Pioneering
Merit Badge Workbook
This Scoutmaster Bucky Merit Badge Workbook is based off the 2020 Scouts BSA Requirements.
Type your work on this page or download the Pioneering
Workbook PDF.
Consider also using the Pioneering merit badge class preparation page for clarification and expections when participating in a Scoutmaster Bucky merit badge opportunity (online or in-person).
Scout's Name:
Requirement 1: Do the following:
Requirement 1a: Explain to your counselor the most likely hazards you might encounter while participating in pioneering activities and what you should do to anticipate, help prevent, mitigate, and respond to these hazards.
Requirement 1b: Discuss the prevention of, and first-aid treatment for, injuries and conditions that could occur while working on pioneering projects, including rope splinters, rope burns, cuts, scratches, insect bites and stings, hypothermia, dehydration, heat exhaustion, heatstroke, sunburn, and falls.
Requirement 2: Do the following:
Requirement 2a: Demonstrate the basic and West Country methods of whipping a rope. Fuse the ends of a rope.
Requirement 2b: Demonstrate how to tie the following knots: clove hitch, butterfly knot, roundturn with two half hitches, rolling hitch, water knot, carrick bend, sheepshank, and sheet bend.
Requirement 2c: Demonstrate and explain when to use the following lashings: square, diagonal, round, shear, tripod, and floor lashing.
Requirement 3: Explain why it is useful to be able to throw a rope, then demonstrate how to coil and throw a 40-foot length of 1/4- or 3/8-inch rope. Explain how to improve your throwing distance by adding weight to the end of your rope.
Requirement 4: Explain the differences between synthetic ropes and natural-fiber ropes. Discuss which types of rope are suitable for pioneering work and why. Include the following in your discussion: breaking strength, safe working loads, and the care and storage of rope.
Requirement 5: Explain the uses for the back splice, eye splice, and short splice. Using 1/4- or 3/8-inch three-stranded rope, demonstrate how to form each splice.
Requirement 6: Using a rope-making device or machine, make a rope at least 6 feet long consisting of three strands, each having three yarns. Whip the ends.
Requirement 7: Explain the importance of effectively anchoring a pioneering project. Describe to your counselor the 1-1-1 anchoring system and the log-and-stake anchoring methods.
Requirement 8: With the approval of your counselor, demonstrate and use a rope tackle. Be sure the rope tackle is secured properly. Explain the advantages and limitations of using a rope tackle. Describe the potential damage that friction can do to a rope.
All pioneering projects constructed for this merit badge must comply with height standards as outlined in the Guide to Safe Scouting.
Requirement 9: By yourself, build a trestle using square and diagonal lashings. Explain why trestles are used when constructing pioneering projects.
Requirement 10: With the approval of your counselor and using appropriate lashings and pioneering techniques, build and use one full-size pioneering project from either group A or group B. Your project must comply with the requirements of the Guide to Safe Scouting. (Requirement 10 may be done at summer camp, at district or council events, or on a troop camp outing.)
Group A: Tower OR bridge
Anchor your project as appropriate and necessary. Explain how your anchoring system works. Group A projects may be worked on in a group and with others.
Group B: Camp chair OR camp table
Group B projects must be worked on individually.
