Table Of Content'N
THE
K N
H A N D B O O K
GREAT VALUE
MARIA CONSTANTINO
THE
KNOT
H A N D B O O K
TH E
K N O T
H A N D B O O K
MARIA CONSTANTINO
D&S
BOOKS
First published in 2000 by D&S Books
© 2000 D&S Books
D&S Books
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This edition printed 2000
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ISBN 1-903327-05-9
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Editor: Eleanor Stillwell
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1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
C
o n t e n t s
introduction
chapter chapter
stopper knots 5 bends
chapter
@ loops 7 ) plaits, sennits & lashings
chapter
glossary
c
index 255
IN T R O D U C T IO N
Most of us use the word ‘knot’ to mean
that frustrating tangle in a piece of string,
cord, or even in our shoelaces.
Strictly speaking, however, a
knot is a connection in a
cord or length of rope that
has been formed in one of
two ways. Firstly, by passing one free end
of a piece of rope through a loop and
drawing it tight. Secondly, a knot can be
made by intertwining or tying together two
pieces of rope or cord.
I
There are, however, a number of very differ It is estimated that some 90 per cent of all
ent groups of knots, and each knots serves a recorded knots were devised by sailors, while
different purpose. Stopper knots prevent the the remaining 10 per cent came from occupa
ends of a rope from fraying and also stop the tions as diverse as anglers and archers, book Z
H
rope from being pulled through a pulley block makers and butchers, carpenters and climbers, 7)
О
or any other opening. Stopper knots are also surgeons and stevedores, and, of course, from о
с
used to weight the end of a length of rope to the executioner, who gave us the hangman’s n
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make it easier to throw. Shortening knots are knot! Clifford W. Ashley (1881-1947), who
о
used to form nooses and loops and to shorten was born in the whaling port of New z
a length of rope instead of cutting the rope Bedford, Massachusetts, was one of the
with a blade. Binding knots serve two purpos world’s leading authorities on knots and knot-
es: they can confine and constrict a single tying. His book. The Ashley Book of Knots, first
object or length of rope or they can be used published in 1944, has become the bible of
to hold closely together two or more objects dedicated knot-tyers. In it, Ashley describes
or lengtiis of ropes. Hitches are used to tie a nearly 4,()()() knots, with 7,000 drawings.
rope around an object like a pole, spar or ring, None of these professions can truly be said
while a bend is a knot that ties two ropes to be the originators of knots, since the first
together. people to tie knots were likely to have been
A classic example of a stopper knot
the double overhand knot.
The surgeon’s knot is a useful
binding knot.
The Jansik
special is a very
strong hitch.
peasant, rose to become the king of Phrygia.
As ruler, he no longer need his farm cart, so
he tied the harness traces into an intricate
z
knot and presented it as an offering to the god
o
h“ Zeus in his temple. No one seemed able to
u
untie the knot and the oracle of the temple
D
O
o prophesied that whoever undid the Gordian
cc
the cave-dwellers who learned to Knot was destined to be the ruler of all Asia.
h
z
hunt and fish and needed knots for When Alexander the Great saw the knotty
. \ ■ their bows and arrows, traps, fishing problem before him, he wasted no time: he
nets and lines. Archaeological evi severed the knot with his sword. Technically,
dence some 10,000 years old shows that the knot was undone and the prophecy was
Neolithic man used overhand knots, half tulfilled, and conset]uently today ‘cutting the
hitches, clove hitches, reef knots and nooses. Gordian Knot’ means to act quickly and deci
Throughout history, and across the world, sively in a difficult situation.
knots and knotted cords have been important: Although each knot serves a different pur
they have been used as calendars and records pose, it really isn’t necessary to know hun
of important events, as tallies to record trading dreds of knots. After all. Neolithic man sur
transactions and as mnemonic devices to cue vived with just a handful! However, it is
the memory. It is likely that the abacus, the important to understand how different knots
forerunner of todays calculators, and the are best suited to the conditions in which they
rosary that is used to count oft' prayers, were are to be used.
both devised from simple knotted cords.
Knots also feature in mythology.The most
famous mythological knot is the Gordian
Knot. The legend goes that Gordius, a simple
The sheet bend is unusual
in that it can be tied
using two different
diameters of rope.
