Page 54 - The Pocket Guide to Outdoor Knots

TYING TIPS

● A knot is either right, or completely wrong. One tuck amiss or astray and an
entirely different knot—or no knot at all—results. And closely related knots

may be very different characters; for example, just one tuck away from the
sheet bend lurks the unbalanced thief knot (a reef knot, except that the two

ends emerge on opposite sides) that, like Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr.

Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, exists in two forms, one stable, the other highly
unstable.

● A knot is only as effective as the cordage in which it is tied. Elastic shock
(bungee) cords shed previously reliable old stand-bys, such as the bowline,

but will hold in others (like the angler’s loop and the vice versa). It is a matter
of finding the right knot for not only the job but the material being used.

● Very few knots (the reef knot is one) can be tightened by merely pulling on
both ends. Others must be coaxed and kneaded into shape, then carefully

tightened a bit at a time to eliminate slack (until no daylight is left between