pole version fails more visibly and obviously than the two-pole one when the wraps are either too tight or too loose - a wobbly, unevenly splayed tripod is a clear, immediate sign the underlying tensioning judgment hasn't quite been mastered yet.
Beyond camp cooking and hoisting, a tripod lashing scaled up with stouter poles is also the traditional basis for a simple field-expedient derrick or small hoist, capable of lifting genuinely heavy loads when built with adequately thick poles and rope - a reminder that the same basic lashing technique scales from a lightweight camp gadget pole to a genuinely load-rated field structure, provided the materials scale up to match.
How to tie the Tripod Lashing
Lay three poles parallel and side by side, touching along their length, with the middle pole reversed (butt end where the others have their tips, or vice versa).
Strength & security
Weaving the wraps over-under-over across three poles rather than simply around two, and reversing the middle pole's orientation before wrapping, are what let this lashing open into a genuinely stable, evenly-splayed three-legged stand rather than the two-legged hinge a shear lashing produces.
Cautions: Like the shear lashing it's built from, the wraps need enough looseness to let the legs spread properly - over-tightening prevents the tripod from opening into a stable, evenly splayed stance.
Alternatives
- Shear Lashing
The two-pole version of the same hinging principle, used for an A-frame or trestle rather than a freestanding three-legged tripod.
FAQ
Why is the middle pole reversed before lashing a tripod?
It balances the natural taper of the three poles, so the finished tripod spreads into a more even, stable stance rather than one leg being noticeably thicker or thinner at the ground than the others.
How is a tripod lashing different from a shear lashing?
It's the same loose-wrap, hinge-forming principle extended from two poles to three, using a woven over-under-over wrap pattern to let all three legs spread evenly into a freestanding tripod.
How can I tell if my tripod lashing was wrapped too tight before I even try standing it up?
Try flexing the three poles apart slightly by hand while they're still lying flat - if they resist opening even a little at this stage, the wraps are almost certainly too tight to let the legs splay once you stand the tripod up, and it's worth loosening and re-frapping before committing to the full setup.
Can a tripod lashing be scaled up for heavier loads?
It scales further than most campers expect - the same technique, built with heavier timber and thicker rope, has traditionally served as a small-scale field derrick for tasks like pulling an engine or hoisting building materials, though at that scale it's worth checking each pole for splits or rot first, since a failure at load is far more consequential than a wobbly camp gadget tripod.