Page 27 - The Ashley Book of Knots

THE ASHLEY BOOK OF KNOTS

69. There is no such thing as a good general utility knot, although

ashore the CLOVE HITCH ('#: II 77) comes very near to filling the

office of a general utility bitch. But at sea the CLOVE HITCH is em-
69

ployed almost solely as a CROSSING KNOT, for securing ratlines to

shrouds, etc.

70. Although not a very secure hitch, it can be quickly tied in a

great variety of easily remembered ways. It is the commonest of all

POST HITCHES, and is often tied on a bag as a BINDING KNOT.

71, 72, 73. The purpose for which a knot is used and the way in

which it is tied, rather than its appearance, decide its classification.

This is clearly exemplified by three well-known knots of the same

identical form: ('#: 7 I) BOWLINE, ('#: 7 2) SHEET BEND, ('#: 73) BECKET

HITCH. The end of a rope is made fast to its own standing part to

70 form a BOWLINE ('#: 7 I ) , which is a Loop KNOT. The SHEET BEND

('#: 7 2 ), of the same form, bends two rope ends together, and the

BECKET HITCH ('#: 73), also of the same form, secures the end of a

rope to a becket, which is generally an eye or a hook.

74. One of the best but most misused of knots is the REEF or

SQUARE KNOT ('#:1204). Employed as a BINDING KNOT, to reef and

furl sails or to tie up parcels, it is invaluable.

7' 72. 73 75. But employed as a bend (to tie two rope ends together), the

REEF KNOT is probably responsible for more deaths and injuries than

have been caused by the failure of all other knots combined.

76. In fact the ease with which it is capsized by jerking at one end

is its chief recommendation as a REEF KNOT. Tied in two ropes' ends

of different size, texture, or stiffness, it is almost bound to capsize and

spill.

74 77, 78, 79. A knot is never "nearly right"; it is either exactly right

or it is hopelessly wrong, one or the other; there is nothin in be-

tween. This is not the impossibly high standard of the idea ist, it is

a mere fact for the realist to face. In a knot of eight crossings, which

7b

is about the average-size knot, there are 256 different "over-and-

under" arrangements possible. (Wherever two strands cross each

other, one must pass over, the other under.) Make only one change

in this "over-and-under" sequence and either an entirely different

knot is made or no knot at all may result. To illustrate this, let

us consider '#:77, the REEF KNOT, and '#:78, the SHEET BEND, two

totally different forms that do not resemble each other, that serve

entirely different purposes, but that may be tied on the same dia-

gram. One is a bend; the other is a BINDING KNOT. Yet there is pre-

..,.., 78 cisely one oint of difference in the "over and under" between the

two. And i we make one additional change as indicated in '#:78, there

will be no nip whatsoever and the two ropes will fall apart ('#:79).

80, 81. There are very few knots, possibly less than a dozen, that

80 8\ may be drawn up properly merely by pulling or jerking at the two

ends. There are few more important things to keep in mind than this

while knotting. Other knots must first be tied (folmed) and then

worked (drawn up into shape). The more elaborate the knot, the

(~ more deliberately must it be worked. Give one unconsidered pull,

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