Knots

[Feral Bill]

Can't do a trucker's hitch without a loop knot and half hitches.

Yes, you might call it a compound knot.

[H I T C H]

Here is a great knot app for your phone.

http://knots3d.com/


Hitch

[CalebJ]

Truckers hitch is probably the most useful knot I ever learned. If you need to cinch something down this is the one to do it with.
I will give you the most leverage than you can get with just rope.
Very easy to master after a couple tries.

V8

And if anyone needs a tutorial:

[scope]

I'm not a knot person, and DutchWareGear is like crack to me.

[Traveler]

http://www.runnersworld.com/running-...-running-shoes
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q...es&FORM=HDRSC2
There is nothing more important than good feet for a hiker. I'd make an argument that the only knots you actually need to know involve how to lace and tie your shoes to fine tune them for a perfect fit.
There are hundreds of these articles... so poke around yourself... I think trailgroove just did a brief post about it as well.
You can happily walk down near any trail with an empty head and wally world gear successfully if your socks and shoes are good.
Everything else you can make up or improvise, though beyond the basics... the splicing I've picked up through hammock making has proven more useful than anything I learned in scouts on a practical level.

Wisdom.

I thought about this post yesterday as I laced up a pair of trail shoes, which lace/tie differently than similar type steel toe shoes I have, which lace/tie up differently than my trail runners, which lace/tie up differently than my trail boots. Each pair has been dialed in to their specific abilities to my specific needs (feet?). It has become such a habit to discover how new footwear will lace and tie that I don't stop to consider it and the value of this advice to those not aware of the craft.

[wanderlust78]

I find the square knot useless for anything but tying up a package (which I rarely do). Sheet bend does the same thing better and safer. Truckers hitch, and variations of it , are infinitely more useful.

When you tie shoes properly (rabbit ears, not loop swoop and pull), you're doing a slipped square knot.

[perdidochas]

When you tie shoes properly (rabbit ears, not loop swoop and pull), you're doing a slipped square knot.

Well, I have a tendency to do a slipped granny knot on my left shoe, and a slipped square not on my right shoe. How to tell the difference easily? If the loops are parallel to the laces, it's a slipped square knot. If the loops are perpendicular to the laces, it's a slipped granny knot.

[Feral Bill]

When you tie shoes properly (rabbit ears, not loop swoop and pull), you're doing a slipped square knot.

Done properly, the bunny ears go around each other twice. That's not a slipped square knot. I do not recall what the unslipped version is called. Like this https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htm

[zippyd8]

Any figure 8 knot is considered a "life safety" knot. I love the bowline when you need a secure loop.

[zippyd8]

Also the clove hitch is great for securing rope around trees, poles, etc

[cmoulder]

It is also extremely useful to know how to make a clove hitch using loops. Nice for tarp pole loops or for securing that stick used for the PCT bear bag hang... so you don't have to pull 20 feet of cord through the loops in order to tie it.

[Odd Man Out]

I always tie my shoes with this secure knot. It never comes undone.

https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htm

I also learned in Boy Scouts how to tie a bowling with one hand in just a couple seconds. Cool trock.

[Odd Man Out]

That was supposed to be bowline.

[Kaptainkriz]

knots are cool, but what about splices? I'm a fan of Samson:
http://www.samsonrope.com/Pages/SpliceInstructions.aspx

[cmoulder]

I think I could get interested in splices if I needed them... it just seems that there isn't much need for them in backpacking, at least not that I have encountered.

Even with knots, I'm not into the complicated or decorative knots that are not the simplest for a given application.

[Kaptainkriz]

Other than maybe permanent loops on hanging rigging and soft shackles, you're right. I tend to use bowlines and variations of half hitches for just about everything.

I think I could get interested in splices if I needed them... it just seems that there isn't much need for them in backpacking, at least not that I have encountered.

Even with knots, I'm not into the complicated or decorative knots that are not the simplest for a given application.

[rocketsocks]

You's guys are all knots

[Deacon]

You's guys are all knots

That is knot nice!

[blw2]

My dad is a retired Master Chief Boatswains mate....the job in the Coast Guard (or Navy) that is the knot and rigging guy...among other things.

He tried to teach me a bunch of knots as a kid, but mostly they seemed like party tricks. The only ones I remember him using regularly, aside form the halyard or cleat hitch, was the half hitch and occasionally a bowline. He did a version of something similar to a trucker's hitch all the time using variations of half hitches, but I have since learned that a trucker's hitch as shown on animated knots is far easier to untie and therefore better....and this is one of my favorites.

I like the midshipman's hitch (similar to taut-line hitch)

& only just recently I'm learning to embrace the figure 8. I read a thread on a scouting forum about how the figure 8 is superior to the bowline when you need a loop....& I'm tending to agree. It's less likely to be tied wrong like the bowline is, it's easy to identify if it's right, easy to untie, and very safe. Why do the scouts teach bowline as a basic knot when the 8 is better?

[rocketsocks]

That is knot nice!

im knot a nice guy