Page 54 - Knots You Need to Know Easy-to-Follow Guide to the 30 Most Useful Knots

The Turk’s Head

The elegant Turk’s head makes a fine handgrip on the end of a tiller or on
the top spoke of a ship’s wheel. It can also be used as a ring for snubbing
up the drawstrings of a duffel or ditty bag. A small one may even be laid

flat to form a coaster on shipboard; a larger one can become a place mat.

Depending upon the purpose it is to serve and upon the diligence of the

rope-worker, a Turk’s head is structured of two or more parallel lines, or
leads, worked into three or more bights or interweaving sections. A
particularly popular form of the knot, with three leads and five bights, is
shown here. Whatever the size, all Turk’s heads are worked in the same
way—a continuous under-over pattern executed one complete circle at a

time.

1. To tie a Turk’s head, lay the standing part of the line across the inside