Dear Members,
I would like to submit a knot which I discovered while exploring alternative methods for joining two ropes.
To the best of my knowledge, it has not been previously documented, and experienced knotting communities were unable to identify an existing equivalent.
Of course, if anyone knows it already exists and has a name, I would be very curious to learn about it.
The knot is quick to tie, symmetrical in structure, secure under load, and generally easily releasable, though depending on rope type and diameter, it may require a little extra effort to untie.
Please find a link below to a video demonstrating the knot, including the tying sequence.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
I’m happy to hear your feedback.
Kind regards,
T
That knot became known to me circa 1976 as “#4”,
later noted to be of same “tangle” (different loading)
as Ashley’s ABoK #1043 (and one other place, IIRC?),
though he misses the obvious case you & I (et al
–Harry Asher’s “Shake Hands”) have discovered
for ourselves.
It makes a good Eye Knot, as well,
which is NSE (Noue’ Sans Extremites (aka “TIB”)).
One would think that it would’ve popped up as one
of the ways to make the (capsized form) Carrick Bend
more slack-secure --simple tucking of those Tails gets
one some of the interlocked-OHs Joints.
Oh as for “The knot is quick to tie, symmetrical in structure”,
one must wonder how often is symmetry in JOINTS a Good Thing?
–in that the joined ends might be not so much “symmetric” in
their nature (sizes, flexibilities, slickness) !! When making a
round sling, one uses the same physical rope; but in how
many other natural joining of ends are they likely to be
all so alike?! (Sometimes I find myself dressing & setting
a knot with consideration of the behavior of the particular
rope under load; if there are TWO ropes’ particulars to
accommodate, well, there goes (pure) symmetry!
Cheers,
–dl*
==== *
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I agree with Dan that your knot is closely related to what Dr. Harry Asher called a Shake Hands Bend. Here is how to tie a Shake Hands Bend.
Asher recognized that this bend had the same structure as a decorative loop knot in Ashley [#1031, 1048]. But your knot is slightly different. Here I have an image of a loose Shake Hands Bend and an image cut from your video of your bend. The relationship between the two is what we call a full transposition. You interchange the free end and the standing part of both ropes.
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Hi dear all,
The bend presented by MasterTom is called Salty Cracker’s Bend. It has been mentioned in the old forum years ago. You may find some other tying methods of this bend in my knotting folder.
“My Other Tying Methods of Some Known Knots” :
Happy Knotting
yChan
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Thank you all for the thoughtful comments, references, and perspectives shared here — I really appreciate the time and experience that went into them.
The historical context, comparisons, and technical observations are genuinely valuable, and this kind of informed discussion is exactly what I was hoping for when posting.
Many thanks to everyone who contributed.
Regards,
Tom
