The bowline is the king of knots

You first must know that I refer to the tail of the rope as "the bitter end," and the rest of the rope as "the standing part." Hold the bitter end in your right hand, and the standing part in your left. Now make a 'six' with your rope. The bitter end rests over the standing part in the six. Next, feed the bitter end through the 'six' from underneath. Take the bitter end around the backside of the standing part, then back down the small hole, and tighten. You can tow a ship with a bowline and still get the knot loose afterward.

 

Yeah, I use the bowline for just about everything. Love that knot. Also love the butterfly trucker's hitch, which probably has another name, for setting lines. Great for creating proper tension and really easy to undo.

 

I use cam straps and bungee nets to tie down loads.

 

Sure, that works too. I'm more talking of setting lines for shade structures. I do set up for festivals a lot, so I'm always rigging tarps and hanging deco. Find the butterfly truckers is great for it. Also for setting up impromptu tents.

And since I always have rope, I generally use rope for tying down loads.

 

the bowline is a good reliable knot thats quick to tie, but It has tendency to come loose when not under load making it a poor choice for any slack line use. Because of this its best to leave the bitter end long long enough to tie it on to the loop with a double overhand stopper knot.


if it slips then rebinds with the overhand not, it becomes a real bitch to undo. But that added overhand knot is absolute must for any sort of man lifting, or any other situation where a slipped knot would be very bad.

 

I'll have to disagree, as I think the Sheet bend is the king of knots.

 

That is the one we learned as "the rabit comes out of his hole, runs around the tree, and goes back into his hole" or something like that, it was a long time ago. I vote for the hitches, half, full or whatever as the best knot.

 

Love the bowline ... truckies hitch is brilliant too ... never goes slack when carrying whatever on your trailer or roof ... these skills are on the way out ... ahhhh ... nostalgia ... you can't beat it ... :beatnik:

Aussie.

 

bowline isn't useful if you need a tight wrap on a pole or beam.....king there would be a clove hitch

 

I've tied bowlines, running bowlines, taut line hitches, etc. so many times that I could practically be in a coma and still tie them faster then 99.8% of the population. Not hundreds or thousands of knots....more like several hundred thousand knots. I wouldn't be surprised if I've tied 500,000 running bowlines.

As far as it coming loose with slack in the line....if you tie it properly, it will not come undone. The rope will snap before that know comes undone. One nice thing about the bowline....you can easily untie it no matter what you've used it for. You can shock load a rope with a log that may weight hundreds (or even 2000-3000) pounds and the guy untying the knot can do it with ease.

Edit to say....I'm talking about using it with high quality ropes...won't come untied by itself. If you're using some thin twine or nylon rope...it still shouldn't come loose but if it does....it's because of the rope...not the knot.

 

A timber hitch would work well too depending on what you're using it for.