Page 113 - The Ashley Book of Knots

THE ASHLEY BOOK OF KNOTS

In working these knots the best tool is a pricker (~91). Lacking

this, a dull ice pick or a meat skewer will serve. A cork board (see

~99 and ~ 126) is the best table top on which to pin a diagram,

but a soft pine board or an upholstered chair seat is a practical

substitute.

The word pfIT't is used in reference to each appearance of the cord

on the surface of the knot.

The working diagrams represent the top elevation of a knot. Gen-

erally the finished aspect of a knot is also shown. Whers the sidf

of a knot is pictured, the stem or two ends are also shown.

"Working" a knot is apt to be more difficult than tying one, but

once you have acquired the "feel" of the cord, working a knot, with

its attendant prodding and molding, twisting and pulling, will have

lost most of its difficulties.

In removing the slack cord from a knot, which is about all there

is to working a knot, do not at any time distort the diagram form

beyond recognition. Too strong a pull is apt to be fatal. One part at

a time should be tightened, and then only by a slight amount. Use

the fingers at first, but as the knot hardens employ the pricker. Work

back and forth through the knot from one end of the cord to the

other, drawing a little on each part until the desired firmness is

achieved.

Many of these knots may be doubled or tripled, but the larger

ones are generally big enough without addition and not only may

lose some of their distinctive form but are apt to become ffabby

when enlarged too much.

A cord does not cross itself until it passes a point a second time,

so a circle marked around a point is disregarded the first time it is

passed.

604. There is a second CHINESE BUTION, the sole merit of which

is its larger size. Although it has a regular over-one-and-under-one

texture, it is not symmetrical because the two ends leave the knot

at right angles to each other and at a tangent with the surface of the

606

knot.

605. A Two-BIGHT, ONE-LEAD TURK's-HEAD is the smallest

TURK'S-HEAD form that can be adapted to tie a button. In its

simplest form this makes an OVERHAND KNOT, but if the center part

is pricked to the surface, as in KNOT ~600, this makes a small but

distinctive button.

606. A Two-BIGHT, Two-LEAD TURK'S-HEAD diagram makes a

slightly larger knot, but one that is a little difficult to draw up into

proper form.

The smaller examples of many kinds of knot are far from being the

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easIest to tIe.
60"7

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