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Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot

fieggen.com

131–140 of 239 posts

Re: Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot

#131
post #105
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Learning this has also changed my life, but maybe not for the better. Now every time I see someone I know and their shoes are tied in a granny knot I have to waste a bunch of calories deciding if they'd appreciate me telling them.

OMG same! It's like when you learn how to roll up headphone wires or properly clean glasses. The temptation to do it for others (and get rejected) is way too high.

The thing about many of the "proper" headphone roll-ups is they are dependent on a particular level of minimum bending radius, tension tolerance, and elastic deformation in the cords.

To put it more simply, many of them will simply ruin your headphones if they're done with reasonable frequency.

For thin earbud type cords, just coil them loosely in a small plastic bag or use a loose bundle secured with a broad velcro strap.

Re: Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot

#132
post #99
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> coming undone multiple times per day (unless double knotted) You have bad laces. I thought this too before I tried different laces. Turns out different tensions and elasticities give different strengths of knots. For example I have some military boots which came with slightly stretchy laces. They NEVER come undone, ever. They were the first pair that switched me on to this, and since then I have always bought laces…

I mean, yes, the lace quality is important too. But strictly speaking, not tying a granny knot will improve your results regardless of choice of lace.

"On" brand running shoes have great laces for knot-holding, but they're so thin it's awkward to manipulate them to actually tie the knot in the first place.

Re: Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot

#134
I learnt about this knot 16 years ago from a comment on cpbotha's blog :

https://cpbotha.net/2010/04/07/weekly-head-voices-20-a-lamar...

It has changed my life. I was also part of mountain rescue at the time, and nobody in the team knew about it. Now everyone swears by it.

So if you're part of any kind of first responder team - please tell your colleagues about this knot!

Re: Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot

#136
My problem with this knot, is going from step 2 to 3, I get a bit of slippage from the orginal starter knot (step 1). For my running shoes, getting the tightness just right is critical, so not sure how to dial this in?

Re: Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot

#137

I only realized in my 30s that I had been tying my shoelaces wrong my whole life and a super minor change in my method has changed them from coming undone multiple times per day (unless double knotted), to instead staying tied the whole day with just a standard shoelace knot [0] (also on Ian's site). This article's web page actually has the essential note: > NOTE: If your finished knot comes out crooked (eg. loops po…

Same here, haha. A very cool coworker a decade ago was the person finally able to convey to me how to change that up, and it was lifechanging.

Re: Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot

#138

That's a lot of work. Just reverse the first foldover you make from the direction you were taught as a kid, but do everything else the same (i.e., square knot). If the bow ends up perfectly horizontal to your foot, then you did it right, and it likely won't come undone. Ian's has it's place in like camping and hiking and such, but for everyday use, it wastes precious seconds and you have to have the dexterity of a su…

> [...] for everyday use, it wastes precious seconds [...]

You should probably try the Ian Knot then: https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/ianknot.htm (good video demo here: https://youtu.be/6cBtqhq5P28

Took me about 5 minutes to learn properly some 15 years ago, and according to this chart: https://xkcd.com/1205/ that's definitely worth it.

Re: Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot

#140
One of my favorite artifacts of the pre-platform era of the web. Valuable stuff presented clearly … all clearly handmade with care. Not a monetized journey conversion experience in sight
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