Rope, knots, and cordage. Different ones are useful for different things. But which knot trumps all the others? Praise God and come find out.
Who Cares About Tying Rope?
Why is knowing how to tie knots and rope so important? There are many reasons this skill can help you. Knowing how to tie rope can save your life in these following ways:
- carrying stuff in difficult terrains
- hunting, like fishing or trapping game
- save family & friends from a burning house or storm
- building sturdy shelter that won’t collapse
Terms to Reduce Confusion
There’s some fundamental, basic terms you need to know to tie rope like an all-star. Let’s get started.
- A knot is known as an entanglement of flexible material, like rope. It is when two ends of the same rope are secured together.
- Cool. Now what’s a hitch? That’s when one rope end is attached to a post, ring, or another rope.
- Okay, bet. There’s this thing called a bend. That’s where two knots connect two separate ropes.
- When it comes to knots, lashings are not striking in anyway. As a matter of fact, it’s when a rope secures two or more spars or poles together.
- Finally, it’s time to learn about hitch game. A hitch is a knot that connects a rope to an object.
That’s it. Now you’ll have an easier time learning how to tie rope. Here are some situations where you’ll need specific knots.
If You’re a Noob, But Want to Know How to Tie Most Knots
The Clove Hitch
If you can’t tie a clove hitch, then good luck tying just about any other knot. Why? It’s the basis of many other knots and it’s easy to tie. On top of that, you can pre-tie it before you actually need it. Finally, you can lengthen or shorten the rope without untying the knot.
Why would anyone use this knot?
- hanging a bear bag
- anchoring a shelter without slipping or getting loose
- a fast way to securing rope to a tree or post
- raise or lower heavy objects without untying your rope
- works best under pressure, like keep a tarp or tent stretched
It’s a temporary jam knot. It can easily get loose unless you have weight pulling from both of its sides. Undoing it is as easy as removing the weight load from one side.
Be aware that this knot is not as strong as a figure eight or bowline knots. This knot being tied objects that have to constant movement or rotation or rotation will loosen knots and unanchor your shelter.
Square Knot
Wanna get an idea on how to tie other knots? You’re in luck. The square knot gives you the basics of knowing how to tie other knots once you figure it out.
Also known as the reef knot, the square knot‘s there if you need it for something where a protruding knot won’t work. Why is this? It’s flat when you tie it. The downside is that it’s not very secure so don’t use it for critical items, like tying two pieces of rope together or for carrying heavy stuff. You can use it to tie rope around a static object, tying bandages, reefing or furling sails, or tying plastic bags shut without worrying.
When trying to tie this knot all you need to remember is this phrase: right over left, left over right.
If You’re a Strongman and Need Strongman Rope to Spot You
The Figure Eight Knot
If you need a strong knot look no further than the figure eight knot. It’s the strongest knot as it can hold up to 85% of your rope’s strength, making it unlikely to break while using it. It has three main variations: simple figure eight, a figure-eight follow through, and the figure-eight on a bight.
Figure Eight Knot Variation Uses
The Simple Figure Eight Knot
The simple figure eight knot is a basic knot useful when made at the end of a rope. It keeps it from sliding off of the rope. It’s secure and can’t be undone by pressure. On top of that, you can make big knots along a rope that lock into to place. This is perfect for climbing.
The Figure Eight-Follow Through
The figure eight follow-through knot variation is the most useful for climbing. It’s made by adding a secure loop at the rope’s end. Very useful when you need to haul someone up safely. However, if the weather’s bad, like rainy or windy, then it makes a poor foothold since you’ll likely slip off of it.
The Figure Eight on a Bight
The figure-eight on a bight knot variation is great for the following situations:
- anchoring or pinning stuff down
- carrying gear up or down a steep incline
- tying these knots in the middle of the rope for hand or foot holds
Some things that aren’t fun about this knot is that it’s hard to untie, especially if used repeatedly. It also uses a lot of rope length. Some common mistakes with this knot is adding an extra loop to the figure. You can fix this by looking at it by eye.On the plus side it’s easy to tell if it’s tied wrong with a quick examination.
When You Need Strong AND Dependable Knots
Quite simply, the bowline knot is a loop knot considered to be the king of knots. The most dependable knot, due to how secure it is under load. You are about to learn about the bowline knot. Check out its long list of features: it holds thousands of pounds of pressure, you can tie it with one hand, and its easier to untie than the figure eight knot. With more pressure on the loop this knot will tighten. You can use it for lots of things, such as:
- hanging stuff from trees
- tying it around things, like a pole or a tree
- tying it around yourself
- tying it with one hand in emergencies
- making a loop at your rope’s end
- securing a trap
- linking two rope ends together
It does have its downsides. It’s undependable for climbing because of human error. It’s not hard to tie this knot wrong because it’s easily untied if pulled sideways. To stop this simply make a stopper knot under the bowline knot to make it safer to climb with.
When You’re Short on Rope
The Sheet Bend Knot is in the Building
You’ll sometimes be short on rope. No problem. Once you learn how to make a sheet bend knot you can tie two pieces of rope together safely, even if the two pieces are different sizes or material. You can use several strands of cord to make a cargo net. Cargo nets are the basic building blocks for things like hammocks, stretchers, snowshoes, and fishnets.
The downsides of this knot is that it’s not very strong, as its breaking strength is only 55%. This knot can loosen if the rope is smooth or if there’s not much pressure on the knot.
With different rope sizes you can make a double sheet bend knot with smaller or more flexible cord to make your knot secure.
A common mistake with this knot is the left-hand sheet bend. This is where you tie a sheet bend with the short end of one rope on the knot’s wrong side. The fix is to ensure both rope ends that are free are on the same side of the knot.
When You’re Short on Rope, but a Closet Sheet Bend Hater
Looks like you need to tie two ends of rope together to make things like nets or mats. That’s where the carrick bend comes in. It works the best when the two ropes have a similar size. It’s a very strong and secure rope as long as you ensure the ends of the two ropes oppose each other diagonally when tied. Not doing this will make the ropes slip, bend, and become undone. If you want an easy time undoing this knot you can remove your load and then try undoing it.
When You Need a Knot That Slides Up or Down the Cord
If you need to shelter under a tarp the taut-line hitch knot is for you. Its benefits is that is slides up and down the cord and you can tighten it. You can keep the rope tight and change the amount of pressure. It’s easy to untie when you need to.
You’ll find this knot using in the following situations:
- sheltering under a tarp
- string a rope between two trees and laying your tarp over it
To make a tarp shelter you’ll need a firm tight rope to hang it from. A taut-line knot lets you loop to slide and grip, making it easier to nail down a big waterproof tarp.
While this knot is suited for easy-duty tasks, there are downsides. This knot won’t work for getting and keeping a rope tight. It often needs adjustments. There are many ways to weaken this taut-line hitch, like accidentally reversing the direction of rotation when tying the knot. You can check this by ensure the rope ends facing the same way.
The taut hitch knot has its variations. These are the midshipmen’s hitch and the Magnus hitch. The midshipmen’s hitch is the most secure variation, but it’s harder to adjust after going through heavy tension. The Magnus hitch is harder to twist with a higher chance of slipping. In the last part you can reverse the direction when tying the last half hitch to tie the more secure variation of this hitch.
If You Need to Join Sticks at Right Angles
Peep this. The square lash knot is made to join sticks and poles at right angles. This is good for making a frame, shelter, scaffolding, or a fence. On top of that it is very strong and can carry heavy weight.
You may see poles sliding over each other while under load. No problem. You can use a diagonal lash if your poles tend to spring away from each other while under load.
When You Need to Two Poles End-to-End
The shear lash, also known as the “sheer lash”, you’ll use this knot to secure two load-bearing poles together. You can also secure two poles end-to-end to make one long pole. Once you make it you can spread two poles and may have to shove a jam stick in between the poles to secure them more. Here’s some more situations where you’ll use it:
- making A-frames
- fixing broken poles
- securing a piece to a weaker pole
- lengthening a pole
Rope That Slips One-Way, But Secures Itself Going the Other Way
You’ve been looking for a “slip and grip” knot that is the easiest to tie. You also need a knot that’s good for climbing and safely moving heavy loads up and down a rope. The distel hitch knot just showed up. Don’t be surprised if this knot slides around on a rope in one direction, but grips securely when pulled in the other direction.
Summary
Different situations call for different knots. What’s an odd situation you’ve had to use rope in? If so, which knot did you tie? How secure was it?
Leave your answer in the comments below and share the content. God bless.
