3 ms·
IMO, the 2 most useful knots I know (aside from the shoelace knot) are the Carrick Bend and the Bowline. The Carrick bend is especially useful - it's basically
by nordsieck 7y ago
IMO, the 2 most useful knots I know (aside from the shoelace knot) are the Carrick Bend and the Bowline.
The Carrick bend is especially useful - it's basically a square knot that doesn't come undone on its own.
- recursive 7y agoI'd put in a vote for the sheet bend, although it's kind of isomorphic to the bowline. The "free" ends are in different places, and it's a joining knot.
- emmelaich 7y agoThe bowline is rather special as it * doesn't tighten the big loop when you pull on it. * it can be done with one hand (with lots of practice!) I wonder how strong the bowline is compared to the others though.
- nwallin 7y agoWhen I was in boy scouts, at one of the camps one year one of the people running the thing had this little game. The idea was that two people would each tie a bowline around their waist, and connect the two ropes with a square knot. Then do it as fast as you could. Two of the kids in my troop got it down to two and a half seconds. It looked like one of those magic tricks where you flip a rope around and it knotted itself. I did eventually learn the one handed bowline, but it still takes me twenty seconds to do either that or a basic square knot.
- JshWright 7y agoMy vote for most useful knot is the figure-8. Can be used to secure something to a fixed anchor, as a bend, or to put a loop in the middle of a line (something like an Alpine Butterfly is a better option there, but if you only know the figure-8, it will get the job done).