Page 72 - Knots You Need to Know Easy-to-Follow Guide to the 30 Most Useful Knots
P. 72
The Tack Knot
The tack knot is a multistrand knob fashioned at the end of a line, where
it makes a decorative and permanent terminal for a bell pull, a bucket
lanyard or a handhold at the end of a strap hung next to the
companionway ladder. The knot is built up by first tying a wall, then
superimposing a crown, and finally leading each strand back through the
knot to double both the wall and the crown. An old sailors’ ditty describes
the process: “First a wall, then a crown; Now tuck up, then tuck down.”
Each of the steps shown at right should be done with the knot kept fairly
loose, so that the strands can be woven through easily when doubling.
Even so, a marlinespike will be necessary for the last series of tucks, in
which the strands are led down through the knot’s center, parallel with the
standing part.
