Knots

[rocketsocks]

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?

the bowline is easily in-tied, and as one poster said can be tied with one hand, they're just different knots altogether.

[rocketsocks]

Un-tied.....

[BuckeyeBill]

I can still remember the story I learned in scouts to help tie a bowline knot. The tree is behind the hole. Rabbit comes out of the hole and goes around the tree. Rabbit sees you and jumps back into the hole.

[Feral Bill]

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.......................

Why do the scouts teach bowline as a basic knot when the 8 is better?

Ask your dad that question. I regard the bowline as simple, foolproof, and safe, as well as easy to untie. Of course I was only a BM3 in the Coast Guard. Your dad will know better than me.

[cmoulder]

Bowline is simpler and faster to tie than the follow-thru figure 8. And you can tie it with the tail on a bight (like a shoelace) in non-critical situations (such as a clothesline) and untie it with a quick yank. This cannot be done with a figure 8.
Bowline.jpg

[Traillium]

Knot answering my phone
Knot captive to my e-mail
Knot stuck in traffic

Knotty boy!

[KDogg]

I work on ships and the only know I really know is a bowline. It's the only thing I knew on the trail as well. While I encourage you to learn many knots, learn the bowline and you will be good to go.

[HooKooDooKu]

Knotty boy!

Two Knotty Boys have a youtube channel that teach you to tie a totally different kind of knot than the kind we're talking about here.

[rocketsocks]

Knatty dread...knot!

[theinfamousj]

Clove hitch aka compression knot.

Half hitch/overhand knot.

Trucker hitch.

Tension knot.

Slip knot aka something something slippery sheet bend.

I am sure that I pick a clunky, rather than elegant, solution for things using the above knots, but at the end of the day all that matters is that it works. No one is grading me on process efficiency.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[blw2]

Ask your dad that question. I regard the bowline as simple, foolproof, and safe, as well as easy to untie. Of course I was only a BM3 in the Coast Guard. Your dad will know better than me.

Thank you for your service!

I actually did ask him that recently. He really didn't have an answer...and the conversation quickly drifted off to him reteaching the tugboat bowline to me, as well as rambling about other obscure knots....
I do know the one handed version.... I find it a neat trick but I can only tie it that way from very particular angles so it's almost more of a "party trick" to me.

and about it being foolproof.... I find it very easy to tie wrong....and it can shake loose if not loaded, without a stopper knot

[Feral Bill]

Thank you for your service!

I actually did ask him that recently. He really didn't have an answer...and the conversation quickly drifted off to him reteaching the tugboat bowline to me, as well as rambling about other obscure knots....
I do know the one handed version.... I find it a neat trick but I can only tie it that way from very particular angles so it's almost more of a "party trick" to me.

and about it being foolproof.... I find it very easy to tie wrong....and it can shake loose if not loaded, without a stopper knot

Ask him about the dragon bowline.