Favorite Knots?

MikeCh

MikeCh

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Lately, I've found myself with the need to revisit the single best book/resource of knots....

The Ashley Book of Knots https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ashley_Book_of_Knots

First, do any of you also own this book?

Second, do any of you have any favorite knots?....ones you find yourself using all the time (besides for tying your shoes)?

I've always used the truckers hitch:


and automatic truckers hitch:


for all sorts of things, but I recently had a need to tighten/tension a standing line with a knot that wouldn't slip yet be easy to tie and adjust tension as needed.....then I found the Taut Line Hitch:



The Taut Line Hitch is a great all purpose knot that has many uses.
 
Mike.......My favorite are garlic knots. . :rolleyes:


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I love tying knots. I keep a small length of rope near my listening chair, and will often practise tying knots while listening to music! The Ashley book of knots is the knot tying bible!

A few of my favorites:

Perfection Loop
I prefer this to a bowline. There are a couple of ways to tie it, depending if you need the loop to go through a fixed eye or not.
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Zepplin Bend
So simple to tie, definitely my favorite bend. legend has it a famous zeppelin captain would only use this knot when mooring his aircraft
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Constrictor Knot
My favorite hitch, very effective
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Since I’m a mountaineer, my favorite knot would be the figure eight retraced, which is used to tie the end of the climbing rope to the climbing harness. There are many types of knots used in mountaineering, such as the double fisherman’s, which is used to tie the ends of two ropes together for rappelling, the clove hitch or the figure eight on a bight, which are used to tie into a belay station, and the prussik knot, which uses a smaller diameter rope to ascend the larger diameter climbing rope in a crevasse self rescue situation.

The munter hitch is a great knot for belaying or rappelling if you've lost your belay/rappel device or the rope is too frozen to get through the device. The garda hitch is another great knot as it locks and only allows the rope to move in one direction. It is great in a pulley system for hauling loads or for crevasse rescue. Both of these knots are used in conjunction with carabiners.

Best,
Ken
 
Chris and Dan,
Thanks for making me hungry! ;)

phunge and Ken,
I knew there had to be others that appreciate the function and form of knots. They are a fascinating study & thanks for sharing some of yours. I use the Perfection Loop and Constrictor but gotta try out that Zepplin Bend. Ken, I'll need to look up the knots you mentioned as I'm not familiar with those names. So many knots are parts or extensions of other knots or turn into a different knot if a wrap or coil goes this way or that or if tied in the standing end or not and many have multiple names/references as seen below in the Midshipman's Hitch wiki reference.

RE: Clifford Ashley...
I love reading his commentary and history on the knots as written in his Book of Knots. E.g., regarding the Midshipman's Hitch #1730 ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taut-line_hitch ) Ashley writes: "If you have fallen overboard the Midshipman's Hitch (#1728) is the knot to tie in the end of the rope that is tossed to you".
 
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