Useful knots to learn.

[xy mosian]

Sheepshank - used for shortening a rope
Reef knot - tying 2 ends
Granny knot - for when you've tied a reef incorrectly
Fishermans knot - for wet rope or line
Hangman's knot - for when you want to...........
Sheetbend - for tying unequal sized ropes

That should keep you going for a while
Brian

Ever noticed how the sheet bend is very similar to the bowline?
xy

 

[Sideways]

Another vote for the alpine butterfly. A clever elegant knot.
Figure 8 all the time. It's what sport climbers trust their lives to every day, not abowline.
Clove hitch - fast and easy. to hang odds and ends from junk strung up to your rafters, to pop a string around a stake marking out in the garden...
Single, double and triple fishermans knots for joining two rope ends / closing a loop. Mostly the double, but triple is the knot to use when you use high tech polyamide cord.
Tape knot - super simple if you have to make a loop in webbing
Reef, sheet bend, etc etc all have good uses.

 

[ManowarDave]

A couple I've learned over the years:

Knot to drive over the speed limit with a police car right behind you.
Knot to drink so much you forget where you live.

And most important...
Knot to disagree with SWMBO

 

[Suffolkboy]

Would you actually use a clove hitch for that though? Both of those applications are for "jiggling" loads that would work a clove hitch loose quite easily, especially on a smooth tying point. A highwaymans hitch, the Evenk hitch or Siberian hitch mentioned above are just as fast to tie and would be far more secure surely?

I have tied many a boat up with a clove hitch.

 

[treeturner123]

Hi All

For more, please refer to the'Ashley Book of Knots' A VERY thick tome!!

Phil

 

[bourbon]

If you are going to teach people. Then learn a few knots....Then learn to tie them left/right handed.... Blindfolded.....one handed.....hands behind back. I was a scout leader for 26 years If we learned to do them like this, you can teach anyone, Visually impaired, disabled, left/right handers and a whole host of others

 

[gog64]

Can’t believe no one has mentioned a truckers hitch. Literally a life saver and I use it more than just about any other knot.

 

[Rorschach]

Can’t believe no one has mentioned a truckers hitch. Literally a life saver and I use it more than just about any other knot.

The versatackle was mentioned which is a version of the truckers hitch.

 

[Suffolkboy]

There is an app called Grog knots. I think it costs a couple of quid but it is well worth the money.

It has animated diagrams of shedloads of knots.

 

[Suffolkboy]

https://www.animatedknots.com/

 

[Cordy]

Like T N wrote - round turn and two half hitches, always does the biz

Don't put too much reliance on the reef knot btw, it's only a temporary affair; ask any Sailor

 

[sometimewoodworker]

Hi All

For more, please refer to the'Ashley Book of Knots' A VERY thick tome!!

Phil

The Ashley Book of Knots was the first real book I bought. I used my own money for it, some of which I got from being an extra in Help and Hard Days Night so I must have bought it in1965

I am still using some of my early work, here is a rope handle that’s been in use for over 50 years, using the star knot and several kinds of Turks head knots both short and long.

I suspect the material covering the seaman’s chest is from the 60s as well

 

[Eric The Viking]

"On Rope" (Padgett et al):
https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=7232804827Superb book. Might even still be in print.

One I had as a kid (Scouts, etc.):
https://www.abebooks.co.uk/Browns-Knots-Splices-Complete-Work--Revised/22485843350/bd
And if you want to know how to do a handbrake turn* in a frigate:
https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=30660368280
*clubhauling - one-off battle manoeuvre (instructions are included).

 

[Rorschach]

The book I have is Knots and Ropework by Geoffrey Budworth, it's a pretty good book.

 

[Bm101]

I use a few knots in rope access work (abseiling to most people). Surprisingly few maybe. Day to day it's only 3 though there are extended versions of each to suit circumstance. The alpine butterfly. Fig. 8 and the occasional bowline. That's it for day to day use although barrel knots etc are left in equipment etc, as these are not tied regularly I'll leave them out.
The butterfly is a great knot as it's three way loading. Can be used to equalise hanging/pulling loads. That's far more useful than it might sound. Tie it with two ropes to understand the name and use it to cut out a damaged section of rope. Also. Easy to undo.
Two 'knots' I havent seen mentioned on here are the Italian hitch. A friction hitch. You can abseil on it in a bind or more likely use it to lower loads etc. The other is a (sometimes Swiss) prussik loop. Just a prussik generally. Not a knot as such but a thin loop wound into itself around a thicker rope. Can be used to climb a rope as a ladder or more usefully for most, a good way of hanging a load off a rope that is easily adjustable by sliding up or down under hand tension.

Just as an aside, I've also seen the lorry drivers hitch known as Manchester hitch.

Nice thread.

Edit. I don't use overhand figure of 8s or bunny ears though some do in my game. If you do, be sure to place the overhand correctly in the middle of the knot and not behind it but now im whittering.

 

[Bm101]

Oh. And a blood knot for sea fishing. About twice a year if I'm really lucky.
As one monk said to the other. Remember to spit on it before you pull on it. I'll leave you with that image.

 

[Roland]

The knots I use most frequently are Reef, Clove, Round turn and two half Hitches, Stop Knot, Figure of Eight, and the Timber Hitch. Less frequently: Bowline, Sheep Shank and Sheet Bend. All the other knots I learned as a scout I have no use for. Lashings are a different matter. I use square, diagonal and parallel lashings every time I put up the bean poles.

Ever noticed how the sheet bend is very similar to the bowline?

Yes, the rabbit goes down the other hole.

 

[Bm101]

What for Roland? Genuine question mind and no disrespect meant of course but that's a lot of knots.

 

[TFrench]

Before my little boy came along I used to climb a lot. I can tie a bowline without even looking at it, can probably do a rethreaded fig 8 the same. Equalising a trad belay with double ropes can end up looking like a bit of a spiders web if you're not careful!

 

[Robbo3]

I was taught to dolly, that's securing a load with a trucker's hitch, some 40 years ago & it's the only knot that I've ever remembered. It still comes in handy occasionally but I struggle to know what to do with the loose end.