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Picture Hanging Knot (2017)
- mirimir 6y agoHuh. Me, I've always used soft iron twisted wire.
- baldeagle 6y agoThe answer is a bowline or sheet bend (same knot). They show how to do it with pictures.
- p0llard 6y agoIt depends what material you're tying. For twine, sure; if you're hanging a 30 kg artwork you probably want to use steel wire, and pretty much any kind of knot is unsuitable here.
- semi-extrinsic 6y agoRubbish. Stuff like e.g. boats in the multi-tonne weight class are secured by tying knots every day. Spearfishers. Mountain climbers. I could go on. Get some 2 mm Dyneema rope, which has an average breaking strength of 300 kg, run it through some D-rings and tie it with an Alpine Butterfly. You will be able to do pullups off that artwork if you want.
- throwaway0a5e 6y ago>Rubbish. Stuff like e.g. boats in the multi-tonne weight class are secured by tying knots every day. Spearfishers. Mountain climbers. I could go on. Oil rigs are towed to location using steel cables. Steel wire rope is substantially stronger for its weight and for it size but generally harder to work with than plastic things of similar capacity. Both materials can hang pictures just fine. It's not exactly a dynamic load. People will argue over anything.
- twanvl 6y ago> Steel wire rope is substantially stronger for its weight and for it size but generally harder to work with than plastic things of similar capacity. That is not true. The tensile strength of kevlar and dynema is higher than that of steel, while they have a density that is several times lower.
- japanuspus 6y agoSteel cables are at high risk of corrosion in off-shore environments and are rarely used. Tug operations will use simple synthetic cables (spectra, dynema). Platform anchoring cables are often a rather complex combination of synthetic cables and weights to obtain neutral buoyancy.
- abakker 6y agoThis all depends on what you're hanging. If hanging art worth more than $100, use steel cable. Museums and galleries all use steel cable because it is easier and nicer to work with. dyneema is strong, but not chemically stable and will degrade over time with exposure to atmosphere and light (though obviously there isn't a lot of light behind a piece of art on the wall).
- semi-extrinsic 6y agoI agree that it's easier to work with - you don't need to know any knots, just twist it and it stays. So that's a definite benefit. But when it comes to UV and chemical resistance, I don't see how one would get any degradation in a museum setting. Dyneema is used in heavy industrial applications like mooring lines and tugboats for very large ships with lifespans over ten years. Unless you're hanging up something that you're not taking down for a century, it shouldn't be a worry.
- p0llard 6y ago> hanging art worth more than $100 To add to this; this is the vast majority of art.
- freedomben 6y agoNeat, thanks for introducing me to Dyneema rope. I just ordered some. I suspect it will come in really handy.
- benjohnson 6y agoIt's also has a huge benefit for towing or wrenching over steel cable - there's virtually no recoil if it breaks. Steel cable will slice people in half and send wrenches through car windows and to stab the driver when it breaks.
- Kaibeezy 6y ago“slice people in half” Why I won’t drive over the cable car slot. Slice cars in half, that.
- p0llard 6y agoAs a climber I place my life in the hands of knots all the time, but tying a knot in steel cable is generally a bad idea since it is unlikely to bind properly. For better or for worse steel is often used instead of synthetic rope for picture hanging.
- lmilcin 6y agoAs an amateur sailor I beg to differ. First, you can tie knots with steel wire, too. Second, I would be much more comfortable hanging artwork on a thin twine than on steel wire. Steel wire tends to be sharp and scratch and punch holes in anything it gets into contact with. Rope that will be durable and can withstand the stress of hanging 30kg artwork is still very thin. Just google it and be surprised. (https://www.ingersollrand.com/pt-la/lifting-equipment-material-handling/Support/winch-selection-support/wire-rope-selection.html https://www.ingersollrand.com/pt-la/lifting-equipment-materi...)
- johnatwork 6y agoI've always used a twisted wire, or Ashley's bend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashley%27s_bend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashley%27s_bend
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- Daub 6y agoCame here to say this. Top tip: wire can be twisted by using a drill or electric screwdriver.
- thinkingkong 6y agoWhat? No. A reef knot will never pull apart under tension and allows you to have a flat knot with a loop. Its also way easier to tie and you could make multiple passes if you want.
- regularfry 6y agoThis knot traps the two lengths together. If you just use a reef knot, a) you'll have more slack, because there's no pulley mechanism to take advantage of to tighten the string, and b) it's easy to accidentally hang the picture by only one of the lines, so the slack has twice the effect, and the picture hangs lower than it otherwise would.
- lkjasdfasdf 6y agothis isn't just bad advice, it's dangerous. i wouldn't want to drive behind somebody that tied down an external load with only reef knots.
- KMnO4 6y agoEveryone should learn a tie down knot. Way too many people use unsafe knots (such as an overhand) to tie loads down because that’s all they know. A truckers hitch is as simple as it gets: 1. Tie a loop in the middle of the cord (I like the alpine butterfly but any loop, eg a figure 8 is fine) 2. Put the cord through your anchor point and the newly made loop. 3. Pull it tight and tie it off with a half-hitch. You now have a 2:1 mechanical advantage, meaning you can tighten a load twice as much as you normally can. It also won’t loosen itself, and you only have to untie one knot to remove the entire system.
- alexpotato 6y agoI started using a taught line hitch with cotton cord for hanging pictures. The taut line hitch makes it easy to adjust the height without moving the nail and the cotton cord helps keep the taut line hitch from slipping (vs says monofilament).
- japhyr 6y agoThe taut line hitch is a great knot to know for lots of situations; once you learn it, you'll find yourself using it in a number of different ways. It's great for adding guy lines to a tent fly, or hanging a tarp in the woods for camping. I've used it to tie small gifts together at the holidays.
- freedomben 6y agoAgree, the taut line hitch is amazing and an excellent knot to know. I also love the "trucker's hitch." I often use the truckers hitch in situations where having easy control over the tightness with minimal risk of slippage is my goal. If I need to adjust it much then taut line hitch is preferred, otherwise I truckers hitch is my favorite knot (and seems magical the first few times you use it).
- PuffinBlue 6y agoI like the Farrimond Friction Hitch[0] for this. It's essentially a quick release Prussik tied with the working end. You can use a toggle, or slip a second bight through the first to prevent accidental untying. Big benefit is that it is faster to tie in longer lengths of cord and it's faster to undo, being quick release. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farrimond_friction_hitch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farrimond_friction_hitch
- mirimir 6y agoIndeed. And with an alpine butterfly loop, you have basically tackle. So it's great for tying stuff, because tightening doesn't require retying.
- ChuckMcM 6y agoAgreed, any "knot explainer" that includes the step "Tie a few ‘granny knot’ L over R, then R over L to secure the underlying knot" immediately disqualifies it as an actual knot. The taughtline hitch is a much better knot for this. I never could master the trucker's hitch[1] though :-) [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUHgGK-tImY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUHgGK-tImY
- tiborsaas 6y agoKnot related: https://media.giphy.com/media/SwgCIQuqu7ay3exAVe/giphy.gif https://media.giphy.com/media/SwgCIQuqu7ay3exAVe/giphy.gif I've seen it in a FB math group with the text: Applications of knot theory :)
- an_ko 6y agoI watched it 5 times and can't figure it out. Explain to me this sorcery.
- baggy_trough 6y agoStep 6 is a doozy.
- Wistar 6y agoClose-up photos sure would help me see the details better, particularly whether the cord is passing over or under. For any heavy or large art I tend to use a french cleat(s): https://www.govart.com/cleat-flare-10-inch-pair.aspx https://www.govart.com/cleat-flare-10-inch-pair.aspx
- mauvehaus 6y agoI feel like that merely reduces the problem to figuring out how to mount a 10"/25cm wide Al extrusion on a piece of potentially arbitrary width. Where would you mount that on a stretched canvas, for instance?
- Wistar 6y agoOn the stretchers, of course. Not all french cleats are 10". Some of mine are 1/2" and I use two sets. Once hung, the art never gets crooked.
- etaioinshrdlu 6y agoAlright, I really don't get this. Where does the final nail go? Is there anything that prevents the picture from becoming un-level? Is there a tiny hole for the nail?
- raziel2p 6y agoThe nail goes in the wall, then you put the string over the nail. You can move the frame left and right on the nail to make it level. You can also have more than one nail for more stability, in which case you just use a level to make them straight.
- etaioinshrdlu 6y agoSo it seems like this project is quite literally, how to tie a very tight cord between the edges of the frame.
- emerongi 6y agoYes. And your comment is quite literally just words in a specific order.
- londons_explore 6y agoIf this were a taught unstretchable string, the tension in the string ends up infinite and the compression in the picture frame also infinite. Obviously the string has a little stretch, but even so, the tension in the string is proportional to 1/sin(angle), which for very small angles makes very large amounts of tension, which will eventually bend or warp the frame. Instead, you should deliberately leave a reasonable amount of slack, and the tension in the string will then stay under 3x the frames weight, which it will be able to handle forever.
- pathartl 6y agoParents were photographers for ~40 years and I've framed countless pieces. We always just used wire.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- dugmartin 6y agoKnots have always fascinated me. I keep "The Morrow Guide to Knots" handy to look at when I'm bored and I think mentally tying the knots is as much (or even more) fun than physically doing it. If you are interested here is a non-affilate link: https://www.amazon.com/Morrow-Guide-Knots-Sailing-Climbing/dp/0688012264 https://www.amazon.com/Morrow-Guide-Knots-Sailing-Climbing/d...
- tagawa 6y agoRelatedly, this seems like a good place to mention the wonderful Ian’s Shoelace Site: https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/ https://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/
- Daub 6y agoI use wire in place of string. It is easier to hook wire onto a screw in the wall than string. Also... I always use two screws instead of one. That way the frame remains level.