Knots

Quality book easy enough to understand for the beginner yet makes an excellent reference book for the experienced. Definitely recommend this book!

This is an excellent book about knots. It starts with some simple material about care and maintenance of ropes, and shows some tools used in ropework. It also has a glossary. We start with stopper knots. While these are often used to protect the end of a rope from fraying, the most common use is simply to stop the end of a rope from running through a block. A simple figure-8 knot is typical here, and we are shown how to make it, as well as how to make many other stops. Another use for stopper knots is to create a weight at the end of a rope that you wish to heave. And we see some examples of these, such as the "Monkey's Fist." Next is a chapter on bends. These knots join two pieces of cordage. Once again, a figure-8 type is typical, and we see plenty of others as well. The following chapter is on binding knots. These are used primarily to tie two objects together. A transom knot is a good example. But they are also used as clamps (such as a "surgeon's knot" to tie off blood vessels) or just to protect the end of another rope, or to lash together two parts of the same rope. After that comes a chapter on hitches. These are used primarily for towing and tethering. One example is a "cat's paw" hitch, which distributes weight evenly on two "legs." In some cases, when one leg of this knot breaks, the other will hold long enough so that the load being held by the rope can be lowered safely. Now, suppose you need to pull a pole lengthwise. A "rolling hitch" is often recommended. But if that pole is slippery, this knot won't hold. In that case, the book recommends the "icicle hitch," which generally works much better. It's a very practical knot! We see some other useful knots in this chapter, such as a "barrel sling" (which allows one to hoist a barrel upright) and a "barrel hitch" (which is used to hoist that barrel horizontally). And, given that many knots are of great use to sailors, we see a "mooring hitch." This knot is for mooring your boat to a bollard, especially if you also want to be able to pay out a little rope at a time, if necessary, in a tideway. The following chapter is on loops, and we see a great variety of nooses and bowlines. We even see how to make the "fireman's chair knot," which can be used in an emergency if no body harness is available for a rescue. The book concludes with some miscellaneous knots. These include a grommet, some sennits, a mat, and even a rope ladder. When you use that rope ladder, it's best to face on edge, with a hand and a foot on each side. This is a useful and practical book.