Page 93 - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

Figure 3-31. The Zeppelin Bend. Make a clockwise
loop with one end, leaving the end in front of the
standing part. Make a clockwise loop with the other
end, but with the end behind the standing part. Place
the first loop on top of the second. Pass the first loop’s
Figure 3-30B. The Square Knot combines poor lead
with a tendency to spill and fall apart when snagged. end up through the two loops and the second loop’s
Never use it as a bend. end down through the two loops. Draw up snugly.

illustration shows why the Square Knot is not one of The Ashley Bend
our eight bends: weakness and abysmal lead is com- No doubt about the origin of this knot: It was
pounded by the likelihood that a snag will “spill” invented by Clifford Ashley on February 3, 1934
the knot into two Half Hitches. The same thing can (Figure 3-32). It has all the advantages of the
happen even without an end being snagged if the Zeppelin Bend and is a little easier to tie (both ends
ropes are of different size or consistency, or even if are passed simultaneously to finish). Ashley placed
one is wet and the other dry. That is why its use a great deal of emphasis on knot security, so he must
should be restricted to applications where the ends have been very pleased to find that this was the
are unlikely to be snagged, the body of the knot is only nonjamming bend in his security testing (see
supported, and the loads are low and indirect. Sen- Table 3) that did not slip at all after 100 tugs.
sible uses include things like shoelaces, reef nettles, In spite of these results, he was too modest to
and belts for martial arts uniforms. name it after himself and instead simply listed it as
#1,452 in his monumental Ashley Book of Knots.
The Zeppelin Bend But so many people found it to be the best bend
But do use this, one of the very few slip- and jam- they’d ever encountered that by 1947, when C. L.
proof knots that also has perfect lead (Figure 3-31). Day heartily recommended it in his Art of Knotting
It takes a teensy bit of dexterity to tie, but that’s a and Splicing, the inventor’s name was firmly linked
small price to pay for the near-ideal knot that results. with his knot.
The story goes that a Capt. Charles Rosenthal of the
airship Los Angeles wouldn’t allow his ground crew The Benson Bend
to use any other bend for his ship’s mooring lines. This one needs a preamble: The appearance of a
Since the U.S. Navy never called its airships “Zep- slightly different version of “Eight Bends” in Wooden-
pelins,” it is possible that this knot came from Ger- Boat magazine (July/August 1983) resulted in a
many, but that’s all I know of its origin. flurry of letters suggesting variations, new knots,

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