The Knots Thread

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UNCatTech said:
This is interesting.

I often find I'm naive of certain topics, but I always supporting of things that bring people joy.

I've not thought about a know since I was in the cub scouts. I find it very interesting that there is a book of knots and people try to learn them all.

What percentage of the book have you mastered?
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There are almost 4,000 knots spread across over 600 pages! I know maybe 50-60? Half of them being useful and half decorative. I also have another book called The Ulimate Book of Everyday Knots by Geoffrey Budworth which is much more user friendly but doesn’t make me feel like a salty old sea dog, so slightly less fun.

Got into it a few years ago when I helped my son and nephews make bracelets out of paracord on a camping trip.
 
Y'all must think about knots more in one week than I do in a decade. Geez. Not counting our mathematician, for whom knots might be a professional interest.

Study of knots is topology, right?
 
nrsair said:
There are almost 4,000 knots spread across over 600 pages! I know maybe 50-60? Half of them being useful and half decorative. I also have another book called The Ulimate Book of Everyday Knots by Geoffrey Budworth which is much more user friendly but doesn’t make me feel like a salty old sea dog, so slightly less fun.

Got into it a few years ago when I helped my son and nephews make bracelets out of paracord on a camping trip.
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And the r/knots community agreeing that the Fozzy Slider isn't in the Ashley Book of Knots (and doesn't have an ABOK number) is pretty significant. It's not absolute proof that this is a new knot, but it were remotely common (or even quite rare) one would expect to find it in Ashley.
 
Ddseddse said:
And the r/knots community agreeing that the Fozzy Slider isn't in the Ashley Book of Knots (and doesn't have an ABOK number) is pretty significant. It's not absolute proof that this is a new knot, but it were remotely common (or even quite rare) one would expect to find it in Ashley.
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There's no way it's new, as I argued before. It might be unknown, though. Forgotten, perhaps. Or never really publicized. Or used elsewhere in the world. But anyway, we digress. I am not at all excited about a new knot, but evidently that's because I'm no connoisseur of knots. Some of y'all have a passion here I didn't even know existed.
 
superrific said:
There's no way it's new, as I argued before. It might be unknown, though. Forgotten, perhaps. Or never really publicized. Or used elsewhere in the world. But anyway, we digress. I am not at all excited about a new knot, but evidently that's because I'm no connoisseur of knots. Some of y'all have a passion here I didn't even know existed.
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Well, I'm solidly in the "Let the nine year old girl have her feel good moment" camp for sure. As a lot of people have commented, it really doesn't matter that potentially some human in unrecorded human history twisted strands in this same configuration. The fact that it is a new knot to the r/knots community is more than enough for me to celebrate what this special kid has accomplished.

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Ddseddse said:
Well, I'm solidly in the "Let the nine year old girl have her feel good moment" camp for sure. As a lot of people have commented, it really doesn't matter that potentially some human in unrecorded human history twisted strands in this same configuration. The fact that it is a new knot to the r/knots community is more than enough for me to celebrate what this special kid has accomplished.

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That's all fair. I wouldn't say what I said to the 9 year old, LOL.
 
Between my 10 years in Cub and Boy Scouts and lots of time spent fishing in my teens and twenties, I had a pretty decent repertoire of knots and hitches at one time. Pretty sure I could at least still tie a bowline, sheepshank, sheet bend, clove hitch, half hitch, Lark's head, and maybe a few others
 
Ddseddse said:
And for the record, I did try tying the Fozzy Slider as a neck tie knot. YMMV, but the result I got was "cross the street to avoid that lunatic".
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Yeah, when I look at it closely, I see at least two variations from the Prince Albert tie knot I use. It's less resemblance than I thought. And the first variation (right at the beginning) would be pretty bad for any tie knot.

But thanks for trying it out and taking it for the team.

During the Great Recession, some banker who lost his job was selling ties I think and was making youtube videos showing off all these tie knots he invented. A couple of them were kind of cool, but most of them looked like the output of someone who doesn't know how to tie a tie.
 
Ddseddse said:
As a teenager at the North Carolina Outward Bound school, I was taught to carry a "pet rope" around, Just a 6 to 8 foot length or rope you keep on hand for practicing tying knots and learning new ones. That always stuck with me and I've had one around ever since (and my NCOBS course was a looong time ago).

I would say I have a decent repertoire of knots I can tie fluently (at the same time laughably small compared to other folks).

If (like me) you find fidget spinners simultaneously soothing and inanely boring and pointless, get yourself a book of knots and a pet rope. Perfect for conference calls. Even when you have to pay attention you can just tie knots you have already mastered to keep your hands busy.
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I was thinking that this might be the first fidget spinner.
 
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nrsair said:
There are almost 4,000 knots spread across over 600 pages! I know maybe 50-60? Half of them being useful and half decorative. I also have another book called The Ulimate Book of Everyday Knots by Geoffrey Budworth which is much more user friendly but doesn’t make me feel like a salty old sea dog, so slightly less fun.

Got into it a few years ago when I helped my son and nephews make bracelets out of paracord on a camping trip.
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I might buy this for my daughter and give her some rope. But not too much rope.
 
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UNCatTech said:
I might buy this for my daughter and give her some rope. But not too much rope.
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Ashley is exhaustive and authoritative, but if she's starting from scratch there might be better (and less expensive) books to learn your first dozen knots or so from. A lot of time you can find a book and "pet rope" combo together in a store like Barnes and Nobles.

I highly prize books that include a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of a knot (all knots have different strengths and weaknesses) and have a decent overview of the practical applications of the knot. Unfortunately a lot of beginner books fall into the trap of just teaching you how to tie the knot and don't bother getting into the "why" of choosing one knot over another.

"Knots" by Gordon Perry is one I have on my shelf that does a decent job of the above, but I'm sure there are thousands of others that fit the bill.
 
Probably knot for the knot interested, or even really for the knot curious, but this is one of my favorites...



If you're the kind of person who likes to just skip ahead to the good bits, jump in at the 6:30 mark.
 
Ddseddse said:
I have a slim volume called The Arts of the Sailor that goes deep into splicing and such. A well spliced natural rope is a work of art. I've made a few rudimentary attempts at it. One day I'd like to get serious about it.

I'll have to check out the Art of Knotting and Splicing. Sounds right up my alley.
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When I was a Boy Scout I got the Knotting and Splicing Merit Badge. Pretty easy merit badge, except for one requirement called, IIRC, a "long splice." I think the key requirement for a "long splice" was that the site of the splice had to be the same width as the unspliced parts of the rope. That took some careful construction.

ETA: An "eye splice" was also required. It was a long time ago.
 
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superrific said:
Y'all must think about knots more in one week than I do in a decade. Geez. Not counting our mathematician, for whom knots might be a professional interest.

Study of knots is topology, right?
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You can, and do, use tools from many different branches of mathematics to study knots. It really just depends on the problem you are trying to solve. Topology (more precisely algebraic topology) is used a lot.
 
donbosco said:


The Khipu is a truly amazing idea the likes of which is far, far outside of the box in regard to how we tend to think about writing and communication.

If that interests you then watch this...

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I have often done very hands on Khipu making projects in my classes - I’ve even done it over ZOOM - and find that the whole idea of tactile learning - and communication - strikes a ‘cord’ with a lot of people. Knots and different texture strings are key.
 
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