Wood Badge Woggle

[JMBadger]

Is the official Wood Badge Woggle 4-bight or 5-bight?

 

I learned to tie a turk's head knot 30+ years ago following the directions straight out of Boy's Life Magazine. It was a 5-bight turk's head. I proudly tied them with 3 passes for everyone in my troop.

 

Fast-forward to Sept. '09, and I tied my Wood Badge trainee's woggle as a 5-bight turk's head. I didn't bother with the provided directions since I didn't need them.

 

I purchased a couple of Critter/woggle patches and hat pins, and the knot that circles the critter has 5-bights.

 

http://quartermasterstore.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=Wood+Badge+Hat+Pins

 

One of my fellow Owls complained that he must be doing something wrong because every time he tried to tie one (using the provided directions) he got a 4-bight knot. I pulled out my folder and found the same directions sure enough, a 4-bight woggle.

 

I've examined the WB woggles on other sites and it "looks" like they are 4-bight.

 

So is the "official" woggle 4-bights? Or is there no official woggle, it just happens to be the one that the seller knows how to make is 4 bight? When I complete my ticket, would I be allowed to make my own 5-bight official woggle and have it presented to me?

 

This is the sort of thing that keeps me awake at night (and my wife calling me an idiot).

 

Badger

[dancinfox]

Badger,

The woggle tied for a participant of 21st Century Wood Badge is a 3 pass woggle. The woggle shown in pictures, patches, and pins is the leather woggle presented to one after completing their ticket which is a two pass woggle.

David Harrison

[JMBadger]

First, I'll say I'm experienced tying this knot, and we were not given enough cord for 3 passes. I prefer the look of a 3-pass knot and would certainly have made it so if I'd had enough cord. It wasn't tied for us. We were expected to tie our own.

 

But that wasn't my question. I wasn't asking about the number of passes, I was asking about the number of bights.

 

Look at the hole in your woggle. Does the hole have 4 sides or 5? The pins and patches for sale that show a critter in a woggle show a 5-sided hole: that is to say, a 5-bight knot. But the images of the real woggle seem to show a woggle with a 4-sided hole: a 4-bight knot.

 

Is there an "official" woggle, and is it 4- or 5- bight?

[emb021]

I checked.

 

My official leather WB woggle is 4-bight. My leather WB woggle that came from Gilwell Park is 4-bight.

 

The participant woggles I made were all 5-bight.

[Knight]

5 bight, 3 passes for the woggle I just made for the course that starts this week.

 

My leather woggle is 4 bight.

[LindaBob]

My official leather WB woggle is 4-bight. During the course, we made 5-bight woggles out of white cord. During the second course weekend, our Troop Guide presented us with 5-bight woggles of orange cord, as the Bobwhite Patrol in our course is associated with the color orange.

[JMBadger]

LindaBob The woggles we made were of colored cord that reflected our primary affiliation: blue for Cub Scout, red for Boy Scout, green for Venturer, silver (or white) for district, etc.

 

I don't remember hearing anything about colors being associated with critters. I wonder what color Owls would be.

 

Badger

[BDPT00]

Not that it matters a hoot, but most likely blue.

There are pins and patches, and Bobwhites have an orange background on them (as do Eagles). Does it matter? Not really. Foxes are orange too.

Good question, and a nice gesture by the troop guide.

BDPT00

[LindaBob]

That's interesting, Badger. It just shows how different courses have their own customs. Some use Ravens as critters, some don't, etc.

 

BDPT00, that was funny about not mattering "a hoot", but our Owl Patrol did indeed have blue as their color. I know those patches and pins don't match up perfectly to our course's color scheme, but where we used those colors primarily was in our temporary patrol flags...the ones we used before we made our own patrol flags for the second weekend. The colors associated with the various critters, at least in the beginning when we used the generic critter flags, helped establish "patrol identity". On the second weekend, I presented my patrol mates with custom orange name badges with our own totem as part of the design.

 

Here is the color rundown for our course:

 

Beavers = Red

Bobwhites = Orange

Eagles = Yellow

Foxes = Green

Owls = Blue

Bears = Black

Buffaloes = Purple

Antelopes = Brown

Ravens = White (yes, it's funny that Ravens are "white"!)

[Buffalo Skipper]

I make woggles for my troop. They are awarded for participation in the our Knotmaster program. Green represents the first level and Black the second level. On one of the bights, I allow some extra cord and tie a 1" "do a good turn daily" knot, which is worn in the front. This sets these knots apart from regular Wood Badge woggles.

 

They are 5-bight woggles.

[JMBadger]

Since it appears my original question has been answered, I hope it's ok to go off-topic just a little by asking what is your preferred material when making your woggles?

 

I like to make them out of new leather shoe laces, with the flat/smooth side facing out. Making them from solid-color braided cord is ok; para-cord is good, too. I don't like using twisted cord because it makes it more difficult to see the individual turns and passes. Same with braided cord that is multi-colored; it just looks too busy.

 

When I was a boy scout (30+ years ago) I loved making them out of licorice laces! The black ones They lasted only long enough until I found someone who would bet that I wouldn't eat my woggle. Then I'd slide it off and chow down. Yes, I made a little pocket money doing this. Yes, in retrospect, it was wrong.

 

Might be one of the reasons I never made Eagle, in addition to my bad attitude and blatant disregard for authority.

[SSScout]

I was escorting some Webelos to a Webweekend. In a slack period, I explored the camp and found a pile (literal) of 5/8" hemp next to a staff tent. I took a judgement of it's length, sat down on the camp stool next to it, and proceeded to weave a Turk's Head with it around the tent pole adjacent. Might have taken 15 minutes. Many folks passing by, no one ever stopped to inquire what I was doing. 'Course, it was loose around the pole, I guess a 5bighter. Firmed and neatened it up, coiled the rest of the rope flat at the base of the pole, and walked away.

[sherminator505]

"Might be one of the reasons I never made Eagle, in addition to my bad attitude and blatant disregard for authority."

 

Really? I always reckoned those two traits as part of what pushed me over the finish line.

 

But seriously, I learned how to tie a woggle out of the 1927 Handbook (the one with the blue cover). Is the woggle depicted there four- or five-bight?(This message has been edited by sherminator505)