Animated Knots

August 15, 2008 6:22 PM

Knot, knot
Who's there?
Bowline.
Bowline who?
I'm going bowline ... wanna go too?

Because you never know when you'll need a good knot.

posted by netbros (28 comments total)

That first link's a double.
posted by C17H19NO3 at 6:27 PM on August 15, 2008

Bowline, bowline, bowline, bowline...
I'm begging of you please
don't take my man
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:29 PM on August 15, 2008

great link...

Nothing I loves better than a good palomar knot,,,
posted by HuronBob at 6:38 PM on August 15, 2008

I'm a frayed knot.
posted by kcds at 6:54 PM on August 15, 2008 [2 favorites]

Grog make knot. Grog make animated gif.
posted by phrontist at 8:21 PM on August 15, 2008

The second link shows a bowline being tied with the tail on the outside which is wrong, at least for climbing and rescue use. It's more likely to slip in that configuration.
posted by Manjusri at 8:42 PM on August 15, 2008 [2 favorites]

I'm going to vote this one of those doubles that it's probably just as well to repost every two or three years or so.
posted by yhbc at 8:43 PM on August 15, 2008

Man, these are great! Every year I search for knot sites to find good info for my son's Cub Scout pack, and man, there has just been nothing! You'd think the internet would have lots of stuff on knots, but it's been slim pickin's.

Thank you! I really like the animated site.
posted by Xoebe at 8:46 PM on August 15, 2008

You rang?
posted by bowline at 8:48 PM on August 15, 2008 [4 favorites]

Once again the showy and overrated Carrick bend hogs the limelight while the superior (and elegantly understated!) Zeppelin bend receives its customary snub.
posted by enn at 9:04 PM on August 15, 2008 [1 favorite]

Take the (mole)skine-heads bowline, take them bowline.
posted by not_on_display at 9:09 PM on August 15, 2008 [1 favorite]

Knots for climbing, knots for boating, knots for fishing, etc, but what about autoerotic asphyxia?
posted by Tube at 10:23 PM on August 15, 2008

Excellent site - thank you.
And yes enn, the Zeppelin Bend is indeed the cat's PJs.
posted by speug at 10:40 PM on August 15, 2008

Oh God, what horrible memories. The summer I was ten my father (the sailor) decided that the way to make his seasick daughter like boating was to force me to learn to make bowline knots. I had to practice every day and I could not do it, which only made me hate boating more. Knots bad. Boats bad. Dads bad.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 5:36 AM on August 16, 2008

I'm going bowline ... wanna go too?

...bowline...I'm begging of you please don't take my man

Take the (mole)skine-heads bowline, take them bowline.

Hmm, knot jokes.
posted by mandal at 6:48 AM on August 16, 2008

Hmm, knot jokes.

Knot appropriate?
posted by flapjax at midnite at 7:26 AM on August 16, 2008

Stagehands (of which I am one) need primarily only two knots, the bowline and the clove hitch. On some calls, you need both over and over again, and you need to be able to tie them over your head, with one hand while holding unstable weight with the other, without looking, etcetc.

My first night on the job, I was taken to the roof of the studio (maybe 25, 30 ft) in a genie by the assistant head. He showed me both knots a few times each, then handed me the line and said "your turn." Then he started rocking back and forth in the bucket.

I learned those knots damned fast.
posted by nevercalm at 7:47 AM on August 16, 2008

I wish I remembered all my Boy Scout knots... the bowline is about the only one I can still do.
posted by Dokterrock at 11:30 AM on August 16, 2008

yhbc: “I'm going to vote this one of those doubles that it's probably just as well to repost every two or three years or so.”

Even if it hasn’t changed in as often?
posted by ijoshua at 11:43 AM on August 16, 2008

Being mildly a knot geek, I'm always irritated by these display cases you see around, some kind of fair trade product that show a set of knots with entirely the wrong names.
posted by raygirvan at 11:48 AM on August 16, 2008

Once again the showy and overrated Carrick bend hogs the limelight while the superior (and elegantly understated!) Zeppelin bend receives its customary snub.

Now, now, enn, don't shed a tear for the zeppelin bend. I mean, good times, bad, times, y'know it's had it share. Sure, it may look like the carrick is putting on the squeeze now; and you might be tempted to ask,"How long has this been going on, Ace?" Well, I need you to understand: there's never been a whole lotta love lost between the two. No doubt a communication breakdown -- it's always the same. But it's not as if the zeppelin bend is getting trampled underfoot.

Anyway, give me one good reason I should hang around to listen to these complaints. I mean, Hey! Hey!, What can I do? If it's bumming you out, it's just the black dog howling. Take a misty mountain hop over the hills and far away and I'm sure dancing days will be here again.

I realize I might be on dangerous ground here, but for once in our lives, take my comments in the spirit in which they are offered.

By the way, Mr. H is on a solo vacation in the Carribean. . .
posted by Herodios at 11:50 AM on August 16, 2008

Ouch. that was supposed to be:

_MRS._ H is on a solo vacation in the Caribbean. . .
posted by Herodios at 1:01 PM on August 16, 2008

There's really only 3 knots you need to know in caving -- figure eight on a bight for attaching the rope to things, the butterfly, for same, except when side-load is a possibility because it won't deform like a figure 8, and prusik, in case you lose your ascenders. Occasionally, someone will say a bowline is useful to rig a quick belay around your waist, but that knot confuses me.

I still like having sources of how-to's though, so bookmarked.
posted by Devils Rancher at 3:29 PM on August 16, 2008

That's a poor way to tie a truckers hitch IMHO. It's quicker to tie one in a way that you don't have to feed the tag end through the loop (bight). That's the way we learned to tie the hitch that's also called a drayman's hitch in the Ashley book of knots. Lacking the skills to post the animation I'll just have to let it go at that.
posted by X4ster at 6:50 PM on August 16, 2008

X4ster, the bowline instructions are a bit off, too — it's probably easier to demonstrate their way, but slower to tie and harder to do by feel than the way I was taught: initially, rather than forming the loop through which the bitter end will pass, lay the bitter end over the standing end, then "flip" the intersection and the bitter end through the main loop (the loop that will remain open when the knot is finished). This leaves you with the secondary loop with the bitter end threaded through it once, and all that remains is to run it behind the standing end and back down through that loop.
posted by enn at 9:11 PM on August 16, 2008

I looked at this post, saw that all the links were visited. I was confused until I realized that I just learned a taut-line and a trucker's hitch from those sites, and browsed most of their knots.

Can't beat the right knot.
posted by Netzapper at 11:56 PM on August 16, 2008

Right you are enn, I know your way too, it's quick and easy.
posted by X4ster at 12:51 PM on August 17, 2008

Because you never know when you'll need a good knot.

Actually, most Friday and Saturday nights. Unless I'm lazy, then it's back to the leather cuffs.
posted by desjardins at 10:00 AM on August 18, 2008