Becoming a Wizard at Knot Tying is merely a matter of becoming comfortable with the movements involved in tying a knot. You can do this because you did the same thing when you learned to ride a bicycle, or learned to walk or learned to raise a glass of water to your mouth to take a drink. All of these feats require “muscle memory” which is achieved through practice.
To make things even better, there are very few unique movements in knot tying. Even better than that, many knots are simply other knots tied in a different place, such as around a pole, instead of around another rope.
Before we get into moving muscles, let us introduce some terminology.
The running end (or running part) of a rope is the moving or workable end of the rope.
The standing end (or standing part) of a rope is any portion of the rope secured to a fixed object or otherwise located behind the running end of the rope.
An Overhand Loop is created when a rope is looped back on itself with the running end passing over the standing end.
A bight is an unclosed loop in a rope that turns back on itself.
Now that we have some common terminologies, let us look, first, at the Overhand Loop. (The following descriptions are given for the average right-handed person. If you are left-handed, or non-average right-handed, you may translate by substituting “right” for “left” and “left” for “right” without affecting the knots.)
Allow your rope to hang over your left hand with your thumb holding it in your palm. The standing end is behind your hand and the running end is in the palm of your hand. Hold your right hand, back facing you, thumb down, and take hold of the running end, between you thumb and index finger (that’s your pointer), about four inches below your left hand. Turn your right hand so that the back faces away from you. You should now have something that resembles the letter “P”.
By itself, the Overhand Loop is not particularly useful. It is, however, the beginning of a great number of other knots. When you can form the Overhand Loop without thinking about it, then you are well on your way to becoming a Wizard of Knot Tying.
The knot which most people tie when they need an adjustable loop knot is the slip knot. It begins with the overhand loop and a bight from the standing part is brought over the running end and through the loop.
It is time to put your first accomplishment to use. We will dip into Nature Studies to come up with the mnemonic or memory aid for tying the Bowline. Form an Overhand Loop about two feet from the running end of your rope. The part of the rope in your left hand is a tree. The standing end is the trunk of the tree. The Overhand Loop is a rabbit hole at the base of the tree. The running end is the rabbit.
The story goes: the rabbit comes out of the hole (through the
Overhand Loop towards you), runs to the back (to the
right) around the tree and goes back into the hole from which
he came. Now grab hold of the running end and the part
of the loop which is closest to the running end in one
hand and the standing end (the tree trunk) in the
other hand and tighten the knot.
The question of which way does the rabbit go is frequently asked. Consider the loop which forms the letter “P” to be the direction pointer and go straight back on that side. The result will be that the running end will be inside the noose. If the running end winds up on the outside of the noose, the knot is not a true Bowline (called a Left-Handed Bowline, no offense, Lefties) and it will be a much weaker knot.
The Sheetbend is a case of tying another knot with a slight difference. The Sheetbend is used for tying two lines together. It can be used effectively for tying lines of different diameters together. The Sheetbend is more reliable and easier to untie than the Square Knot. Tying the Sheetbend uses the same movements as were used in tying the Bowline.
Begin with two ropes. You can two ends of the same rope to practice. In your left hand, hold your rope so that only six inches of the running end hang down. Form an Overhand Loop. Now take your second rope, which becomes the running end for the completion of the knot. It is the rabbit of the Bowline and goes out of its hole, around the tree and back down the hole. Grab the running end and the other part of its bight in one hand and the “tree” part in the other hand to tighten.
A hitch is used to tie a rope to an object. To demonstrate the Clove Hitch, you will need a pole, or pole-like object, in addition to your rope.
Form an Overhand Loop in the standing part of your rope, about two feet from the running end. Be sure that your loop is large enough to fit over your pole. Form a second Overhand Loop, underneath the first one. Place the second one behind the first one, so that you can see though both at the same time. Place both loops over the pole and pull on the line ends to tighten.
Form an Overhand Loop around the end of a bag. Wrap the running end around the bag a second time and pull it through the first Overhand Loop as shown. Cinch the knot tight.
The Miller's Knot was named for its use by millers to tie off sacks of grain.
Form an Overhand Loop about three feet from the running end of your rope. Grasp the running end, halfway down, between the thumb and index finger and form a bight. Pass the bight up through the back of the Overhand Loop so that about three or four inches protrude from the hole. (The first time you try this you might want to do it on a table so that you are not dropping your rope.) Now take the part above the Overhand Loop in your left hand and the three parts below the Overhand Loop in your right hand and gently pull, to tighten.
The Bell Ringer's Knot was used by church bell ringers to keep the bell rope off the bellfry floor when not in use.
Tie the Bell Ringer's Knot. Turn the entire rope upside-down. Form an Overhand Loop in the new standing part (top) about two inches below the top of the Bell Ringer's Knot loop. Pass the Bell Ringer's Knot loop through back of the Overhand Loop and gently tighten, as you did with the Bell Ringer's Knot. Now grasp the single standing end and the single running end and pull.
The Sheepshank is used to shorten a rope or take up tension without cutting or damaging the rope. It may also be tied around a wounded or chafed part of a rope. If it is, it should be arranged so that the weak part will be where the "X" is marked on the drawing below.
The "parlor method" of tying the Sheepshank is one of the Knot Wizard's standard tricks. The knot is tied almost instantaneously from three overhand loops arranged underneath one another, as shown. Each side bight of the center loop is grasped through an outer loop and extended for a short distance. Then the bights are cast off in mid-air, shifting the grasp to the two ends of the rope.
This is another knot tied in the "parlor method". Form four Overhand Loops arranged underneath one another. Reach through the outside loops and pull the bights of the inside loops as shown.
The Ashley Book of Knots1 describes a more impressive way of tying it (Ashley Knot #1163):
"The Sheepshank with a Sword Knot has also been called the Navy Sheepshank, and occasionally Man-o'-War SheepshankFour hitches are made which should overlap each other in pairs. The bights of each pair are pulled through the center of the opposite pair and are tightly drawn together. It is well to jerk them a few times to make them tighter. In this form the knot is quite irregular and unpr3epossessing. Now take the ends in hand and jerk them apart. The knot should now appear as in the lower drawing of #1164 but it may require a little prodding to make it quite regular."
Other knots may be formed by adding more Overhand Loops but beyond five the knots lose distinction.
Form an Overhand Loop and bring a bight from the running end up through the loop. Take another bight from the running end and pass that through the loop of the first bight. Continue this method until the disired length of shortening is achieved. Finish the knot by passing the running end through the final loop. The knot is easily untied by removing the running end from the final loop and pulling at the opposite ends of the rope.
The Monkey Chain Knot or the Chain Shortening, like the Sheepshank, is a knot for shortening a rope without damaging it.
This knot is also known as the Crochet Chain Stitch.
The Overhand Loop is a simple movement which leads to a great many other knots. Most people know almost nothing about knot tying and even the Overhand Loop will confuse them. By mastering it and a few of the extensions from it, you will be a Wizard of Knots.
1. Ashley, Clifford W. The Ashley Book of Knots. New York: Doubleday, 1944.