Useful Knots

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Useful Knots The Most Useful Rope Knots for the Average Person to Know The Most Useful Rope Knots for the Average Person to Know Home Page 10/17/2005 See the "Modification History" at the bottom of this page for the most recent changes that have been made. For your convenience, you can now download this entire website (all 9 articles) in a single .ZIP file: UsefulRopeKnots.zip (4,091K). To unzip this file, try downloading a free evaluation version of WinZip at WinZip's Download Page. Be sure to come back here periodically to check for any changes to these articles. Added on 10/17/2005 (10/17/2005) Introduction I'm not quite sure what it is, but there is something fascinating about knots. Thousands of knots have been invented over the millennia, there are multitudes of books and websites entirely devoted to knots and teaching how to tie knots and knot artwork and the mathematics of knots and the history of knots, there are computer programs for displaying knots and showing how to tie knots, there are knot tyers' magazines, newsletters, discussion groups, clubs, associations, guilds, and so on. But with this overload of information on thousands of knots, how is the average person supposed to know which knot is the best and safest to use when he needs to tie something? After all, using the wrong knot, or using a poorly-tied knot, has led to many accidents, injuries, deaths, and destruction of property. People who use ropes, fishing lines, yarn, etc., in their work or in their recreation (such as sailors, rock climbers, fishermen, weavers, farmers, search-and-rescue workers, and so on) are familiar with various knots that they use frequently. But for the average person who only uses knots occasionally, it is helpful to learn just a few knots which are easy to remember, easy to tie, etc., yet are strong and secure and safe for a wide variety of purposes. By learning a few good knots and practicing them now and then, you will be well prepared for those times when you need to tie secure knots in rope or string. file:///C|/Users/Buse%20Family/Downloads/Knots/UsefulRopeKnots/Index.htm (1 of 11) [3/12/2010 9:38:24 AM] The Most Useful Rope Knots for the Average Person to Know Background Information Every rope has a "breaking strength," which means that if we place a heavy enough strain on a rope then it will eventually break. The Safe Working Load of a rope is generally considered to be one-fifth of the rope's breaking strength, according to BoatSafe.com. Knots almost always reduce the breaking strength of a rope, sometimes by 25%, 50%, or more. At my local hardware store, the highest-rated rope that I found has a Safe Working Load of 450 pounds, but most of the ropes I saw were rated at under 300 pounds. If a rope has a Safe Working Load of 300 pounds, then we might assume that it should easily be able to lift an injured 200-pound man to safety, right? But if we tie a knot in the rope to help lift the injured man, and if the strength of that knot is rated at 60%, then the Safe Working Load of our rope has suddenly been reduced to 180 pounds (60% of 300 pounds). The injured 200-pound man is now beyond the Safe Working Load of our rope because of the knot we tied. Modern ropes used by rock climbers often have a breaking strength of several thousand pounds when they are new, but what about the rope that you bought at the hardware store or the grocery store (which has been sitting around in your garage forever)? What was its Safe Working Load when it was brand new? How old is that rope now, and how much wear and tear has it been through? How much of a load is your rope capable of holding now? And do you know (or do you remember) how to tie secure knots that won't slip and won't cause your rope to break under a strain or under a series of jerks? Because of these issues, the best type of knot is one which reduces the breaking strength of a rope as little as possible, is easy to remember how to tie properly, is easy to tie, is secure enough not to spill and come loose, is easy to untie even after being under a heavy load, and so on. Knot Strength Ratings Considering the number of people who are trusting their lives to the knots that they tie in ropes (rock climbers, cavers, search-and-rescue workers, etc.), it is surprisingly difficult to find solid research on the strengths of the main knots that are being used. Here is a table which lists the knot strengths that I have been able to find after digging around the Internet. The values listed in this table are referring to the remaining breaking strength of a rope after the particular knot has been tied (every link will open up in a new window to give you more control as you browse around in this website): Adjustable Grip 80% or Hitch more file:///C|/Users/Buse%20Family/Downloads/Knots/UsefulRopeKnots/Index.htm (2 of 11) [3/12/2010 9:38:24 AM] The Most Useful Rope Knots for the Average Person to Know Alpine Butterfly 75% 60% or Bowline 60% 70-75% 70-75% 67-75% 60% 67% more Bowline on the 60% or 60% Bight more Carrick Bend 55-60% 65% Clove Hitch 75% 60-65% 60-65% 60-65% 75% 60-75% Double Bowline (Double-Knotted 70-75% 70-75% Bowline) Double Figure- 82% Eight Loop Double 65-70% 65-70% 65-70% Fisherman's Knot Figure-Eight Knot 50% 75-80% 70-75% 75-80% 48% 81% Figure-Eight Loop 80% 80% Over 5/8" dia. ring Fisherman's Bend 55-65% 70% 60-65% 60-65% 70% (Anchor Bend) Over 4" dia. post 80-90% Inline Figure- 75% Eight Loop Overhand Knot 45% 60-65% 60-65% 60-65% 45% Overhand Loop 85% Reef Knot 45% 43-47% 45% 43-57% 45% 45% (Square Knot) Sheep Shank 45% 45% Sheet Bend 48-58% 55% file:///C|/Users/Buse%20Family/Downloads/Knots/UsefulRopeKnots/Index.htm (3 of 11) [3/12/2010 9:38:24 AM] The Most Useful Rope Knots for the Average Person to Know Timber Hitch 70% 70% Over 5/8" dia. ring 60-70% Two Half Hitches 75% 60-65% 75% 60-75% Over 4" dia. post 65-75% Water Knot 60-70% 60-70% Source Source Source Source Source Source Source * * Geoffrey Budworth is a co-founder of the International Guild of Knot Tyers and was responsible for updating and revising "the knot enthusiasts' bible," The Ashley Book of Knots (by Clifford Ashley). The values in the last column are from Budworth's book, The Complete Book of Knots. I don't know how reliable the above figures are, but this table gives us an idea of how limited (and conflicting) the available data is. Since the sources of the data don't always tell us how the tests were conducted, and they don't always tell us what type of rope was used, and they don't always tell us how old or how worn the ropes were, and they don't always tell us how many times each test was done in order to get a good sampling, etc., we can't really tell how accurate or reliable this information is. The type of rope used, the age of the rope, the condition of the rope, and even such factors as the temperature and humidity in the air can affect these tests (which is why testing labs try to use a controlled environment in which the temperature and humidity can be precisely measured - see for example Rescue System Mechanics, Interim Report), not to mention the fact that if a knot was not tied properly, or was not "dressed" properly, or was not "set" properly (these terms will be explained in a moment), these factors can affect the tests as well. In fact, if the testers made a mark on the rope in order to measure how a knot changes as the strain on the rope increases, that mark on the rope can significantly decrease the breaking strength of the rope (see http://www.tradgirl.com/climbing_faq/safety_3.htm and search for "Magic Marker"). Other considerations are whether the tests were conducted by slowly increasing the strain on the knotted rope to see when the rope breaks, or whether the tests involved a series of hard jerks on the knotted rope, and so on. Because of these considerations, how are we to interpret the above data when one source says that a knot has a 48% strength rating and another source says that the same knot has an 81% strength rating? (See the Figure-Eight Knot above). It is valid to ask, "48% or 81% under what kind of conditions, with what kind of rope, using what kind of test?" As we can see, a single number for the strength rating of a knot (such as 81%) cannot realistically tell us how our particular ropes will stand up under the particular weather conditions of the moment (hot and dry, rainy and wet, freezing cold), under the particular strain which we are placing on the ropes, with the file:///C|/Users/Buse%20Family/Downloads/Knots/UsefulRopeKnots/Index.htm (4 of 11) [3/12/2010 9:38:24 AM] The Most Useful Rope Knots for the Average Person to Know particular way that we have tied that particular knot (properly tied or improperly tied), and so on.
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