The "Inlin"

Practical Knots
1

Here’s how to make the Inlin:

(1) As if you were going to make a Butterfly Loop using the wrap-the-rope-around-your-hand method, wrap the rope (with an adequately long working end at your right) around your hand to make a three-coil-ring coil. From left to right, go front and back, front and back, and front and back.

(2) Take the working end, and thread it through the coil, from right to left, under all three front coil rings, leaving a large enough loop hanging at the right.

(3) Take the working end, bring it in front of the hanging standing part, under (but not through) the hanging loop at the right, and through the coil again, from right to left.

(4) Finally, thread the working end through the small internal loop that was created when you brought the working end in front of the hanging standing part, so that the working end follows alongside the standing part.

Here’s how to tighten, dress, and set the Inlin:

(1) It is convenient to place the knot on a flat surface to facilitate the tightening procedure.

(2) Pull simultaneously on the working end and a loop leg, and then on the working end and the other loop leg.

(3) Pull simultaneously on the standing part and a loop leg, and then on the standing part and the other loop leg.

(4) It is convenient to repeat steps (2) and (3).

(5) If the Inlin’s symmetry is not immediately apparent after tightening, then move the external part that crosses the knot from top to bottom around, until the symmetry is discovered. This external crossing part is to be the knot’s front side.

(6) The optimal situation is to have equidistant “spaces” or “gaps” in the middle of the knot’s back side, by pulling simultaneously on the standing part and the appropriate loop leg once the knot’s symmetry has been established.

JCS

inln100712nm13531.gif

2

Now this one is more akin to some things I worked on some decade or so back.
My design goal was to try to have a gradual curvature in the SPart, and I saw
a sort of spiral such as shown here as a way to achieve this.

I put this Inlin to the test in some (30#?) monofilament fishline,
first against the Anglers/Perfection Loop (Ashley’s #1017 IIRC),
and --having anticipated a follow-on test if successful, with ample line–
then against a Double Overhand (Strangle eye knot, one could say).

.:. The Inlin is still tied, not the others. !? – one test, for what it’s worth.

–dl*

3

Using common, inexpensive, widely available, 3/8", hollow-braid polypropylene–which is notorious for its ability to slip and its problematic retention–I tested five loops that have recently been posted about. Here are the results, in the order of best performance to worst performance. (The higher the number, the worse the loop’s performance.) The main purpose of the test was to determine each loop’s performance RELATIVELY, and primarily with respect to LOAD SHIFTING:

(1) Scared-Man’s Bowline (Left-Handed) (The Big Winner)
(2) Double Bowline (Left-Handed)
(3) Bowline (Left-Handed)
(4) Front-Back Bowline (Left-Handed)
(5) Inlin (The Big Loser)

To be polite, the Inlin slipped; to be more accurate, it ran like a Granny; to be fair, I was able to make it hold rather well–at first; but, the polypropylene’s retention waited for the right moment to strike, and strike it did. When the Inlin became slightly loose before the polypropylene’s retention was able to set itself adequately to the knot, pulling on the standing part and one of the loop legs made it run like a Granny. Since the Inlin cannot be made stopper-flush (i.e., tailless, and so that a stopper can assist with security), and since its loop is unable to be precisely sized and resized, the Inlin is . . . a bad loop.

The Front-Back Bowline performed remarkably better in every respect. I was able to make its working-end loop leg slip more easily than that of the Bowline’s, but that was ONLY when 100% of the pull was on that leg, and 0% on the other, and then it happened only sometimes. Load shifting will not likely cause a 100% and 0% situation. A snag could, I suppose–but not a snag with a load. Think about it.

The Bowline performed a little better than did the Front-Back Bowline.

The Double Bowline did not slip at all, though it . . . flexed a little. (When the polypropylene’s retention caused it to loosen, it was in danger of slipping, but it would catch itself quickly and rather well. I got it to slip slightly only with repeated tugs in the context of the retention problem.)

The Scared-Man’s Bowline did not slip; it barely even “flexed.” Retention problems were non-existent. It made some creaking noises and looked quite good in the polypropylene. Further, the Two Half Hitches beneficially influence the shape and position of the standing neck, and the position of the Bowline’s coil. THIS is the Bowline to beat. Is it a Bowline? Is it Two Half Hitches with a funny coil around its working end and loop leg? Who cares? It’s the winner.

By the way, I wanted to address something: The Front-Back Bowline really doesn’t “waste” anything, it merely utilizes the applied load in a way that is different from the way that the applied load is utilized in other Bowlines. Think about it: The more the load is applied, the more the eye grips the loop leg. The more the eye grips the loop leg, the more its position on the loop leg is guaranteed. The more its position is guaranteed, the more the neighboring U-shape is guaranteed to stay pinched–SINCE IT WAS DRESSED AND SET PROPERLY IN THE FIRST PLACE BEFORE LOADING. If the knot was dressed and set properly, then the pinch of the U-shape will be adequate to take the knot’s security over the rope’s safe working load (except in those rare cases when there is a 100% pull on the working-end loop leg).

JCS