The world of knot tying has plenty of experts and most
of them will tell you which knot is best for the job, the only problem
is that if you ask ten different experts they will probably give you
ten different answers. This is not very helpful especially for the
beginner so I have an alternative suggestion for non-life threatening
jobs, rather than looking for the best knot look for an adequate knot.
Now all you need is a definition of adequate and the rest is easy.
For most situations the definition can be divided into three steps.
1. Decide on the type of knot required. These are common
definitions that you will find in knot books.
- A stopper knot to make a lump in the end of your rope.
- A hitch to tie a rope to a pole or ring.
- A bend to join two ropes together.
- A fixed loop where you do not want the loop to change size under
load.
- A sliding loop where you need to pull the loop tight after it is
in position.
- A binding knot for tying round a bundle or parcel.
2. Use a good knot book to find a knot of the right type
that you can tie easily and remember. The best knot in the world is
not much use if you keep forgetting how to tie it. Remember it is important
that you are comfortable with the knot you choose. If untying is important
you need to consider this in the choice but in a lot of applications
this is not important. The string holding up the runner beans in the
garden is not going to be untied at the end of the season.
3. Now use the knot of your choice and be happy. Do not
be intimidated by the experts.
Anyone who has talked to experts will know that I have
ignored several items that they often refer to in their choice of the
best knot so I had better explain why I think this is acceptable.
The first item is knot strength. In general knots cause
rope to break at a load less than the breaking strength of the rope
without any knots. This is a well know effect and lots of figures are
quoted often without any supporting evidence so for non-life threatening
uses I tend to ignore them and assume all knots will weaken the rope
by at least 50%. In any case you should always allow a large safety
margin on the breaking strength when you chose cordage, which is not
normally difficult given the very high strength of most modern cordage.
This means that you can ignore the exact loss of strength when you
chose your knot.
The second item is knot security, or how likely is the
knot to come undone in use. This is a more difficult thing to quantify
so you need to experiment with your particular application to see if
the combination of cordage and knot you have chosen provides adequate
security. This is often not very critical in the non-life threatening
uses we are considering here so do not worry too much about security.
The third item is that experts often forget that the
rest of us are not experts. They can be prone to suggesting complicated
knots when a very simple knot would be adequate for the job. Pick a
knot that you can tie easily and remember, not one that looks impressive.
On a more serious note this approach to choosing knots
is not suitable for those applications where the failure of a knot
could have serious consequences. If you have one of these life-threatening
applications you need to consider expert opinion and current practice.
You also need to be taught properly and put in plenty of practice.
Forgetting the right knot half way up a mountain is not an option.
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