Neckerchief Other Than With The Uniform

[eagle77]

 The old Explorer shirt. I remember seeing them on many camp staffs. I think at one time some councils had Explorer Posts that actually met and staffed their council camps. Today you find some Venture crews there. In my troop you wore the Explorer shirt if you were a member of the Leadership Corps. It was snappy. Liked that shirt more then the regular shirt. Instead of a necker Leadership scouts wore a bolo in my troop. Could never get the PLC to okay the beret though. Some of the guys said it looked to French and we were Americans.

 

  For inspection I was always told that you rolled the necker tight, and then pulled up the slide. You would then with one hand hold on to the bottom to tails and lift the necker up. If the slide hit the tip of your nose you knew it was at the right height. Then you grabbed each tail and spread them to the side.

[desertrat77]

Eagle77, LOL!   I had forgotten about the slide/nose rule--good times!

 

PS   The troop that wore the berets was on an AF base.  The SM said we wore berets, so we wore them.   Not very well, but we did.   I also recall the Leadership Corps wearing the dark green shirt, it was a good uniform.

Edited July 16, 2015 by desertrat77

[Cambridgeskip]

It's pretty standard here in Europe to wear the necker without the full uniform.

 

It's most practical purpose is to identify scouts. You have to remember that we have a much higher population density and that translates into numbers of scouts on a given campsite. I've seen 2500 crammed into Gilwell Park, which is about 130 acres. Yes it's rammed! The kids wearing the necker when out of full uniform makes it a lot easier to recognise them at long range when mixed up with a crowd of others.

 

It's also good PR. Scouts out in public doing something that doesn't require full uniform? Say a cycling trip? Keeping the necker one identifies them as scouts and is good for publicity.

 

If you've got any scouts going to Japan this summer they will find a lot of necker swapping going on. The Swiss national necker is particularly nice and in demand!

[Stosh]

The handmade neckers of my troop are full 36" square.  They are not rolled, they are merely folded diagonally and put around the neck and the slide slid up.  The boys do it that way, I use the slide vertically rather than horizontally and tie a square in the tails and that way it is impossible to lose the slide.

[Twocubdad]

Skip, can confirm, but most the continentals tie the tails of their necker in a "friendship knot" which I suspect is what Wills did with his.  The knot is impossible to describe, but here are instructions:  http://www.baggy.me.uk/knots/#friend

 

We have our neckers made.  They are triangular, but extra large which is somewhat more functional, but look a lot better.  In addition to being useless, the standard BSA neckers only come down to the second shirt button on anyone over age 14.

 

In addition to size, one of the nice things about the neckers in the rest of the world is the design.  They usually have a nice embroidered emblem, a couple layers of banding on short edges (which creates a cool pattern when rolled), plus they are a heavier absorbent fabric which makes them much more comfortable.  At WJ in 2007 (I sat maybe 100 feet from Prince William!) neckers were the hot trading commodity.  But no one wanted the BSA neckers -- they were crap, made from a very thin acrylic and totally screen printed.  They were an embarrassment.

[Cambridgeskip]

Skip, can confirm, but most the continentals tie the tails of their necker in a "friendship knot" which I suspect is what Wills did with his.  The knot is impossible to describe, but here are instructions:  http://www.baggy.me.uk/knots/#friend

 

 

Kind of.

 

Official uniform is still to wear it with a woggle and on a regular troop night that's what you mostly see.

 

On camp I personally, and I recomend the scouts do the same, tie a friendship knot and slide my woggle up on side of it so as to make it difficult to lose.

 

Certainly at major jamborees it's standard to use a friendship knot. Traditionally someone you have met and befriended should tie it for you, if you tie it for yourself it's a square knot. What you call a square knot is what we call a reef knot!

[qwazse]

The handmade neckers of my troop are full 36" square.  They are not rolled, they are merely folded diagonally and put around the neck and the slide slid up.  The boys do it that way, I use the slide vertically rather than horizontally and tie a square in the tails and that way it is impossible to lose the slide.

Mind=blown. Got a picture?

[TAHAWK]

The Official Scout Neckerchief was made larger in 2010  (IIRC),  and is currently officially 49.5" x 35" x 35".  That is, it is half of a 35" square neckerchief folded into a triangle - larger as a triangle than any official BSA neckerchief has ever been..  (It was a 32" square until 1932, and a 30" square thereafter.)

 

I have measured three of my troop's neckerchiefs and they are, in fact, 51- 53" across the long edge  and 35" across short edge.   I am 6'2" and it reaches my belly button.

 

The material is 50/50 cotton/polyester.

[Stosh]

Mind=blown. Got a picture?

 

No one wants to see my mug, and I won't use a picture of any of my boys.  So I'll just explain it.

 

Buy a bolt of 45" cotton or cotton blend material.  My boys picked blaze orange.

 

Cut 36" squares.

 

My wife then double surges the edges so they don't need to be hemmed.  She has thus far used black thread for the boys and white thread for the adults.  The next patrol can pick another color.  She surged the edges twice because the first time around they looked kinda bad.  Second surge took care of that.

 

there are no other markings on the neckers.

 

Fold in half diagonally.

 

Take the folded necker and put around your neck.  We do not "roll" them.  When the woggle slides up the necker stays rather "poofy" and will stand up and protect the back of the neck as it is supposed to.  I never, never, never have tucked the necker under the collar.  It negates the whole purpose of what the necker is supposed to do on a practical level.  Under the collar is for decorative purposes only.  By not rolling the necker one does not need to tuck under the collar.

 

Take your woggle (Yes, the adults have woggles made of white parachute cord and the boys are black). and tuck one end into the woggle.  Then take the other end and put through the woggle the other way  Hold woggle vertically and put one end in right side the other the left side.  Pull both ends and the woggle will slide "up" to your chin.  Then tie a small square knot in the tail ends and there is absolutely no way one can lose the woggle without losing the whole necker.  

 

I think PB is wearing the woggle in this manner in this picture: http://www.pinetreeweb.com/bp-pix123.htm

Edited July 16, 2015 by Stosh

[jr56]

True, nothing quite like a good quality neckerchief.

[Moggie]

My British scouts in NYC out of uniform but wearing their neckers, held with a mixture of woggles and friendship knots.

 

Cheers

 

Gareth

 

[StillLoomans]

Why I did meet one of my Cub Scouts at the park wearing his Wolf necker without the rest of his uniform. He said it worked fine as a do-rag under his bike helmet to soak up any sweat.

 

I was glad to see his enthusiasm for scouting.

 

Our troop members are very fond of rubber wheels from Lego kits as a slide. Doesn't slip at all, and if they lose it, they can look on their bedroom floor for another. 

[SSScout]

""He said it worked fine as a do-rag under his bike helmet to soak up any sweat.""

 

"Matching Mountains With the Boy Scout Uniform" by Edward Reimer :: Use #3 of a list of 56 uses on pg.92...

 

Usta not be a style, but a tool.

[packsaddle]

Buy a bolt of 45" cotton or cotton blend material.  My boys picked blaze orange.

 

Cut 36" squares.

 

My wife then double surges the edges so they don't need to be hemmed.  She has thus far used black thread for the boys and white thread for the adults.  The next patrol can pick another color.  She surged the edges twice because the first time around they looked kinda bad.  Second surge took care of that.

 

there are no other markings on the neckers.

 

Fold in half diagonally.

 

Stosh, That's what this unit does too. If the patrols want to they can 'customize' with a design. I have a really nice mug. It says, "Don't let the turkeys get you down" and has a cartoon of a turkey. Got it one Thanksgiving.

 

Moggie, that is a great photo. It says it all, what a great-looking group!

 

SSScout, a tool is the way I remember it too. That's why we rejected the small triangle and went with homemade...so they can actually be used for all sorts of things. You can actually use one to immobilize a sprained ankle for example. I still have some of the old triangles, though. Maybe in 100 years I can make some money on eBay, lol.

Edited July 18, 2015 by packsaddle

[Peregrinator]

I have read posts arguing that the neckerchief, world-wide, is THE symbol of Scouting.

That's correct.