Page 8 - Maria Constantino "The Knot Handbook"

There are, however, a number of very differ- It is estimated that some 90 per cent of all
ent groups of knots, and each knots serves a recorded knots were devised by sailors, while
different purpose. Stopper knots prevent the the remaining 10 per cent came fron1 occupa-
ends of a rope from fraying and also stop the tions as diverse as anglers and archers, book- z
-I
rope from being pulled through a pulley block makers and butchers, carpenters and climbers, ::ID
0
or any other opening. Stopper knots are also surgeons and stevedores, and, of course, from c
c
used to weight the end of a length of rope to the executioner, who gave us the hangn1an's n
-I
make it easier to throw. Shortening knots are knot' Clifford W Ashley (1881- 1947), who
0
used to fo rm nooses and loops and to shorten was born in the w haling port of New z
a length of rope instead of cutting the rope Bedford, Massachusetts, was one of the
with a blade. Binding kn ots serve two purpos- world's l~ading authorities on knots and knot-
es: they can confine and constrict a single tying. His book, The A shley Book of Knots, first

object or length of rope or they can be used published in 1944, has become the bible of
to hold closely together two or more objects dedicated knot-tyers. In it, Ashley describes
or lengths of ropes. Hitches are used to tie a nearly 4,000 knots, with 7,000 drawings.
rope around an object like a pole, spar or ring, None of th ese professions can truly be said
while a bend is a knot that ties two ropes to be the originators of knots, since the first

together. people to tie knots were likely to have been

A classic example of a stopper knot -
the double overhand knot.

The surgeon 's knot is a useful
binding knot.