Tying ropes doesn’t seem to be a particularly fascinating task. But believe me, as you start getting into the details of it, you’ll be amazed how amazing and useful the skill of tying knots can be. Whether you are setting up your tent in the wild, trying to toe your car or even hanging through a cliff on a Rope that your life depends on; the art of tying knots comes in very useful. Few years back, I got the opportunity to learn about all kinds of necessary Knots, process of making them and their uses. Unfortunately, it got limited to my notebook and I completely forgot about it for more than a year before I came across it few weeks back and felt like I should be keeping record of this. So, here is the record about the Knots, It’s type, procedures and uses that I know of :
1) Eight Knot / Eight on a Bight
As its name suggest, this 8 shaped knot tightens even more as it retraces the path it followed. Eight on a bight can be used on a carabina or other hooks and anchorages which has opening for the loop of the rope to be inserted.
2) Stopper Knot
It is basically a safety knot which prevents the rope moving in either direction (loosing or tightening) making it best for use between two knots or at the end of any knot. It assures the safety against the slipping of knots. It can also be used for tying cattle to prevent them from strangling due to overtightening.
3) Eight Knot ( Rewoven/ Retraced)
This kind of knot is used when there is no any hook or anchorage with space for bight. In such situation, single eight knot is woven, curled around the fixed support like stone or pillar and then carefully retraced back into the eight shape.
4) Half Sellor Knot / Italian Hitch
This kind of Knot is used mainly during rock climbing but is not recommended when the weather is wet and Icy. It’s famous for its easeness to tie and untie and can be used as a pulley setup with safety in its absence.
5) Full Sellor Knot
Though, it’s function is as same as that of half sellor, it’s considered to be stronger among two and has higher payload capacity
6) Double Fisherman Knot
This knot can be used to tie two ends of a rope. It’s usually trusted fir large payload as the grip tightens with the wight as the knots push one further into another with increase in load. It’s useful when the length of a single rope is not sufficient for a required task.
7) Single Bowline Knot
This knot can be tied at the end of a rope. It can commonly be used in rescue situations like atatching a rope to a rescue harness or even using it as a harness whenever necessary.
These were the basic kinds of knots and their uses. It requires continuous practice to remeber all of them. I almost forgot and lost account about them before I came over my notes few weeks back. Hope it comes to our use very soon !!
