How to Tie the Canadian Jam Lashing
Usage
The Canadian Jam Lashing binds poles and bundles in seconds on a fraction of the cord a wrapped lashing needs, which makes it the fast way to build a bush frame with many joints and limited cordage. It is used on pack frames, ski-shoes, shelter beds and bender-arch roofs, and works just as well on a bundle of firewood or a sack that needs closing.
Mechanically it is a noose passed around the object with a second overhand knot jammed against it. Pull the standing line and the two knots crush together, so the joint locks itself rather than relying on wraps and frapping turns.
Why Learn the Canadian Jam Lashing?
The choice built into the finish is the reason to learn it. Trim the tail flush and the joint is permanent — you cut the cord off when the build comes down. Leave it long and you can rock it loose, adjust the frame and reuse the cord.
Be clear about the name too. This page covers the lashing: the pole-to-pole and bundle job, tied with Mors Kochanski's own loop-through finish. The single-object cinch, including the version tying line to a fishing reel arbor, lives on our Canadian Jam Knot page. Same mechanism, different job.
Common Uses
Bushcraft and Camping
- Pack frame joints, ski-shoes, and camp chairs built from the same three-stick idea.
- Raised bed frames and bender-arch roof hoops — one build log put up a bed and roof frame on roughly 10 ft (3 m) of cord.
Household and Everyday
- Replacing zip ties on outdoor fencing and privacy screens, where cord outlasts plastic that goes brittle in the sun.
- Closing bundles, sacks and bags — dog food, rice, a cloth over a jar.
Other Names
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Notable Features
- Two finishes, one technique: a flush-cut tail gives a permanent joint, a long tail one you can loosen by hand.
- Direction-critical: the working end must pass through the second knot the same way round the first passes through itself, or the two slide past each other instead of binding.
Similar Knots
Canadian Jam Knot vs. Canadian Jam Lashing
The Canadian Jam Knot covers the single-object cinch and fishing-arbor use of the same mechanism.
- Advantage: simpler as a one-object cinch, and the form most people mean by the name.
- Disadvantage: no lashing-specific loop-through finish for locking repeated pole joints.
Square Lashing vs. Canadian Jam Lashing
The square lashing is the purpose-built way to join two crossed poles.
- Advantage: spreads load across many wraps and frapping turns.
- Disadvantage: far slower per joint, and it eats cordage.
Tripod Lashing vs. Canadian Jam Lashing
A tripod lashing is for three poles splaying into a stand.
- Advantage: holds three legs while letting them open and set.
- Disadvantage: no use on a bundle or a single crossing joint.
Security Level
Tied correctly it holds well, and it holds when slack. Treat it as a fast substitute for a lashing rather than an equal to one — there is no tested load rating behind it. On a joint that must stay loaded, use the fixed finish and consider a second jam knot crossing the first.
Downsides
- Hard to undo: once cinched hard, the fixed form is close to impossible to untie by hand, and cutting it off is the expected end of its life.
- All-or-nothing tying error: a backwards pass fails completely rather than holding less well.
History
The name is Mors Kochanski's own coinage, popularised through his teaching from the 1970s and printed in his book Bushcraft (Lone Pine Publishing), where the jam knot is listed first among his seven essential bush knots. He developed it from his mentor Tom Roycraft, a military survival instructor he met in 1968 — the lineage behind the Roycraft pack frame. A community story traces the knot itself to Voyageur fur-traders and the logging industry, but no primary citation exists for it — the naming is documented, the origin is not.
How to Tie the Canadian Jam Lashing
Step 1
Pass the noose around the poles or bundle and feed the standing part through, the base structure any jam knot starts from.
Step 2
Before you snug anything down, drop the tail through the working loop so a small loop of about half an inch (13 mm) already sits through it.
Step 3
Pull the standing end and wrench the noose down as tight as you can, with that pre-formed loop still sitting inside.
Step 4
Pull the pre-formed loop straight down and through so it seats flush on top of the jammed knot. This is Kochanski's own refinement, replacing the third overhand stopper that is so awkward to cinch against an already-tight knot.
Step 5
Cut the tail off for a fixed, permanent joint, or leave it long if you want to rock it loose and recover the cord later.
The pass is worth practising on a short cord before you need it on a frame — the kind of drilling our Knot IQ app and its companion kits were built for.
FAQ
What is the difference between the fixed and removable finish?
Same base knot, different tail length. Cut the tail flush and the lashing is permanent; leave it long and you can rock it loose by hand later.
Can the Canadian Jam Lashing replace a traditional pole lashing?
It is a fast substitute, not an equal. Use a purpose-built lashing — square, tripod or floor — for anything that has to bear significant weight over and over.
Why is it so hard to untie once it has been loaded?
The fixed finish is designed that way; Kochanski cut the cord rather than untying it. Tie the long-tail finish if you want the joint back later.
Is the Canadian Jam Lashing the same as the Packer's Knot?
Some practitioners call this knot a packer's knot when they use it for bundles, but that name also belongs to a separate knot. Shared name, not the same knot.
Is it the same as the Arbor Knot?
They share one base structure, and the best-documented reading is that the difference is tail length and finish, not geometry. The bushcraft community has not settled it, so treat that as the likeliest answer, not a fact.
Important Notes on Safety
Do not use the Canadian Jam Lashing for structural or heavy-duty rigging, or anything needing a certified load rating — no breaking-strength or engineering data exists for it. Use a purpose-built lashing or rated hardware for anything meant to carry significant repeated weight, and never substitute it for a manufactured tourniquet or other medical device.
