I am an Old guy but kind of a bebeginner
Yes, the feel of infinity comes way sooner than reaching
into the hundreds, or thousands!
There is some hope in seeking the how&why, the workings
of knots which finds manifestation in the multitudes.
(-;
As a rookie, it is too difficult to decide on the best knot for a specific use or purpose. Not only that but lets say there are a dozen ( pic a number) specific purposes then we could focus on learning only the best ones that are used or needed the most. I see many handbooks or cheat sheets that provide the most used dozen knots etc… like the Boy Scouts but there appears to be many new knots that have come along that are superior.
I cant keep up. I spent most of my life getting along with many round turns and lots of sequential half hitches. Recently I found a really cool way to tie
a double dragon loop so that has replaced my bowline knot as far as a loop at the end of the rope goes. I’d like to see on this website… maybe a dozen purposes and let everyone vote as to which knot is the best for each purpose .
so I can overlook all the rest and maybe make my own little cheatsheet booklet..
3 Likes
I’d like to see on this website… maybe a dozen purposes and let everyone vote as to which knot is the best for each purpose
A difficult task because every person has their own personal use cases and bias.
I’m a technical roping professional (rope access, vertical rescue, working at height, rock climbing, etc) - so my bias points to life critical applications. I use a small subset of knots for various tasks involving risk of falls from height.
So I am biased (for example) to knots such as the Butterfly (Ashley #1053) and Figure 8 eye knot (Ashley #1047). I also use ‘slide and grip hitches’ and ‘load control hitches’ such as the ‘Munter hitch’ (Ashley #206).
A Fisherman or a sailor would answer from their personal bias - eg the alleged ‘best’ method of attaching a hook to fishing line or the ‘best’ knot to secure a sail on a yacht.
Authors such as Budworth have written knot books that divide knots into ‘occupations/activities’ (eg mountaineering, fishing, rancher/cattle station/cowboy, etc - all of which are essentially use cases.
Q. What is the best 4WD vehicle (‘SUV’ is the term in the USA I think)?
Arnold Schwarzenegger would answer ‘Hummer’, or perhaps ‘Cyber truck’.
A rancher/cattle station operator in Australia would answer Toyota Landcruiser.
I would love to see a series of openly opinionated topics by our community members detailing their favourite anythings - knots, ropes, tying methods, tools, fancywork, etc.
There is no ‘right answer’ to knots - but we can showcase the wide variety of opinions we have here.
If you want a set of starting knots that are updated compared to old Boy Scouts books (for example the Constrictor rather than a Clove Hitch) then here’s a great little worksheet by the Surrey Branch of the IGKT
surrey_six_worksheets.pdf (846.3 KB)
Original link: https://surreyknots.org.uk/surrey6.html
60 years of bowlines seems to come up short doesn’t it? Upward and onward.