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The Ashley Book of Knots became public domain a few years ago (70 years after Ashley died) and you should absolutely read it or at least skim it here: https://

The Ashley Book of Knots became public domain a few years ago (70 years after Ashley died) and you should absolutely read it or at least skim it here: https://archive.org/details/TheAshleyBookOfKnots https://archive.org/details/TheAshleyBookOfKnots This would have been sooner had Disney not robbed us of our own culture by purchasing whatever legislation they feel benefits them, regardless of the cost to the rest of us. Sorry, I'm bitter, but it really is a fantastic book I wish more people could've read and expanded on sooner... Say, 50 years after Ashley died instead of 70.

fenomas 4y ago
It really is an amazing book - exhaustive and technical, but there's a lot of personality in the descriptions and commentary. A personal favorite quote: > The topsail halyard bend is said to be a yachting hitch, but it is possible that it has never appeared outside the covers of a book. It has one more turn than the studding-sail bend and this, like the second tablespoonful of castor oil, savors of redundancy.
Balgair 4y ago
If there is one knot the average HNer should know out of all of Ashley's, it's Ashley's Stopper Knot: https://www.animatedknots.com/ashley-stopper-knot https://www.animatedknots.com/ashley-stopper-knot Perfect to make sure your Facebook ... err.. Meta approved hoodie's pull strings don't unpull.
todd8 4y ago
I've had the Ashley Book of Knots for a long time. It's great. According to the book, Ashley was one of the last people to actually work on a traditional square rigged sailing ship. In the book I learned that the ship's carpenter early on a voyage would have all the sailors bring their pocket knives to him so that he could snap the points off the blades in order to make them less dangerous during disputes on the ship. The book is full of interesting passages like this. The book provides an encyclopedic coverage of knots and ropes; I highly recommend it to those curious about knot. There is one downside to the book, there are a number of new knots that were first described after the book was written, and some of these are worth knowing, for example the Zeppelin bend or the Simple Simon Under knot, see [1] and [2]. If someone wanted to know how to tie just one knot for possible use in an emergency, the first one covered in the featured article is a good one. The article calls it the Trace Figure Eight knot. Other sources call it the a figure-eight loop or figure-eight follow through loop. It's strong and reliable, and it's easy to learn and remember. (Its downside is that it can jam quite tight and become hard to untie.) There is also a variation of this knot for tying two similar ropes together. Bends are the category of knots for tying two ropes or lines together so this knot is known as the figure-eight bend. See [3] and [4]. Naturally, exercise care before trusting your life to a knot and consult with experts before doing so; I've seen a lot of foolish knots. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeppelin_bend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeppelin_bend [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_Simon_under https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_Simon_under [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure-eight_loop https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure-eight_loop [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flemish_bend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flemish_bend

fenomas 4y ago

It really is an amazing book - exhaustive and technical, but there's a lot of personality in the descriptions and commentary. A personal favorite quote: > The topsail halyard bend is said to be a yachting hitch, but it is possible that it has never appeared outside the covers of a book. It has one more turn than the studding-sail bend and this, like the second tablespoonful of castor oil, savors of redundancy.

Balgair 4y ago

If there is one knot the average HNer should know out of all of Ashley's, it's Ashley's Stopper Knot: https://www.animatedknots.com/ashley-stopper-knot https://www.animatedknots.com/ashley-stopper-knot Perfect to make sure your Facebook ... err.. Meta approved hoodie's pull strings don't unpull.

todd8 4y ago

I've had the Ashley Book of Knots for a long time. It's great. According to the book, Ashley was one of the last people to actually work on a traditional square rigged sailing ship. In the book I learned that the ship's carpenter early on a voyage would have all the sailors bring their pocket knives to him so that he could snap the points off the blades in order to make them less dangerous during disputes on the ship. The book is full of interesting passages like this. The book provides an encyclopedic coverage of knots and ropes; I highly recommend it to those curious about knot. There is one downside to the book, there are a number of new knots that were first described after the book was written, and some of these are worth knowing, for example the Zeppelin bend or the Simple Simon Under knot, see [1] and [2]. If someone wanted to know how to tie just one knot for possible use in an emergency, the first one covered in the featured article is a good one. The article calls it the Trace Figure Eight knot. Other sources call it the a figure-eight loop or figure-eight follow through loop. It's strong and reliable, and it's easy to learn and remember. (Its downside is that it can jam quite tight and become hard to untie.) There is also a variation of this knot for tying two similar ropes together. Bends are the category of knots for tying two ropes or lines together so this knot is known as the figure-eight bend. See [3] and [4]. Naturally, exercise care before trusting your life to a knot and consult with experts before doing so; I've seen a lot of foolish knots. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeppelin_bend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeppelin_bend [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_Simon_under https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simple_Simon_under [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure-eight_loop https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure-eight_loop [4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flemish_bend https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flemish_bend