Page 53 - The Pocket Guide to Outdoor Knots
P. 53
The law of loop, hitch & bight
Slide or lift a clove hitch off its post or other foundation and, bereft of its
attachment, it falls apart and ceases to exist. A number of hitches can be undone
this way. Some loop knots also collapse and vanish if a single crucial retaining
bight is removed. All of the knots that can be untied in this way, without
withdrawing an end, share a common yet curious property. They can be tied in
the bight, that is, without recourse to a working end.
Tying knots in the bight is a rapid, almost sleight-of-hand, technique that is
always worthwhile—and is sometimes indispensable. In summary, if a knot can
be untied in the bight, it can be tied in the bight. This previously unsuspected
natural law was identified by retired research scientist Dr. Harry Asher, a
founder-member of the International Guild of Knot Tyers, who first published it
in A New System of Knotting—Volume 2 (1986) and later in The Alternative Knot
Book (1989). Self-evident—like many brilliant insights—only after it has been
pointed out, does this rule enable knot tyers to look for quicker ways to tie some
knots (and to know when not to bother). For instance, the strangle and
constrictor knots are physically similar in most respects, but the constrictor can
be tied in the bight and the strangle knot cannot.
