THE CURE FOR THE COMMON BOWLINE

[X11]

@alpineer post:4

Tail enhancement …

Notice that you can not even pronounce what I say : double collar !
Do you believe that the collar of the “common” bowline is a "tail enhancement " ? If you do, you have not understood what a colar is - especially the “proper” collar of the “common”, or of the “Eskimo” bowline.

I have to repeat it once more, because, although it is such a simple, self-evident thing, it is not realized by knot tyers : The bowline has two parts : a nipping structure, tied on the Standing Part before / ante the eye, and a collar structure, tied after / post the eye. No one of them can work in isolation, without the other.

1. Without a nipping structure, i.e., some curved segment of the Standing part which serves as an anchor point, the bowline could possibly be a noose, but not a fixed loop : Any, however tightly attached on the Standing Part collar structure would have found no obstacle to its slippage along it, towards the tip of the eye. THAT is the main function of the nipping structure, provide a stable, not-slipping anchor point where the returning eye leg can be attached on.
2. Without a collar structure, i.e., some U turn of the direct continuation of the returning eye leg, no nipping structure, however strong, would have been able to hold fast. The collar structure enables a large portion of the tensile forces that come through the eye to be “uploaded” on the Standing part, so the only thing that remains to be done by the nipping structure it to hold the second eye of the collar, the tail - a much easier job. ( The Sheepshank, the Captain Mullin s knot, and the Gleipnir do not have a collar, but they take advantage of the mechanical advantage, and they work effectively because they have more separate nipping loops, arranged the one after the other, or they distribute the tensile forces coming from the eye(s) to more than one segments. )

There is a common misconception, which underestimates the role of the collar, to just a simple way to stabilize the nipping loop, so it does not open up. We tend to forget that the collar structure is what keeps the returning eye leg to be and to remain attached on the Standing Part, in the first place, i.e., what enables the bowline to be and to remain a loop, in the first place ! The stabilization of the nipping structure by the collar structure is very important, indeed, but it is not the main / principal reason the collar structure itself exists : The main reason for the existence of a collar structure is to connect the returning eye leg on the Standing Part, for KnotGod s sake ! To make a loop !
I take the liberty to repeat here something that was written quite some time ago - but, evidently, not read !

@xarax post:176

What is a bowline ? An end-of-line loop that happens to be fixed, when we manage to stabilize a TIB nipping structure tied on the standing part - so it does not deform into a helix, and does not “walk” down to the tip of the loop. The ancestor of Dan Lehman figured out that he could not attach the tail on the straight tensioned line of the Standing Part … because any straight tensioned line is very smooth, very slippery… so what does he do ? He makes a standing part segment a little less straight, a little more curved, a little more convoluted, so his tail will be stuck on a obstacle, and will not slip alongside the standing part. He tries a simple turn, and he tries to make this turn stay as it is, and where it is…that is, not deform into a straight line again, and not revolve and walk down towards the tip of the loop. Trying all the possible ways to achieve this, he passes the tail through this curved standing part structure, he passes it around it, over and under it, anyway he can. The “proper” collar is not but one of the possible such solutions, but there are many others. So, all those solutions to this problem, the stabilization of the nipping structure in its form and its position on the standing part, are “bowlines”.
My ancestor was thinking otherwise. He has this end, the tail, and he tries to fix it on the standing part. He encircles it with the standing part, with the hope that this embracing will be enough, will grab the tail and he will not need anything else…Nooope ! His tail slips through the nipping loop, like his wife from his hug…so what he does ? If once is not enough, try it twice ! ( With women, one has to go to bigger numbers, of course… ). He passes the tail another time through the same loop, driving it along any route he could think of. So he ties a Myrtle loop, a common bowline and an Eskimo bowline. Then, he chooses the bowline, simply because this solution is holding better than the others, without any additional structure. The problem of stabilization of the nipping loop did not even crossed his mind, because he sees the whole problem as a problem of attaching the tail on the standing part, and he makes the standing part turn around the tail to achieve this, to grab the tail with a tight hug. He was lucky, because his solutions managed to stabilize the standing part structure at the same time they were nipping the tail sufficiently well. And the simplest and best solution to his problem, was the bowline, and the bowline s “proper” collar that passes through the same point inside the hug twice, following the same route.

If we wish to retain the marvellous balance of the two parts of the bowline, the nipping loop AND the collar, we should better improve both, not only the one or the other. An improved bowline with a very complex nipping structure, but with the same simple collar structure the “common” bowline has, is not a well balanced, harmonious knot - this simple “single” collar, a relic, undeveloped structure from the initial knot we were supposed to improve however efficiently we can, is put under too much strain, and it is abandoned to address any increased new requirements with a safe complex nipping structure wrapped around its neck only, but not embraced with it in any more effective, and more clever way.

Well, I think I have said more than enough ! My one-liner is this : Do you really wish to improve the bowline ? Improve the nipping loop AND the collar, not only the one or the other. A more complex nipping structure should come hand to hand / embraced with a more complex collar structure, otherwise the balance and efficient co-operation of the two structures that were proved so effective even in the case of the “common” bowline would be lost.
I am not saying that this m.Tresse is not an improved bowline, of course! All that I am saying is that you made the one step, you improved the nipping structure, but you should also make the second one, and improve the collar structure as well.