As a tool, how highly do you rate knots.

hushnel

hushnel

Joined
Feb 3, 2009
Messages
727
I’ve been thinking about this since coming to this forum. I really don’t see a whole lot of talk about knots, it could be I joined in a low point in knot discussion. Or maybe I’m just assuming too much and our repertoire of knots is so high and common we don’t need to discuss them. I don’t know.

In my mind the application of knots, lines, splices and lashings are paramount to bushcraft or survival. The wrong knot can get you in plenty of trouble. Many knots can be used for specific purposes some do better than others.

Knots are like a tool that you can count on when your back is turned. They do their job, can be undone with ease, if the correct knot is used, and are so myriad that they can cover many, many applications.

What knots would you consider need to be in your BOB ready at a moments notice?

Some I don’t know by name, but know the knot and its uses. I have knots I can tie and use but have never seen or can find online, these are mostly decorative and not important.

An incomplete online resource but I did find the names to a few I couldn’t recall the names of.
 
I agree people never talk about knots too much on here. I'm not sure why that is, but they are definitely an important aspect to survival. I seem to get by with just a few basic types of knots and usually only 1 or 2 knots per group. Lashing, loops, slip knots, and splicing. Other than that you can just tie things in a big knot if you need them to hold. Its usually not that crucial unless you are relying on it to hold your weight such as in mountain climbing.
 
I never put much time into learning knots. I've spent months at a time in the wilds hunting, kayaking/canoeing and fishing and gotten by with mabey 5 knots in my toolbox. I think you can get by fairly well without a merit badge in knotwork.

I've been trying to learn more as a hobby but I just don't put that much weight into it.

Now if I were doing some climbing or heavy rafting or something where my life depended on my knots, I'd throw a bit more time at it.
 
Other than that you can just tie things in a big knot if you need them to hold
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Check out the Constrictor Knot It’s a simple knot that Ashley rated as permanent, it can be used to keep the end of laid line from unraveling along with finishing of a lashing you don’t want to loosen and uses very little line in it's making.

Ya know I don't think I got the merit badge in knot tying :) It is kind of a hobby I suppose.
I know they aren’t as interesting or as immediate as knifes or fire making how too but they are a tool that takes up very little space :)
 
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I suck at knots, even in scouts, it took me forever to get that badge and I forgot most of them. There are only a couple that I know and use, I'd like to know more, but have a very short attention span for learning them.
 
Here is the way I look at it.

In the woods, you can get by with just a few knots, kind of like you can get by with just one knife. Life is a lot easier if you know more knots, just the way it would be easier with a knife, multitool, and axe.
 
chewbacca said:
Here is the way I look at it.

In the woods, you can get by with just a few knots, kind of like you can get by with just one knife. Life is a lot easier if you know more knots, just the way it would be easier with a knife, multitool, and axe.
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Perfect!

I agree.
 
but have a very short attention span for learning them.
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Actually it's that way with everbody and knots, I used to teach scouts the knots they needed for their first badge, long, long ago :) I was a young lad at the time and it was work.

In the woods, you can get by with just a few knots, kind of like you can get by with just one knife. Life is a lot easier if you know more knots, just the way it would be easier with a knife, multitool, and axe.
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That is perfect and to the point, the main difference being they weigh a lot less :)
 
I've been trying to teach myself knots one or two at at time. A couple of years ago I thought I had learned 4 new ones, then through not practicing forgot how to tie them one month later. Now I try to tie them once a day, hoping that's enough to ingrain them in my memory after a year or two. But I still don't know that many. I only knew maybe 2 for most of my life, and only recently have tried to add more. For the past few months I'm trying to ingrain myself with 6 others through the daily routine. I have to force myself to take the couple of minutes each day to tie them, otherwise I know I'll forget.

I do find that once I learn some, new ones seem easier to learn.
 
I do find that once I learn some, new ones seem easier to learn.
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Another truth of knots. Some are just so usefull and cool that they are picked up a lot faster than one that has fewer uses.

The bowline on the bite is one I have to remember how to tie but the Alpine Butterfly was burned in the day I learned it. I tie it differently than the link but it's the same knot.
 
I used to always have a piece of rope or twine in my pocket as a kid and if I got bored I would tie knots. I have let my knowledge slip a bit but really want to get it back up again.

As others have mentioned, you can get by with a few knots but there are some essentials and there are those knots that are like that one item in your first aid kit, you'll probably never need it but if you do, then you really do.

I used to rock climb and I think I was honestly more into the riggings than the climbing itself. I'm wierd, I know.

Charlie
 
I haven't put much time into knots, and I probably won't. Knots are the kind of thing that I would forget after about a week. It wouldn't really be much trouble to just keep going through them, but if I could get by with only a few knots, and learn more about other essentials, I believe I should do that. I rather know more, with fewer knots in the arsenal, than khave all the knowledge of knots, but not know as much. However, I am sure there are many that can learn once, and forget about the knot until they need it and still understand how to use it effectively. I am just not that person.
 
I wish I knew more knots, but that is one thing I never really learned well, or put any effort into learning. I use only one knot when fishing, and tend to use if for rope as well. Or, I tie enough overhand and made up knots, that I'm pretty sure it wont come loose...
 
hushnel said:
Another truth of knots. Some are just so usefull and cool that they are picked up a lot faster than one that has fewer uses.

The bowline on the bite is one I have to remember how to tie but the Alpine Butterfly was burned in the day I learned it. I tie it differently than the link but it's the same knot.
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I tie the butterfly differently as well. Make a bite in the roop, twist it twice, fold it under and tuck it through itself. That is the only knot to use to put a loop in the middle of a rope. You can actually untie it after it's been used on a hitch or whatever.

Charlie
 
The thing with knots is that in everyday routine use, you only need a few, and the ones you don't use get forgotten. So my list of knots is basic and short: bowline, round turn and two half-hitches, taut-line hitch, transport hitch, trucker's hitch, reef knot, sheet bend, clove hitch, timber hitch, prusik. I think that's about it, except for fishing knots.

I like nifty knots, but honestly, I don't think I've run into a situation that would require any more knots than those.

(Oops -- forgot the figure eight.)
 
I get a certain satisfaction out of using the right knot for the right job.


For example, the other day I was using a pocket chain saw to cut down a limb from a tree in my backyard. Constrictor to a rock to throw one rope over the limb, then slipped sheet bends to each end of the saw loops. I put an alpine butterfly in for a quick pull handle on each side and sawed away. Then the limb came down, and I had an easy untie, & recoiled my ropes.


To me it's as rewarding as making a fire with a firesteel.
 
Yep, thats the way I tie it. The bowline on the bite does the same thing, I can tie it I just can't pull it out of my head as fast.
 
Stormdrane's Blog - http://stormdrane.blogspot.com/

Animated Knots by Grog - www.animatedknots.com/
Boondoggle Man - www.boondoggleman.com
Chris Reeve Coil Knot - www.chrisreeve.com/knotright.htm or knotleft.htm
Digital Cowboy - www.geocities.com/dgtlcwby/
Folsom's Knots - www.folsoms.net/knots/
Frayed Knot Arts - www.frayedknotarts.com/index.html
International Guild of Knot Tyers - www.igkt.net/index.php
Knot Heads World Wide - www.khww.net/news.php
Ropers Knots Page - http://www.realknots.com/knots/index.htm
 
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