# A SEARCH ENGINE INSIDE THE ASHLEY BOOK OF KNOTS

**URL:** <https://discourse.igkt.net/t/a-search-engine-inside-the-ashley-book-of-knots/10302>\
**Category:** General Discussion\
**Created:** [31 October 2026 18:39 UTC](https://discourse.igkt.net/t/a-search-engine-inside-the-ashley-book-of-knots/10302 "2026-10-31T18:39:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![JeanB](https://discourse.igkt.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/f1d935/32.png) [@JeanB](https://discourse.igkt.net/u/JeanB)\
**Post date:** [31 October 2026 18:39 UTC](https://discourse.igkt.net/t/a-search-engine-inside-the-ashley-book-of-knots/10302/1 "2026-10-31T18:39:43Z")

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I published a modest chart last month to locate the page with a specified [abok](https://discourse.igkt.net/t/9845) number.

A quick and simple method of retrieving any information from the 640 pages was missing.

I made the decision to rewrite the book using Microsoft Word. With its "find" and "replace" features, Word offers a fairly effective search engine.

I've rewritten 500 pages so far, and everything is going well.

The book can be found there:

> **[The Ashley Book of Knots docx.docx](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1u4QMbJhoTkO82BYW84vxlhQKjpyTAmG5/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=101322644398715370014&rtpof=true&sd=true)**
>
> Clifford Warren ASHLEY (1881-1947) First published in 1944 by Doubleday, Doran and Co., Inc, New York Author of THE YANKEE WHALER With amendments by Geoffrey Budworth, International Guild of Knot Tyers Every practical knot What it looks like Who uses...

The first pages contain all of the explanations.This is only a Word document with no macros, therefore there is no danger of malicious devices.

[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1u4QMbJhoTkO82BYW84vxlhQKjpyTAmG5/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=101322644398715370014&rtpof=true&sd=true](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1u4QMbJhoTkO82BYW84vxlhQKjpyTAmG5/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=101322644398715370014&rtpof=true&sd=true)

Have fun

JB

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**Author:** ![JeanB](https://discourse.igkt.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/f1d935/32.png) [@JeanB](https://discourse.igkt.net/u/JeanB)\
**Post date:** [1 November 2026 21:42 UTC](https://discourse.igkt.net/t/a-search-engine-inside-the-ashley-book-of-knots/10302/2 "2026-11-01T21:42:00Z")

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I’ve made a big mistake. I want to share my document so that others can download it. Google Drive only allows for viewing, which isn't what I need. I’m looking for a way to make this document available for download—does anyone have any suggestions? The file is just under 30 megabytes.  
Thanks,  
JB

\*\*

# SOLVED

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**Author:** ![Seaserpent](https://discourse.igkt.net/user_avatar/discourse.igkt.net/seaserpent/32/6998_2.png) [@Seaserpent](https://discourse.igkt.net/u/Seaserpent)\
**Post date:** [2 November 2026 18:19 UTC](https://discourse.igkt.net/t/a-search-engine-inside-the-ashley-book-of-knots/10302/3 "2026-11-02T18:19:29Z")

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Hi Jean,

We have the [ABOK Index](https://discourse.igkt.net/t/abok-index/10238) here on the forum. Unfortunately not possible to download, but searchable within the forum or it will take you straight to [ABOK](https://archive.org/details/the-ashley-book-of-knots-abok-clifford-ashley/page/15/mode/2up) . I like the idea of what you made, will look into a solution.

Niclas

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**Author:** ![JeanB](https://discourse.igkt.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/f1d935/32.png) [@JeanB](https://discourse.igkt.net/u/JeanB)\
**Post date:** [2 November 2026 19:20 UTC](https://discourse.igkt.net/t/a-search-engine-inside-the-ashley-book-of-knots/10302/4 "2026-11-02T19:20:45Z")

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Niclas, thank you.

I was very irritated when I saw that.

Making a website quickly was the only solution that occurred to my weak mind. In order to post the Docx file and, more importantly, an effective link to do so, I created the simple website Amo Vitam (Life is Good). Based on my testing, this works.

**Two POSSIBLE LINKS**

> **[ASHLEY BOOK of KnotS](https://transparent-penguin.wordpress.com/ashley-book-of-knots/)**
>
> Visit the post for more.

[u][color=#467886][https://transparent-penguin.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/ashley-book-of-knots.docx[/color][/u]](https://transparent-penguin.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/ashley-book-of-knots.docx%5B/color%5D%5B/u%5D)

Have fun  
JB

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**Author:** ![Dennis\_Pence](https://discourse.igkt.net/user_avatar/discourse.igkt.net/dennis_pence/32/5883_2.png) [@Dennis\_Pence](https://discourse.igkt.net/u/Dennis_Pence)\
**Post date:** [5 November 2026 22:28 UTC](https://discourse.igkt.net/t/a-search-engine-inside-the-ashley-book-of-knots/10302/5 "2026-11-05T22:28:41Z")

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Thanks JeansB!

I was able to download the Word file from the Google place.

Since I was working on this knot for other purposes, I could not help but to notice that you have

Ground Line Hitch #277, #278, #1680  
Picket Line Hitch #154, 1676  
(one particular) Sack Knot #1243

In the text for most of these, Ashley notes that they are all the same knot. (It even appears once more as a particular Miller's Knot in #390.)

I realize that this is exactly what you want others to contribute. One question is should all numbers appear all places, together with alternative names? Another question is how to handle names like Sack Knot and Miller's Knot which are really knot categories in particular applications rather than a particular knot?

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**Author:** ![Dan\_Lehman](https://discourse.igkt.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Dan\_Lehman](https://discourse.igkt.net/u/Dan_Lehman)\
**Post date:** [5 November 2026 23:06 UTC](https://discourse.igkt.net/t/a-search-engine-inside-the-ashley-book-of-knots/10302/6 "2026-11-05T23:06:35Z")

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> [@Dennis\_Pence](#):
>
> In the text for most of these, Ashley notes that they are all the same knot. (It even appears once more as a particular Miller's Knot in #390.)

And really, it is much the same structure,  
though tying is reversed to what Ashley  
shows for both the GLH & PLH, in #3794,  
"Lacing knot". The image & somewhat  
the text seem to have been copied from  
Lester Griswold's Handicraft --which book  
Ashley praises in 2 places (while curiously  
not acknowledging that it has a 52pp chapter  
on knotting, written by James M. Drew!).

The Miller's Knot is arguably (and problematically  
for me, trying to build a Tangle+Loading=Knot  
theory) not loaded; and the hitches loaded on  
one end, and the mid-line Lacing Knot loaded  
sort of (lightly) on both ends. This last version  
shows up often in commercial fishing rigging,  
such as binding two ropes into a single headline.

--dl\*  
====

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Seaserpent](https://discourse.igkt.net/user_avatar/discourse.igkt.net/seaserpent/32/6998_2.png) [@Seaserpent](https://discourse.igkt.net/u/Seaserpent)\
**Post date:** [6 November 2026 00:26 UTC](https://discourse.igkt.net/t/a-search-engine-inside-the-ashley-book-of-knots/10302/7 "2026-11-06T00:26:17Z")

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Thanks Dennis, and thanks Dan for the #3794 note.

My question mainly concerns our [ABOK](https://discourse.igkt.net/t/9845) Index here on the forum, so I checked how these numbers sit there today:

> [@ABOK Index](https://discourse.igkt.net/t/10238):
>
> [ABOK](https://discourse.igkt.net/t/9845) index Unofficial page-lookup index for The Ashley Book of Knots (1944, corrected-edition page numbering), split into 59 parts: by chapter (parts 1-25) and alphabetically by name (parts 26-59). Contains no text from the book. Use the contents list on the right to jump to a chapter. Naming topics – help wanted Help wanted: many figures only have a descriptive † label, not a name from the book. If you know a name, please reply in the chapter's naming topic below. [ABOK names wanted – Chapt…](https://discourse.igkt.net/t/abok-names-wanted-chapter-1-1-148/10239)

- Picket-Line Hitch is listed at #154 and #1676
- Ground Line Hitch at #277 and #1680 (#278 only has the descriptive label "tied with the end")
- Miller's Knot at #390
- Sack Knot at #1243, with JeanB's alternative names including Artilleryman's Picket-Line Hitch and Fisherman's Ground Line Hitch
- Lacing Knot #3794 stands alone so far

So in the index the same name already gathers some of the numbers. What's missing is Ashley's own cross-links when the printed names differ: he calls #278 identical with #1676, reversed, and #390 the same as the Sack Knot #1243.

My suggestion for the index:

1. Keep each [ABOK](https://discourse.igkt.net/t/9845) number as its own entry, with the name Ashley prints there.
2. Where Ashley himself says two knots are the same, or the same formation reversed, add a short "see also #..." to both, without merging them.
3. Keep Sack Knot and Miller's Knot as names attached to their numbers, with a note that Ashley calls the names interchangeable, rather than collapsing them into one entry.

I'd like to hear your preferences before I change anything, especially on how far to go with "see also", and whether #3794 should get a "related structure" note, as Dan suggests, even though Ashley doesn't make that link himself.

Niclas