Knots in Rope

The word "knot" comes from O.E. cnotta, from a Teutonic stem knutt; cf. " knit," and German knoten; it refers here to an intertwined loop of rope, cord, string or other flexible material, used to fasten two such ropes, etc, to one another, or to another object.

[Other uses of the word "knot": The word is also used for the distance-marks on a log-line, and hence as the equivalent of a nautical mile, and for any hard mass, resembling a knot drawn tight, especially one formed in the trunk of a tree at the place of insertion of a branch. Knots in wood are the remains of dead branches which have become buried in the wood of the trunk or branch on which they were borne. When a branch dies down or is broken off, the dead stump becomes grown over by a healing tissue, and, as the stem which bears it increases in thickness, gradually buried in the newer wood. When a section is made of the stem the dead stump appears in the section as a knot; thus in a board it forms a circular piece of wood, liable to fall out and leave a " knot-hole." " Knot " or " knob " is an architectural term for a bunch of flowers, leaves or other ornamentation carved on a corbel or on a boss. The word is also applied figuratively to any intricate problem, hard to disentangle, a use stereotyped in the proverbial " Gordian knot," which, according to the tradition, was cut by Alexander the Great.]

Knots, Bends, Hitches, Splices and Seizings are all ways of fastening cords or ropes, either to some other object such as a spar, or a ring, or to one another. The "knot" is formed to make a knob on a rope, generally at the extremity, and by untwisting the strands at the end and weaving them together. But it may be made by turning the rope on itself through a loop, as for instance, the "overhand knot", a "bend", (from the same root as " bind "), and a "hitch" (an O.E. word), are ways of fastening or tying ropes together, as in the "Carrick bend", or around spars as the "Rolling Hitch". A "splice" (from the same root as "split") is made by untwisting two rope ends and weaving them together. A "seizing" (Fr. saisir) is made by fastening two spars to one another by a rope, or two ropes by a third, or by using one rope to make a loop on another. The use of the words is often arbitrary. There is, for instance, a knot called the Fisherman's Bend that is actually a Hitch.

Speaking generally, the Knot and the Seizing are meant to be permanent, and must be unwoven in order to be unfastened, while the Bend and Hitch can be undone at once by pulling the ropes in the reverse direction from that in which they are meant to hold. Yet the Reef Knot can be cast loose with ease, and is wholly different in principle, for instance, from the Diamond Knot. These various forms of fastening are employed in many kinds of industry, as for example in scaffolding, as well as in seamanship. The governing principle is that the strain which pulls against them shall draw them tighter. The ordinary "knots and splices" are described in every book on seamanship.

The Overhand Knot is the simplest of all knots and is used at the end of ropes to prevent their unreeving and as the commencement of other knots.

Figure-of-Eight Knot is used only to prevent ropes from unreeving; it forms a large knob.

Reef Knot is formed by left over right then right over left. If it is formed by right over left then right over left again, a granny knot would be formed. This knot is so named from being used in tying the reef-points of a sail.

Bowline is a most useful knot employed to form a loop which will not slip. Running bowlines are formed by making a bowline round its own standing part. It is the most common and convenient temporary running noose.

Bowline on a Bight is a double loop and forms a convenient and comfortable sling for a man.

Sheet Bend is used for bending small sheets to the clews of sails, which present bights ready for the hitch. An ordinary net is composed of a series of sheet bends.

Based on an article in the public-domain 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica