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How strong is your knot?

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Re: How strong is your knot?

#31

Post by grawprog »

japhyr wrote: post #20

My favorite, as many others are sharing here, is the figure 8. For climbing, it's a super versatile knot and there's lots of variations for specific use cases. It's also a great knot for discussing the properties of a good knot. I also have found the trucker's hitch really useful from time to time. It allows you to tie down a load, for example a kayak on top of a car. You tie the initial hitch, and then you get to cr…

The two loop shoelace knot almost qualifies as life changing. Such a small change to something I learned as a child makes such a big difference. Not only do your shoes not come undone, but they don't loosen.

Re: How strong is your knot?

#32

Post by JshWright »

dgzl wrote: post #26
dragontamer wrote: post #16

My list of favorite knots: 1. Square Knot / Reef Knot -- This is the shoelace tie, and its one of the simplest knots. Learn this knot backwards and forwards you'll use it a lot. Avoid the granny knot (a mistaken reef knot). Beginners will often tie the granny knot instead of the square knot. If you can do a square knot, the "Surgeon Knot" is a useful variant which is more secure. 2. Figure Eight -- Superior to the ov…

I can think of at least one situation where an overhand knot is better than a figure-eight, where speed and ease is more important than strength.

They're pretty identical in terms of ease of tying, it's just one extra flick of your wrist before you pass the working end back through.

I think the difference in speed would be measured in milliseconds. You'd need a slow-motion camera to spot see any difference at all.

Re: How strong is your knot?

#33

Post by JshWright »

slowhand09 wrote: post #24
peterwwillis wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bowline is fine for non-safety-critical uses, but cyclical loading causes it to slip, so I'd suggest anyone who's learning the bowline to learn a "safer" variant and just always use that one (examples are Yosemite Bowline, End Bound Single Bowline, Double Bowline, Bowline on a Bight).

Been using bowlines for safety(fire dept) and sailing 35yrs. Never ever ever seen a proper bowline "shake loose". Can tie it weakside one-handed, upside down, behind my back, in the dark, underwater, while brushing my teeth.

You use a bowline for life-safety in rescue operations? That's really unusual, in my experience (firefighter/rescue tech in upstate New York)

Re: How strong is your knot?

#34

Post by nwallin »

emmelaich wrote: post #13
nordsieck wrote: post #6

IMO, the 2 most useful knots I know (aside from the shoelace knot) are the Carrick Bend and the Bowline. The Carrick bend is especially useful - it's basically a square knot that doesn't come undone on its own.

The bowline is rather special as it * doesn't tighten the big loop when you pull on it. * it can be done with one hand (with lots of practice!) I wonder how strong the bowline is compared to the others though.

When I was in boy scouts, at one of the camps one year one of the people running the thing had this little game. The idea was that two people would each tie a bowline around their waist, and connect the two ropes with a square knot. Then do it as fast as you could.

Two of the kids in my troop got it down to two and a half seconds. It looked like one of those magic tricks where you flip a rope around and it knotted itself.

I did eventually learn the one handed bowline, but it still takes me twenty seconds to do either that or a basic square knot.

Re: How strong is your knot?

#35

Post by mdtusz »

dgzl wrote: post #25
japhyr wrote: post #20

My favorite, as many others are sharing here, is the figure 8. For climbing, it's a super versatile knot and there's lots of variations for specific use cases. It's also a great knot for discussing the properties of a good knot. I also have found the trucker's hitch really useful from time to time. It allows you to tie down a load, for example a kayak on top of a car. You tie the initial hitch, and then you get to cr…

As for climbing, don't forget the double-fisherman's... To tie two ropes together for a double-rope rappel. It's the knot equivalent of a wrist-handshake.

You should use an EDK (despite the name sounding scary) if you're anywhere with cracks or areas that a double fisherman's will get caught. The EDK is asymmetric so it's less likely to get stuck, and is generally faster to tie (and untie). Fears of it rolling out are a bit overstated - just leave a solid 6 inches of tail or more.

Re: How strong is your knot?

#36

Post by heelix »

ldiracdelta wrote: post #27
japhyr wrote: post #20

My favorite, as many others are sharing here, is the figure 8. For climbing, it's a super versatile knot and there's lots of variations for specific use cases. It's also a great knot for discussing the properties of a good knot. I also have found the trucker's hitch really useful from time to time. It allows you to tie down a load, for example a kayak on top of a car. You tie the initial hitch, and then you get to cr…

The trucker's knot is awesome. Hugely practical. I use that knot on every load. https://www.animatedknots.com/truckers-hitch-knot

And in musical format (from the same dude that did 'what does the fox say')

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUHgGK-tImY

Re: How strong is your knot?

#37

Post by dgacmu »

tick_tock_tick wrote: post #3

I'd love them to do a break down on common knots as I trust my life to figure 8s and fisherman knots pretty regularly.

Look for older reports from rec.climbing. For example: http://canyoncollective.com/threads/some-knot-testing-data.7...

And https://user.xmission.com/~tmoyer/testing/EDK.html

Some of the testing folks at black diamond did a bunch of tests when we were all jabbering about knot safety about 20 years ago. Kinda sad the old posts are getting so hard to find!

Re: How strong is your knot?

#38

Post by kaiwen1 »

dragontamer wrote: post #16

My list of favorite knots: 1. Square Knot / Reef Knot -- This is the shoelace tie, and its one of the simplest knots. Learn this knot backwards and forwards you'll use it a lot. Avoid the granny knot (a mistaken reef knot). Beginners will often tie the granny knot instead of the square knot. If you can do a square knot, the "Surgeon Knot" is a useful variant which is more secure. 2. Figure Eight -- Superior to the ov…

Other than aesthetics (and perhaps as a hobby) are there circumstances in which cable lacing would be preferable to cable ties?

Re: How strong is your knot?

#39

Post by SAI_Peregrinus »

mdtusz wrote: post #35
dgzl wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As for climbing, don't forget the double-fisherman's... To tie two ropes together for a double-rope rappel. It's the knot equivalent of a wrist-handshake.

You should use an EDK (despite the name sounding scary) if you're anywhere with cracks or areas that a double fisherman's will get caught. The EDK is asymmetric so it's less likely to get stuck, and is generally faster to tie (and untie). Fears of it rolling out are a bit overstated - just leave a solid 6 inches of tail or more.

Or just use the Alpine Butterfly. Stronger, easy to tie, optionally asymmetric, usable as a loop or a bend, quite secure (slightly less so than Ashley's #1452 but still quite good), and non-jamming (unlike the figure 8).

Re: How strong is your knot?

#40

Post by wrycoder »

IgorPartola wrote: post #21

If you want a fun one, look up Somerville Bowline. Great take on a bowline that is non-directional, non-collapsing, very hard to get wrong, small, quick to tie, and cannot be undone under tension. Oh and it’s completely symmetrical so you can pull on either end.

Fun, heh.

It does look like it would have a tendency to jam and be hard to untie. One of the key points of a good knot is that it be easily untied once the strain has been removed.

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