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Revision as of 14:53, 3 February 2002 by Zundark (talk | contribs) (linkify mathematical part)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Both length and velocity are measured in knots; in the former case, it is equivalent to a Nautical mile; in the latter, to a Nautical mile per hour.
A knot may consist of a length of one or more ropes, cord, twine, string, strap or even chain interweaved so as to create in the line the ability to bind to itself or to some other object. Some knots are well adapted to bind to particular objects such as another rope, load, cleat, ring, stake or to constrict an object. Decorative knots usually bind to themselves to produce attractive patterns.
Knots have been the subject of interest both for their ancient history, common use or their mathematical implications.
Knots are essential in many industrial, work, home or recreational activities. Truckers need to tie down a load and will use a Trucker's hitch, gaining a 2-to-1 mechanical advantage. Are you spelunking, having foolishly but voluntarily buried yourself pre-maturely under millions of tons of rock? What ever the activity, on the water sailing or on a cliff-side rock climbing. Learning well tested knots prior to some hazardous activity introduces a critical measure of safety. Even simple activities such as running a load from the hardware store to home can result in disaster if a clumsy twist in a cord passes for a knot.
Besides safety, using the appropriate knot can also save having to cut a line unnecessarily.
The list of knots is extensive but there are some general properties common to the various knot categories. For example, loop knots share the attribute of having some kind of an anchor point tied on the standing end (such as a loop or overhand knot) into which the working end is easily hitched to using a round turn). Constricting knots often rely on friction to cinch down tight on loose bundles.
Knots are often classified as loop, bend, whipping, stopper, hitch, sennit or decorative. Many knots span multiple categories.
Some useful terms pertinent to the tieing of knots are standing end, working end, bight, loop and elbow.
Some knots have multiple names. For example the overhand is also known as the thumb knot. The Constrictor Knot, the Bag Knot, the Miller's Knot are all the same knot. The variant names should be included in the list with links to the most formal name.
Alphabetical List of knots
The variant knot names should be included in the list with links to the most formal name.
- adjustible hitch
- albright knot
- anchor bend
- alpine butterfly loop
- arbor knot
- artillery loop
- bag knot
- barrel knot
- blackwall hitch
- blood knot
- bow knot
- bowline on bight
- bowline
- buntline hitch
- butterfly knot
- cat's paw
- chain hitch
- clove hitch
- clove hitch
- constrictor knot
- cow hitch
- diamond knot
- double carrick bend
- double figure eight
- double overhand
- double sheet bend
- double stopper
- double uni knot
- draw kot
- dropper loop
- dutra double loop knot
- figure eight follow through
- figure eight knot
- figure eight
- fisherman's eye
- fisherman's knot
- flemish knot
- granny knot
- half hitch
- half hitch
- halyard bend
- hangman's noose
- hitching tie
- improved clinch knot
- italian hitch
- jamming hitch
- jug sling
- killick hitch
- lariat loop
- lark's head
- lineman's loop
- marlin hitch
- midshipman's hitch
- miller's knot
- monkey's fist
- mooring hitch
- nail knot
- orvis knot
- overhand knot
- painter's hitch
- palomar knot
- perfection loop
- pile hitch
- prussik knot
- reef knot
- ringbolt hitch
- rolling hitch
- round hitch
- round turn
- running knot
- sailor's knot
- sheep shank
- sheet bend
- sheet bend
- simple simon over
- simple simon under
- single hitch
- single stopper
- slippery hitch
- slippery round hitch
- slip knot
- square knot
- stevedor's knot
- surgeon's end loop
- surgeon's knot
- taut-line knot
- thief knot
- thumb knot
- tiller's hitch
- timber hitch
- transom knot
- trilene knot
- trucker's hitch
- two half hitches
- uni knot
- water knot
descriptions and tying instructions should be added
See also: Scouting
In knot theory, a knot is an embedding of a circle in 3-D space, considered up to deformations (isotopies). This is basically equivalent to a conventional knot with the ends of the string tied together to prevent it from becoming undone. In higher dimensions, circles are unknotted anyways, so one considers embeddings of spheres and hyperspheres.