Page 92 - The Ashley Book of Knots

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CHAPTER 3: KNOB KNOTS. SINGLE-STRAND

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STOPPER OR TERMINAL KNOTS _. ____ --.,/ -.J'

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One knot in a Thread will stay the Needle's Passage as well as five

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hundred. R. BOLTON, 1633

The SINGLE-STRAND STOI.'PER KNOT is the first to be considered of

the several varieties of KNOB KNOTS. Generally it is tied as a terminal ./

knot in the end of a rope, where it forms a knob or bunch, the general ------

purpose of which is to prevent unreeving. It is found in the ends of

running rigging. It secures the end of a sewing thread; it provides

a handhold or a foothold in bell ropes and footropes. It adds weight

to the end of a heaving line, and it is often employed decoratively,

but it should not be used to prevent unlaying and fraying except

in small cord, twine, and the like, as a whipping is in every way pref-

erable for large and valuable material. The distinction between the

SINGLE-STRAND STOPPER KNOT and the SINGLE-STRAND LANYARD

KNOT, which forms the next chapter, is an arbitrary one, and any

decorative STOPPER KNOT with a good lead may also serve as a LAN-

YARD KNOT, there being no fundamental structural difference between

the two. The way the knot is used has determined its classification,

and many of the knots belong equally in both classes. The purpose of

the SINGLE-STRAND STOPPER KNOT is almost always a practical one, but

the LANYARD KNOT is commonly tied in the central part or bight of

a rope, and although it occasionally provides a hand- or foothold,

it is more apt to serve a decorative purpose.

One interesting feature of this classification is that the LANYARD

KNOT, per se, is pushed from its own nest and relegated to the chapter

on MULTI-STRAND STOPPER KNOTS! (. ...... ---
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In working the following knots a small pricker will prove the most -

convenient tool. '~-----.