My first post, so apologies if I’m covering old ground or asking an obvious question, but a practical situation got me think today.
A pair of shoes I’ve only worn once has suffered a knot so tight I can no longer untie the laces, and thus wear the shoes. The laces match the colour of the shoes, so cutting them off isn’t practical as new laces wouldn’t match perfectly.
With such fine knots, are there any tools for working open a very tight knot? I’m aware of tools for rope working, but nothing on this scale. Any knowledge on this subject?
A challenge I am sure many have entertained before, though nobody wants to talk about failures.
I have some tools that I use for various knotting tasks and the main one for a situation like yours is “round nose pliers”. I also have some fairly blunt large needles to work between the parts of the knot. A sharp needle will pierce the cord and you’ll get nowhere if it happens to penetrate the adjacent cord. Plus they hurt when you miss.
I try to exploit the easiest to get under turn first with the needle and then use the pliers.
Hemostats are another great tool, though their serrated jaws can mar or damage fibers. Using them carefully, you can sometimes do the task.
And yet your foot escaped the tightly knotted shoe?
Presumably, you tied a normal shoelace knot,
which is either a square/reef knot or a granny;
and then some how got a tail snagged in one
of the bights/loops, which when drawn down
in hopes of untying, nipped the tail and … locked!
(And then pulled even harder, eh!? )
With such fine knots, are there any tools for working open a very tight knot?
As SS369 suggests, some fine but stout pliers can
do wonders. Also, something reasonably strong
with a sharp point might be able to serve qua
marlinespike and enable you to pry the knot loose
enough to work looser and untie. E.g., just today
I used the point of a small drawing compass to poke
through a small big of thread --not a matter of
tightness, for me, though, just a narrow gap.
You might use pliers to hold ... while you probe
with a sharp point to pry. In some cases, just
compressing the knot with broad pliers might
effect some change of shape that enables loosening.
YMMV.
Thank you for the replies. I’ve just looked through other threads and realised my first forum entry isn’t a particularly grande scenario. But if knotting is derived from a very practical past time (fishing, etc) I suppose such a practical challenge is fitting.
Thanks for the advise and I’ll see what works.
Oh, and the clear up the situation. I pulled the shoe off with quite a lot of force without really thinking about it. Then realised the problem I had subsequently created. So I think my pride is at stake here!
)