Page 97 - Frank Rosenow "Seagoing Knots"

KNOTS IN SPECIAL

MATERIALS

The geometry of a knot must be balanced off against the line it is tied in. On
a basic level, this is best recognized in knots made with natural, unpro¬
cessed line.
In Scouting For Boys (1926), Sir Robert S. Baden-Powell, Bt., gives a
“withe knot” along with this description:
“We had no rope with us in West Africa, so we used the strong creeping
plants, and also used thin withes or long whippy sticks which we made still

more pliant or bendable by holding one end underfoot and twisting the
other round and round with our hands. The best wood for withes in Eng¬
land is willow or hazel. You see them used for binding faggots of wood
together. You cannot tie all knots with them, as with rope, but you can
generally make a timber hitch, or this withe knot.”

'Pow£U_b WiTHET KMoi—

The chief scout makes the point that certain trees (willow and hazel)
make better knot tying “line” than others, yet says that all knots can be
tied in rope. But as rope differs in its makeup as much as different trees do,
there is a great difference in the kind of knot you would use to fasten a
cord or a hawser. Making one half hitch in a hawser is quite an achieve¬
ment, and often sufficient as a mooring if the end is stopped to the stand¬
ing part.
Old-fashioned knots suitable for straw and suchlike flat materials may
now be used to secure webbing ties which are enjoying increasing popular¬
ity in marine applications and moorings.
I have used webbing for many years in strops to shorten mainsheet
tackles and kicking straps, as well as for permanent docking lines.

KNOTS IN SPECIAL MATERIALS