I did this for a while after seeing that video, but after some of my shorts ended up tightening into a knot that I couldn't get loose easily, I gave up on it.
I instead just use the "Ian Knot" that I use to tie my shoes. It's very quick, I already use it all the time anyhow, and it rarely goes wrong. (Sometimes, I think I end up with an end through a loop accidentally, and have to fix it.)
Learning this extra knot didn't really help much, and it definitely went wrong more than I liked.
Knots in general are a harmless and occasionally useful pasttime for many people. In fact I have a length of rope under my desk I will occasionally pick up and practice a few useful knots in just to keep them in my muscle memory. It's similar in many ways to people who solve rubix cubes or play with fidget spinners.
I’ve spent decades learning to enter and exit doors more efficiently for motivated to apply the principle of martial arts ‘flowing movements’ to everything and found this video charming and accurate. In a climate with -20C temps outdoors every wall second you have a door open translates to fractions of a firewood heating log, so teaching good door etiquette conserves energy waste. But even where it’s not an environmental extreme, getting better at your daily movements is a worthwhile investment. At one point I had it down to 29 ‘moves’ to go from my front door to in car, belted and started, in one continuous series of movements. Growing old gracefully doesn’t just mean being nice to people, after all :)
I took the time one year to learn a bunch of knot work and my ability to tie my shoes so they lay nicely has improved, even if I’m just using the same knot. But I also only tie my shoes once and never again, courtesy of elastic laces, so perhaps this specific tutorial isn’t as helpful for me as others. Still worth learning a knot once, tho though!
You could also say life is too short to waste time retying inferior drawstrings. If learning the knot takes 5 minutes, it seems like it could easily save you time overall.
If it takes 5 minutes to learn, and if you have 30 more years of needing to tie drawstrings, and you need to tie on average one drawstring per week, you will come out ahead if it saves you 0.19 seconds tying or retying per drawstring.
The Ashley Book of Knots has 3857 numbered entries. Each is suited to specific requirements. Some are just fun or decorative. It can be a hobby to learn more.
Domain people might have a dozen knots to get their job done. I just took a swift water rescue class; we got by with maybe five total for our situation.
I got through an entire day yesterday in massively oversized gym shorts, by simply forming a standard loop, and wrapping it _twice_. That extra friction (the second wrap) has worked for years on shoes, boots, and, very large shorts
I will not be learning a fancy knot because I have no need
Here is how to tie a bow in under 1 second in case anyone wants something that looks a bit cleaner but is less functional: https://m.youtube.com/shorts/Q5qZpQe_4EA
I learned this knot from this video a while back -- I've used it ever since. It cinches the shorts tight, but is easy to release. It works especially well on strings that are slippery and don't hold a typical bow very well.
One drawback is that the two ends often end up different lengths, but otherwise it's a great knot!
This knot is not for me. I need my drawstrings to be permanently connected together, or else when I wash those shorts they frequently get pulled into the pants where I can't reach them, and it's a pain to fish them out again. And I can't remember to tie them together before each wash.
I once made a contraption out of the top thread-part of a plastic soda bottle and the lid. Cut a slot down the threads, put your drawstring ends through the bottle end and slot, then tighten the cap to hold everything in place. plastic. survives the wash. Then my Dad suggested sewing the drawstring to the shorts at the midpoint with a few stitches. Much better, you don't have to make and remember to use any contraption.
You can find drawstring threaders (bodkins?) on amazon pretty cheaply - if you have clothes with drawstrings it's handy to have one of these around the house.
In recent years I've needed to use a Wash & Fold service, and I've gone through at least 8 of them with acrimonious disputes and really awful service.
The last one was getting all my clothes clean, but they always folded them in the most haphazard ridiculous way; some garments were deliberately turned inside-out, etc. (It was kind of a racist thing, by the workers who were not of the friendly owner family at the front counter. Happens all the time to me.)
Another annoying thing that they did was that anytime a garment had a drawstring, it would end up extracted or completely pulled into the waistband. The front-counter owner lady even pointed this out, rather gleefully, and "apologized" and handed me the disassembled pair of shorts.
In the meantime, I found that a lacquered chopstick was very useful to route the drawstring back through the waistband, along with a pair of tweezers or needlenose pliers, to fish out the end from deep inside there.
Since then, I've switched to a service that is treating me with respect, and the lady is amazingly good at sorting and folding! Yay!
Gosh I need to learn more about knots. I've been thinking about this recently: if I wanted to maximise utility and could only learn 5 knots, what would they be.
Or alternatively, what are the "better" alternatives to the classics everyone knows.
Knowing common knots is not just useful because they are handy, but they also represent a common toolkit - when sailing with someone, if I see they tie a certain thing with a specific knot, I can do likewise. When I see a knot I recognise, I immediately know how to untie and re-tie it.
Generally the same point about having a common vocabulary in tech work. Sometimes it's about stuff that's obvious to both parties in one way or another - but the name is what ties it together (heh).
The marlinspike hitch is the best bang-for-your-buck. The author of this video shows it in quite a few of his other videos. Depending on what you do with the tag end, you can quickly collapse it into a bowline for a fixed loop (and subsequently apply any bowline finishing you might like), or you can end up with an Ashley stopper (which provides triple the diameter of the rope, so is an excellent stopper). Using it actually as a marlinspike hitch gives you a really nice handle to pull in tension on a trucker’s hitch. The knot also does not jam, so you can easily pull it out just by completely tightening it. This same property makes it an excellent choice for the loop in a trucker’s hitch… provided you get the directionality right so the force of pulling in tension counteracts its desire to collapse. When you’re done, the loop can just collapse out when you untie it—no dealing with a jammed alpine butterfly.
The bowline has two variants, one being the cowboy version, which has the working bitter end on the outside of the loop, the "normal" bowline will have it on the inside of the loop.
To tie a bowline, make a loop in the working bitter end up about 2x the desired circumference of the loop you want to make. Your line is now segmented into the bitter end, and the standing line section.
Look at the loop. You want to put the bitter end through the same side of the hole where the bitter end overlaps the line/rope on the other side of the loop (standing section). If you use your right hand to twist the loop, and do so clockwise, you will insert the bitter end from the top. If you turn it counter-clockwise, then you will insert it from the bottom.
In this orientation, if you go around behind the right side of the standing part, you will form a normal bowline. If you go around behind on the left, this will form a "cowboy" bowline. Either works, but the cowboy one allows the bitter end to hang loose, which increases the odds of it getting caught up in other lines.
Finish by inserting the bitter end into the same hole from the other direction (obviously).
If you find the knot comes undone, you are putting it through the wrong side of the hole at the start. Just insert it in the other side and this particular problem solves itself. If you are on a boat, other problems may now be selected for attack. :P
Strongly agreed, and thank you - TIL about the truckee hitch, I've always been using trucker's hitches and now I'm going to go try to reprogram myself.
I'd add a butterfly loop to this list for those times you need to add a tie-in point to the middle of a rope for whatever reason.
The Farrimond Hitch is my favorite knot. Useful to tie a line to another line and have it adjustable, but strong under load and a single pull to undo it. Easy to remember, it's like a prusik knot.
There is a reason scouts require you to tie so many knots. Not that any scout remembers their knots longer than needed pass that requirement, but it is still important and once in a while they do need them.
The scouts require a bunch of utterly terrible knots. They include the Granny Knot which you never actually want to tie, only to avoid tying by accident. They include the Sheepshank, which is quite possibly the worst way to shorten a line ever invented. Etc.
There are (I'd contend) four basic types of knot: Bends, hitches, bindings, and loops. Bends tie two cords together, hitches tie cords to objects, bindings wrap & grip objects together, and loops are loops.
You only really need one bend. I suggest the zeppelin bend, but they're all pretty similar. Hitches can benefit from a bit more variety, but a round-turn with two half-hitches will serve you well in most situations, along with its more secure variant, the anchor hitch. There's a trade-off between how secure a knot is and how easy it is to untie, which is why the less-secure variant is useful.
The best loop is the angler's loop, which will even hold in bungee cord. The alpine butterfly is also good to know because you can tie it "in the bight" (without access to either end of the rope), which is very handy.
Bindings are (I think) the most commonly-used family of knots for most people. Lashing a load into a truck so it won't move, tying a bag shut, and even tying shoes are all situations for bindings. For large loads, I'd suggest a trucker's hitch, which is good for (e.g.) tightly strapping a load into a truck bed, hence the name. For smaller situations, like cinching a bag shut, try the jam hitch—an underappreciated favourite of mine. It works like a zip tie, tightening around an object and not loosening. (Make sure the knot itself is tied tightly before you zip it. After you zip it, you can tie the ends together for extra security.)
If nothing else, learn the round turn & two half hitches, the alpine butterfly, and the trucker's hitch. Some combination of these will serve you well in most situations.
IMO it's important to start with what possible uses of knots there are, and then learn a knot for each use. I'll exclude decorative knots, because those are subjective & very diverse.
Stopper knots prevent rope from passing through a hole & keep the end from unraveling. The Overhand knot is the simplest. The Double Overhand is a very simple addition to an overhand. The Figure-8 is slightly bigger, and useful to know.
Single loop knots create a single fixed loop in a line. The Butterfly (aka Alpine Butterfly) can be tied mid-line (without access to the end) or with the end of a rope, and is two overhand knots interlocked in a particular manner.
A noose is any loop that tightens when a load is applied. I like the Scaffold Knot, it's a double overhand around the standing part of the rope. Its biggest disadvantage is it can be difficult to undo. Any fixed loop can also be made into a noose by tying it around the standing part, forming a "Running <name of fixed loop>".
Bends join the ends of two ropes. The Fisherman's knot (also has lots of other names) is two overhand knots, one with each rope, tied around the standing part of the other rope. It's strong, secure, but difficult to untie. The Double Fisherman's uses double overhands. The Butterfly Bend is a Butterfly tied as a bend, it's strong, secure, and much easier to untie. The Butterfly Bend is tied the same way the Butterfly Loop is when tying with the end.
Hitches tie a rope to a rigid object. They can attach a rope to something where you have access to an end of the object like a bollard, or where you don't like tying into a fixed ring. They can be for lengthwise pulls, or for right-angle pulls. Adjustable loops are hitches tied around the standing part of the rope. For right-angle pull, the scaffold knot works well (again). It can be tied without access to the end of an object, so it works for rings and bollards. For lengthwise pull, the rolling hitch is nice, and the Rolling Hitch Ziptie is a use of the rolling hitch which works as an adjustable loop and a binding knot.
Binding knots hold only when tied around an object. The Double-Slipped Reef Knot is a common shoelace knot. The Turquoise Turtle or "Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot" are different methods of tying a structurally identical resulting knot that's a bit more secure. Worth knowing at least one of these three, or you'll only wear slip-ons or Velcro closure shoes. Also the Rolling Hitch Ziptie is worth knowing.
There are also some systems of knots called "trucker's hitch"es, which are all ways to use loop knots as improvised pulleys with a final hitch to secure a load in place. IMO they're not independent knots. Handy to know at least one sort though in case you don't have ratchet straps or snatch blocks. The Versatackle is nice, self-locking, and tied with just Alpine Butterflies and any hitch.
So, a list of 5:
1: Overhand knot. 2: Butterfly loop (mid-line). 3: Butterfly loop (with the end). 3 (used differently): Running Butterfly. 3 (used differently): Butterfly bend. 4: Scaffold knot. 5: Rolling Hitch. 5 (used differently): Rolling Hitch Ziptie. 5 (used differently): two opposed Rolling Hitches for tying your shoelaces together works, with difficulty. 2+5: Versatackle trucker's hitch formed from two Butterfly loops and a Rolling Hitch.
All except the Rolling Hitch are based on the Overhand knot. If you're willing to add a sixth knot, pick something better to tie your shoes.
I've spent waaay to much time thinking about this over the past few years and have really gotten into knots.
Personally I'd say you need to classify the type of knots you want to learn and pick one knot from each. The classics in my opinion are
1. End loop
2. Mid loop
3. Hitch (opposite of an end loop)
4. adjustable loop
5. Bend (rope to rope)
My suggestions in order are
# End Loop
1a. Bowline (snap variant) - This is a knot that's super easy to tie, remember, and untie. There are a bunch of variants to expand it's usefulness (double, water, slip, yosemite, etc)
1b. Zeppelin Loop - this is my personal favorite, it's a little tricky to tie but I've never seen it slip and it unties easily after it's all done.
# Mid Loop
2a. Alpine Butterfly - learn the butterfly method and this is an easy to tie knot that can be easily sized. It also doesn't bind so it unties easily and can be loaded in any direction (on of the only midline knots this is true for)
2b. Bowline on a Bight - Super satisfying knot to tie, a little wonky to learn just because of the structure but easy to tie once you get it.
# Hitch
3a. Tensionless Hitch - (this is probably the most overlooked 'knot' just look at a diagram you can learn it and never forget it after seeing the diagram once. It's the strongest knot there is if you have the rope for it. (I wouldn't really count this at one of your 5 but it's good to keep in mind)
3b. Buntline Hitch - dead simple and you can usually untie it after a heavy load
3c. Siberian Hitch - This is effectively a slipped noose but I use it all the time, it's my personal go to.
3c. Poachers knot - If you have a carabiner or know you're never going to need to untie this knot it's hard to beat
# Adjustable Loop / Friction Hitch
4a. Adjustable Grip Hitch - Easy to learn and holds better than the Midshipman's
4b. Midshipman - it's a little more complicated but this was Ashley's favorite because it can be tied under tension
# Bend
(Bends and fixed loops usually have the same structure so you might not need this one)
5a. Zeppelin Bend - seriously just learn this one, sixty nine method is the easiest for me. Knot is easy to tie, doesn't slip, and is easy to untie.
5b. Sheet Bend - this knot... is fine but you already know it if you learned the bowline above as it's the same structure
Bonus Section
1. Trucker/Truckee - probably one of the most useful knots around, learn the method that uses a slip knot for the mid loop and it'll make even easier
2. Canadian Jam Knot - Useful for bundling things, it's a knot I find myself using a lot
3. Voodoo Hitch - You can use it in place of a ratchet strap if you have a couple of carabiners
4. Icicle Hitch - Ever wanted to tie a rope to a butter metal pole and keep it from slipping? This is the knot, it cinches and grips things with so much friction you can tie a rope to about anything vaguely cylindrical
An aficionado! Have you heard of the jam hitch (ABOK #1727)? Grossly underappreciated IMO. It tightens like a zip tie, and (in kitchen twine at least) I've found the string will snap before the loop slips open again. It's my most-used knot, day to day. I like to tie it with the second turn inside the first (like #1855 as opposed to #1856).
So the hack is to stab the knot? I'm gonna need a video on how to open a drawer to retrieve the fork first....
Real knot untying hack - hit it with a hammer, or otherwise smash it. It will undo itself enough that you can then do whatever is most obvious, like using a thin piece of metal.
I just go under and over one more time in the initial step of tying a traditional "shoelace" knot. That gives a little more friction on the initial tightening draw to keep it in place, then just finish it as normal.
I've tried alternatives, but in the end keeping it simple is what I prefer.
I found that if I make it tight enough so that things don't loosen easily when there's tension, then it's too tight to adjust easily. Maybe there's a happy medium to be had, but through numerous tries, I never achieved it.
Just by the headline I suspected this was first class amateur. So many great videos.
That being said, use cord locks, not knots. You can often shorten the drawstring, and you will never lose one end into the waist.
I love how new people keep discovering Ian's website (cf the xkcd 1053). It's a really well made website, the pictures and animations are very well chosen to explain knots and lacing.
I favor a technique I was taught by a nursing student almost 30 years ago. You basically use the usual technique but each time the lace crosses another do it one extra time.
So first you wrap one lace around the other and pull it tight, well before you pull it tight wrap it around one more time. This helps hold the laces tight for the next step where you fold the laces and wrap them around each other. Do that a second time as well before you pull it fully tight.
Without video or illustration I suspect this is not easy to follow. Oh well.
I’ve been giving this a try, and aside from Porky Pigging it through my kitchen this morning, it seems to have real promise. The rip cord isn’t a feature I value, though.
A few years back I got a couple of Adidas running shorts. Instead of the typical drawstring they had some continuous string. To this day I've no idea how it was supposed to be used, I just cut it off and voila, a regular drawstring.
You can tie the same knots without cutting the string. Just grab the two sides, pull them snug, then tie the knot. The fact that the “free ends” are connected at a distance doesn’t prevent the knot from holding like usual.
The advantage of the continuous loop is that it can’t end up inside the waistband during laundry.
Once I had a pair of the continuous loop sweats, I turned all my sweats into the same. My drawstrings always seem to end up getting retracted into the pants.
Ever since I was a scout in the 90s I've been considering how to get in contact with them about discouraging use of the square knot.
The way that loading it crosswise causes it to shift into a double half hitch, turning from a "hold fast" knot to a slipknot... That's funky behavior and should disqualify it from being among the first few knots people learn. If you're using it for its advertised purpose, it's downright dangerous, and the square/granny confusion is just needless pain to discourage a newbie.
If you wanna tie two ropes together and have a less finicky experience, use a fisherman's knot. Which is basically a pair of overhands, each around the other rope.
It's a much more reliable knot for trying two ropes together, lacks the annoying gotchas of the square knot, and for a long list of reasons I won't bore you with here it is a better foundation for learning other knots. (It's no good for drawstrings though, too reliable, no quick release).
The reef knot (square knot in Scouts lingo) is a good binding knot. It's a terrible bend. Scouts teach it as a bend, for some idiotic reason.
Reefing a sail or tying a parcel,
a reef knot the role will fulfill.
But joining two ends one should only use bends,
And a reef knot's a sure way to kill.
⸻Stuart Grainger, ex-Master Mariner, 1985. Referenced from "The Complete Book of Knots" by Geoffrey Budworth.
just start with a double square knot (or whatever the first step is called) and pull it tight before starting the bow. it won't move while you tie the bow, and it's so much easier than this. if you have particularly slippery substrate, start with a triple instead
A reef knot (or square knot) cannot be adjusted or tied under load. When you tie the second crossing, the first one always loosens a bit. The lapp knot in the video can be tensioned properly after tying, which is pretty slick.
As long as you switch directions when tying a bunny ears knot, it will stay tied. I do left over/right under for the first step and then left under/right over for the second step. The ears/loops should sit balanced and not lopsided. I use the same knot to tie my shoes.
I did this for a while after seeing that video, but after some of my shorts ended up tightening into a knot that I couldn't get loose easily, I gave up on it.
I instead just use the "Ian Knot" that I use to tie my shoes. It's very quick, I already use it all the time anyhow, and it rarely goes wrong. (Sometimes, I think I end up with an end through a loop accidentally, and have to fix it.)
Learning this extra knot didn't really help much, and it definitely went wrong more than I liked.
Ian Knots is a rabbit hole of great practical knots and shoe lacing styles.
You just pull the loose string end to relieve the knot? The loop just pulls out.
I think he means that if you ever accidentally tie the knot wrong, then it can end up difficult to untie.
I don't think I tied it wrong. I think it eventually just tightened up with usage and got really hard to work with.
Life is too short to make simple things more complicated.
Knots in general are a harmless and occasionally useful pasttime for many people. In fact I have a length of rope under my desk I will occasionally pick up and practice a few useful knots in just to keep them in my muscle memory. It's similar in many ways to people who solve rubix cubes or play with fidget spinners.
It somehow reminded me of this: (How to open a door - Finnish instructional video from 1979) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wof0xPUmW38
I’ve spent decades learning to enter and exit doors more efficiently for motivated to apply the principle of martial arts ‘flowing movements’ to everything and found this video charming and accurate. In a climate with -20C temps outdoors every wall second you have a door open translates to fractions of a firewood heating log, so teaching good door etiquette conserves energy waste. But even where it’s not an environmental extreme, getting better at your daily movements is a worthwhile investment. At one point I had it down to 29 ‘moves’ to go from my front door to in car, belted and started, in one continuous series of movements. Growing old gracefully doesn’t just mean being nice to people, after all :)
I took the time one year to learn a bunch of knot work and my ability to tie my shoes so they lay nicely has improved, even if I’m just using the same knot. But I also only tie my shoes once and never again, courtesy of elastic laces, so perhaps this specific tutorial isn’t as helpful for me as others. Still worth learning a knot once, tho though!
That tutorial has opened up many doors for me
You could also say life is too short to waste time retying inferior drawstrings. If learning the knot takes 5 minutes, it seems like it could easily save you time overall.
If you're spending that much time tying drawstrings I think you've got bigger problems.
If it takes 5 minutes to learn, and if you have 30 more years of needing to tie drawstrings, and you need to tie on average one drawstring per week, you will come out ahead if it saves you 0.19 seconds tying or retying per drawstring.
I was looking for the comic and found this:
https://xkcd.com/1205/
(I swear there was a better one)
This one perhaps? https://xkcd.com/1319/
The Ashley Book of Knots has 3857 numbered entries. Each is suited to specific requirements. Some are just fun or decorative. It can be a hobby to learn more.
Domain people might have a dozen knots to get their job done. I just took a swift water rescue class; we got by with maybe five total for our situation.
Tying shorts? Maybe two or three are best suited.
I got through an entire day yesterday in massively oversized gym shorts, by simply forming a standard loop, and wrapping it _twice_. That extra friction (the second wrap) has worked for years on shoes, boots, and, very large shorts
I will not be learning a fancy knot because I have no need
You should be on a beach without internet connection then.
That requires money. (GOTO makeMoney)
Per the video description, this is a Lapp Knot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapp_knot, sadly not animated by Grog.
Here’s an animated version: https://knots3d.com/en/lapp-knot
I think you meant to link https://knots3d.com/en/slipped-lapp-knot It's even labeled as a gym shorts knot.
Super cool!
Here is how to tie a bow in under 1 second in case anyone wants something that looks a bit cleaner but is less functional: https://m.youtube.com/shorts/Q5qZpQe_4EA
Hard to tell if that's the same as the Ian Knot: https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/ianknot.htm
I've learned the Ian Knot almost 10 years ago and it still gives me a good smile when I use it every day. Feels like a proper life-hack.
I also cannot help myself but look down at people that don't use it, shoelace normies.
Thanks for sharing. That's an awesome site!
I think its the same Knot. I really like Ian's Secure Knot too: https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htm
I've become a huge fan of the secure knot. Holds easily as well as any double knot I have ever seen, with the massive advantage of easy release.
First thing I thought when I saw it being tied.
"Hey, that's the Ian Knot!"
Does this also work for full length pants?
I learned this knot from this video a while back -- I've used it ever since. It cinches the shorts tight, but is easy to release. It works especially well on strings that are slippery and don't hold a typical bow very well.
One drawback is that the two ends often end up different lengths, but otherwise it's a great knot!
This knot is not for me. I need my drawstrings to be permanently connected together, or else when I wash those shorts they frequently get pulled into the pants where I can't reach them, and it's a pain to fish them out again. And I can't remember to tie them together before each wash.
I once made a contraption out of the top thread-part of a plastic soda bottle and the lid. Cut a slot down the threads, put your drawstring ends through the bottle end and slot, then tighten the cap to hold everything in place. plastic. survives the wash. Then my Dad suggested sewing the drawstring to the shorts at the midpoint with a few stitches. Much better, you don't have to make and remember to use any contraption.
You can find drawstring threaders (bodkins?) on amazon pretty cheaply - if you have clothes with drawstrings it's handy to have one of these around the house.
I've had sweatpants with a continuous drawstring, this is the knot I use to tighten them
https://youtube.com/shorts/1I9_Zxypg1s
I tie knots at the ends of my drawstrings to prevent them (mostly) from retracting
In recent years I've needed to use a Wash & Fold service, and I've gone through at least 8 of them with acrimonious disputes and really awful service.
The last one was getting all my clothes clean, but they always folded them in the most haphazard ridiculous way; some garments were deliberately turned inside-out, etc. (It was kind of a racist thing, by the workers who were not of the friendly owner family at the front counter. Happens all the time to me.)
Another annoying thing that they did was that anytime a garment had a drawstring, it would end up extracted or completely pulled into the waistband. The front-counter owner lady even pointed this out, rather gleefully, and "apologized" and handed me the disassembled pair of shorts.
In the meantime, I found that a lacquered chopstick was very useful to route the drawstring back through the waistband, along with a pair of tweezers or needlenose pliers, to fish out the end from deep inside there.
Since then, I've switched to a service that is treating me with respect, and the lady is amazingly good at sorting and folding! Yay!
Gosh I need to learn more about knots. I've been thinking about this recently: if I wanted to maximise utility and could only learn 5 knots, what would they be.
Or alternatively, what are the "better" alternatives to the classics everyone knows.
Depends what you're doing.
My favourite knot is the bowline. Non-slip loop, very strong, easy to tie, easy to undo. Can be used for tying two ropes together, ropes to things.
Other useful ones (especially for sailing)
* Clove hitch * Reef knot * Rolling hitch * Sheet bend
Knowing common knots is not just useful because they are handy, but they also represent a common toolkit - when sailing with someone, if I see they tie a certain thing with a specific knot, I can do likewise. When I see a knot I recognise, I immediately know how to untie and re-tie it.
Generally the same point about having a common vocabulary in tech work. Sometimes it's about stuff that's obvious to both parties in one way or another - but the name is what ties it together (heh).
I overuse the bowline. Never seizes, and it can be tied with one hand around your body (or anything else) very quickly.
I think that method was originally taught to me in scouts as an emergency body lift thing, though it would not actually be ideal for that.
Tying a bowline is one of my fidgets. Also famously has a part in Jaws (1975), though not mentioned by name. ("Hey! I got it!")
I’d add tautline hitch, great to have an adjustable-but-holds-well knot to the repertoire!
The bowline is great because you can tie it one handed.
And figure 8 retrace, a staple climbing knot
I used to use that a lot, but now would favour bowline, for ease of tying and untying. Less beginner-friendly, though.
Bowline isn't great for safety-critical applications, especially when not under constant load.
The marlinspike hitch is the best bang-for-your-buck. The author of this video shows it in quite a few of his other videos. Depending on what you do with the tag end, you can quickly collapse it into a bowline for a fixed loop (and subsequently apply any bowline finishing you might like), or you can end up with an Ashley stopper (which provides triple the diameter of the rope, so is an excellent stopper). Using it actually as a marlinspike hitch gives you a really nice handle to pull in tension on a trucker’s hitch. The knot also does not jam, so you can easily pull it out just by completely tightening it. This same property makes it an excellent choice for the loop in a trucker’s hitch… provided you get the directionality right so the force of pulling in tension counteracts its desire to collapse. When you’re done, the loop can just collapse out when you untie it—no dealing with a jammed alpine butterfly.
Bowline, truckee’s hitch (the better alternative to a truckers hitch), prussick come to mind
The bowline has two variants, one being the cowboy version, which has the working bitter end on the outside of the loop, the "normal" bowline will have it on the inside of the loop.
To tie a bowline, make a loop in the working bitter end up about 2x the desired circumference of the loop you want to make. Your line is now segmented into the bitter end, and the standing line section.
Look at the loop. You want to put the bitter end through the same side of the hole where the bitter end overlaps the line/rope on the other side of the loop (standing section). If you use your right hand to twist the loop, and do so clockwise, you will insert the bitter end from the top. If you turn it counter-clockwise, then you will insert it from the bottom.
In this orientation, if you go around behind the right side of the standing part, you will form a normal bowline. If you go around behind on the left, this will form a "cowboy" bowline. Either works, but the cowboy one allows the bitter end to hang loose, which increases the odds of it getting caught up in other lines.
Finish by inserting the bitter end into the same hole from the other direction (obviously).
If you find the knot comes undone, you are putting it through the wrong side of the hole at the start. Just insert it in the other side and this particular problem solves itself. If you are on a boat, other problems may now be selected for attack. :P
Buntline hitch is my personal favorite. Works well with synthetic line.
Strongly agreed, and thank you - TIL about the truckee hitch, I've always been using trucker's hitches and now I'm going to go try to reprogram myself.
I'd add a butterfly loop to this list for those times you need to add a tie-in point to the middle of a rope for whatever reason.
Love this "auto" truckers hitch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J8MuOWO0Qs
Edit: Same knot, with an explanation before showing what I knew as the classic trucker hitch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKM5gaYJWN0
Super useful knot for when you don't have a ratchet tie-down. Learned and used this knot all the time hauling around dirt bikes.
The Farrimond Hitch is my favorite knot. Useful to tie a line to another line and have it adjustable, but strong under load and a single pull to undo it. Easy to remember, it's like a prusik knot.
https://www.animatedknots.com/farrimond-friction-hitch-knot
(overhand and double 8 are probably used more often by me, but not that versatile)
There is a reason scouts require you to tie so many knots. Not that any scout remembers their knots longer than needed pass that requirement, but it is still important and once in a while they do need them.
The scouts require a bunch of utterly terrible knots. They include the Granny Knot which you never actually want to tie, only to avoid tying by accident. They include the Sheepshank, which is quite possibly the worst way to shorten a line ever invented. Etc.
There are (I'd contend) four basic types of knot: Bends, hitches, bindings, and loops. Bends tie two cords together, hitches tie cords to objects, bindings wrap & grip objects together, and loops are loops.
You only really need one bend. I suggest the zeppelin bend, but they're all pretty similar. Hitches can benefit from a bit more variety, but a round-turn with two half-hitches will serve you well in most situations, along with its more secure variant, the anchor hitch. There's a trade-off between how secure a knot is and how easy it is to untie, which is why the less-secure variant is useful.
The best loop is the angler's loop, which will even hold in bungee cord. The alpine butterfly is also good to know because you can tie it "in the bight" (without access to either end of the rope), which is very handy.
Bindings are (I think) the most commonly-used family of knots for most people. Lashing a load into a truck so it won't move, tying a bag shut, and even tying shoes are all situations for bindings. For large loads, I'd suggest a trucker's hitch, which is good for (e.g.) tightly strapping a load into a truck bed, hence the name. For smaller situations, like cinching a bag shut, try the jam hitch—an underappreciated favourite of mine. It works like a zip tie, tightening around an object and not loosening. (Make sure the knot itself is tied tightly before you zip it. After you zip it, you can tie the ends together for extra security.)
Zeppelin bend: https://www.animatedknots.com/zeppelin-bend-knot
Anchor hitch: https://www.animatedknots.com/anchor-hitch-knot; round turn & two half-hitches: https://www.animatedknots.com/round-turn-two-half-hitches-kn...
Angler's loop (sometimes called "perfection loop"): https://www.animatedknots.com/perfection-loop-knot; alpine butterfly: https://www.animatedknots.com/alpine-butterfly-loop-knot.
Trucker's hitch (feat. alpine butterfly): https://www.youtube.com/shorts/o3BcaoPXK5Q; jam hitch (aka "rolling hitch zip tie" or "reverse midshipman's hitch"): https://www.reddit.com/r/knots/comments/12vsuk1/how_to_tie_a.... (Though these have "hitch" in the name, I'd argue they're better described as bindings, because they preserve tension.)
If nothing else, learn the round turn & two half hitches, the alpine butterfly, and the trucker's hitch. Some combination of these will serve you well in most situations.
One final tip, while I'm talking about knots. You may be tying your shoelaces wrong: https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/grannyknot.htm.
IMO it's important to start with what possible uses of knots there are, and then learn a knot for each use. I'll exclude decorative knots, because those are subjective & very diverse.
Stopper knots prevent rope from passing through a hole & keep the end from unraveling. The Overhand knot is the simplest. The Double Overhand is a very simple addition to an overhand. The Figure-8 is slightly bigger, and useful to know.
Single loop knots create a single fixed loop in a line. The Butterfly (aka Alpine Butterfly) can be tied mid-line (without access to the end) or with the end of a rope, and is two overhand knots interlocked in a particular manner.
A noose is any loop that tightens when a load is applied. I like the Scaffold Knot, it's a double overhand around the standing part of the rope. Its biggest disadvantage is it can be difficult to undo. Any fixed loop can also be made into a noose by tying it around the standing part, forming a "Running <name of fixed loop>".
Bends join the ends of two ropes. The Fisherman's knot (also has lots of other names) is two overhand knots, one with each rope, tied around the standing part of the other rope. It's strong, secure, but difficult to untie. The Double Fisherman's uses double overhands. The Butterfly Bend is a Butterfly tied as a bend, it's strong, secure, and much easier to untie. The Butterfly Bend is tied the same way the Butterfly Loop is when tying with the end.
Hitches tie a rope to a rigid object. They can attach a rope to something where you have access to an end of the object like a bollard, or where you don't like tying into a fixed ring. They can be for lengthwise pulls, or for right-angle pulls. Adjustable loops are hitches tied around the standing part of the rope. For right-angle pull, the scaffold knot works well (again). It can be tied without access to the end of an object, so it works for rings and bollards. For lengthwise pull, the rolling hitch is nice, and the Rolling Hitch Ziptie is a use of the rolling hitch which works as an adjustable loop and a binding knot.
Binding knots hold only when tied around an object. The Double-Slipped Reef Knot is a common shoelace knot. The Turquoise Turtle or "Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot" are different methods of tying a structurally identical resulting knot that's a bit more secure. Worth knowing at least one of these three, or you'll only wear slip-ons or Velcro closure shoes. Also the Rolling Hitch Ziptie is worth knowing.
There are also some systems of knots called "trucker's hitch"es, which are all ways to use loop knots as improvised pulleys with a final hitch to secure a load in place. IMO they're not independent knots. Handy to know at least one sort though in case you don't have ratchet straps or snatch blocks. The Versatackle is nice, self-locking, and tied with just Alpine Butterflies and any hitch.
So, a list of 5:
1: Overhand knot. 2: Butterfly loop (mid-line). 3: Butterfly loop (with the end). 3 (used differently): Running Butterfly. 3 (used differently): Butterfly bend. 4: Scaffold knot. 5: Rolling Hitch. 5 (used differently): Rolling Hitch Ziptie. 5 (used differently): two opposed Rolling Hitches for tying your shoelaces together works, with difficulty. 2+5: Versatackle trucker's hitch formed from two Butterfly loops and a Rolling Hitch.
All except the Rolling Hitch are based on the Overhand knot. If you're willing to add a sixth knot, pick something better to tie your shoes.
I've spent waaay to much time thinking about this over the past few years and have really gotten into knots.
Personally I'd say you need to classify the type of knots you want to learn and pick one knot from each. The classics in my opinion are
1. End loop
2. Mid loop
3. Hitch (opposite of an end loop)
4. adjustable loop
5. Bend (rope to rope)
My suggestions in order are
# End Loop
1a. Bowline (snap variant) - This is a knot that's super easy to tie, remember, and untie. There are a bunch of variants to expand it's usefulness (double, water, slip, yosemite, etc)
1b. Zeppelin Loop - this is my personal favorite, it's a little tricky to tie but I've never seen it slip and it unties easily after it's all done.
# Mid Loop
2a. Alpine Butterfly - learn the butterfly method and this is an easy to tie knot that can be easily sized. It also doesn't bind so it unties easily and can be loaded in any direction (on of the only midline knots this is true for)
2b. Bowline on a Bight - Super satisfying knot to tie, a little wonky to learn just because of the structure but easy to tie once you get it.
# Hitch
3a. Tensionless Hitch - (this is probably the most overlooked 'knot' just look at a diagram you can learn it and never forget it after seeing the diagram once. It's the strongest knot there is if you have the rope for it. (I wouldn't really count this at one of your 5 but it's good to keep in mind)
3b. Buntline Hitch - dead simple and you can usually untie it after a heavy load 3c. Siberian Hitch - This is effectively a slipped noose but I use it all the time, it's my personal go to.
3c. Poachers knot - If you have a carabiner or know you're never going to need to untie this knot it's hard to beat
# Adjustable Loop / Friction Hitch
4a. Adjustable Grip Hitch - Easy to learn and holds better than the Midshipman's
4b. Midshipman - it's a little more complicated but this was Ashley's favorite because it can be tied under tension
# Bend
(Bends and fixed loops usually have the same structure so you might not need this one)
5a. Zeppelin Bend - seriously just learn this one, sixty nine method is the easiest for me. Knot is easy to tie, doesn't slip, and is easy to untie.
5b. Sheet Bend - this knot... is fine but you already know it if you learned the bowline above as it's the same structure
Bonus Section
1. Trucker/Truckee - probably one of the most useful knots around, learn the method that uses a slip knot for the mid loop and it'll make even easier
2. Canadian Jam Knot - Useful for bundling things, it's a knot I find myself using a lot
3. Voodoo Hitch - You can use it in place of a ratchet strap if you have a couple of carabiners
4. Icicle Hitch - Ever wanted to tie a rope to a butter metal pole and keep it from slipping? This is the knot, it cinches and grips things with so much friction you can tie a rope to about anything vaguely cylindrical
An aficionado! Have you heard of the jam hitch (ABOK #1727)? Grossly underappreciated IMO. It tightens like a zip tie, and (in kitchen twine at least) I've found the string will snap before the loop slips open again. It's my most-used knot, day to day. I like to tie it with the second turn inside the first (like #1855 as opposed to #1856).
Hack to untie a knot using an ordinary fork:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/YCBD8l7Sg3M
So the hack is to stab the knot? I'm gonna need a video on how to open a drawer to retrieve the fork first....
Real knot untying hack - hit it with a hammer, or otherwise smash it. It will undo itself enough that you can then do whatever is most obvious, like using a thin piece of metal.
I just go under and over one more time in the initial step of tying a traditional "shoelace" knot. That gives a little more friction on the initial tightening draw to keep it in place, then just finish it as normal.
I've tried alternatives, but in the end keeping it simple is what I prefer.
I tried several drawstrings.
I found that if I make it tight enough so that things don't loosen easily when there's tension, then it's too tight to adjust easily. Maybe there's a happy medium to be had, but through numerous tries, I never achieved it.
Just by the headline I suspected this was first class amateur. So many great videos. That being said, use cord locks, not knots. You can often shorten the drawstring, and you will never lose one end into the waist.
Leave them on in the wash?
Do they end up breaking every couple years?
https://youtube.com/shorts/1I9_Zxypg1s
Here's an adjustable knot for if you've got a continuous drawstring like on a hat or sweatpants
Amazing, I love learning about knots! Is there a better shoelace knot? Not faster, but better
Yes, there is my friend. https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htm
I've learned it a month ago and couldn't be happier.
I love how new people keep discovering Ian's website (cf the xkcd 1053). It's a really well made website, the pictures and animations are very well chosen to explain knots and lacing.
Yep: one extra rotation at the end, like when you are tying the loops together, go around a second time. Never comes undone, but releases easily.
I favor a technique I was taught by a nursing student almost 30 years ago. You basically use the usual technique but each time the lace crosses another do it one extra time.
So first you wrap one lace around the other and pull it tight, well before you pull it tight wrap it around one more time. This helps hold the laces tight for the next step where you fold the laces and wrap them around each other. Do that a second time as well before you pull it fully tight.
Without video or illustration I suspect this is not easy to follow. Oh well.
I’ve been giving this a try, and aside from Porky Pigging it through my kitchen this morning, it seems to have real promise. The rip cord isn’t a feature I value, though.
A few years back I got a couple of Adidas running shorts. Instead of the typical drawstring they had some continuous string. To this day I've no idea how it was supposed to be used, I just cut it off and voila, a regular drawstring.
You can tie the same knots without cutting the string. Just grab the two sides, pull them snug, then tie the knot. The fact that the “free ends” are connected at a distance doesn’t prevent the knot from holding like usual.
The advantage of the continuous loop is that it can’t end up inside the waistband during laundry.
Once I had a pair of the continuous loop sweats, I turned all my sweats into the same. My drawstrings always seem to end up getting retracted into the pants.
Like this https://youtube.com/shorts/1I9_Zxypg1s
It took a few minutes to get the hang of, but it does work very nicely! Being able to adjust length without any re-tying is a great feature
Funny, I just went seeking this video again last week
He published an addendum https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbTYCHPLWLI
hn really is more reddit-like with each passing day.
That's a semi-noob illusion, as old as the hills
Doesn't seem to work very well with flat strings it seems (or I suck at knotting).
Or the way most drawstrings are now: a loop and not two loose ends.
Sorry to spam the comments with this link but it seems like a common problem
https://youtube.com/shorts/1I9_Zxypg1s
I lived several decades knowing only the standard set of knots (square, granny) that every six-year-old knows.
Recently, due to Scouts, learned more and I can't believe how often I use them.
... and... this knot is new to me. I'm stoked to add it to the brainbox. Way to go, OP!Ever since I was a scout in the 90s I've been considering how to get in contact with them about discouraging use of the square knot.
The way that loading it crosswise causes it to shift into a double half hitch, turning from a "hold fast" knot to a slipknot... That's funky behavior and should disqualify it from being among the first few knots people learn. If you're using it for its advertised purpose, it's downright dangerous, and the square/granny confusion is just needless pain to discourage a newbie.
If you wanna tie two ropes together and have a less finicky experience, use a fisherman's knot. Which is basically a pair of overhands, each around the other rope.
It's a much more reliable knot for trying two ropes together, lacks the annoying gotchas of the square knot, and for a long list of reasons I won't bore you with here it is a better foundation for learning other knots. (It's no good for drawstrings though, too reliable, no quick release).
The reef knot (square knot in Scouts lingo) is a good binding knot. It's a terrible bend. Scouts teach it as a bend, for some idiotic reason.
Reefing a sail or tying a parcel, a reef knot the role will fulfill. But joining two ends one should only use bends, And a reef knot's a sure way to kill.
⸻Stuart Grainger, ex-Master Mariner, 1985. Referenced from "The Complete Book of Knots" by Geoffrey Budworth.
Interesting...
If you have to tie your gym shorts, they're the wrong size.
just start with a double square knot (or whatever the first step is called) and pull it tight before starting the bow. it won't move while you tie the bow, and it's so much easier than this. if you have particularly slippery substrate, start with a triple instead
A reef knot (or square knot) cannot be adjusted or tied under load. When you tie the second crossing, the first one always loosens a bit. The lapp knot in the video can be tensioned properly after tying, which is pretty slick.
As long as you switch directions when tying a bunny ears knot, it will stay tied. I do left over/right under for the first step and then left under/right over for the second step. The ears/loops should sit balanced and not lopsided. I use the same knot to tie my shoes.
From a knot theorist: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/yZuWPjnF6k0
It's amazing the things you learn here..
Agreed! Even better, this is a knot I need.
haha...not bad. Nice try
HN is reading my thoughts again with this one