Knots, how many can you tie?

[I.D.10-t]

I showed someone a variant of the "Trucker's Hitch". There is the cliché of the boyscout learning knots, but also made me wonder if most people even run into a situation where they need to tie a knot other than just their shoes.

[megapop]

Uhm... well of course the overhand, the reef and the shoelace knot... oh, and the hangman's knot. And does the Windsor and the double Windsor count as two knots? Then it's 6+ ...

But the only knot I actually use regularly is the hangman's knot.

[Peter Duggan]

if most people even run into a situation where they need to tie a knot other than just their shoes.

As a climber and sailor, all the time!

[maki]

50 plus without trying.
I'm a reformed commercial fisherman and an unreformed knot-head.
On my shelf are several knot encyclopedias.

Here's a nice site for general knots;
http://www.animatedknots.com/essential. ... dknots.com

[maki]

50 plus without trying.
I'm a reformed commercial fisherman and an unreformed knot-head.
On my shelf are several knot encyclopedias.

Here's a nice site for general knots;
http://www.animatedknots.com/essential. ... dknots.com

if most people even run into a situation where they need to tie a knot other than just their shoes.

As a climber and sailor, all the time!

I knew a sailor who couldn't tie a bowline, or a square knot for that matter.
He still managed to sail around the Pacific for several years, and when I met him he was in southern Alaska.
(Roller fulring jibs and mainsails on his self built sloop.)

[I.D.10-t]

And does the Windsor and the double Windsor count as two knots?

Yes. Onetime I was in a mall in Georgetown and walked into a tie store. I asked the lady at the desk how to tie a bow tie. She didn't know. Two kinds of tie and she didn't know how to tie half of them. I didn't ask about the others.

I use to know what the name of the Windsor knot was in rope terms.

Dang, that is going to bother me until I find it...

[trill]

2 utilitarian:
- shoelace
- slipknot

2 ornamental:
- windsor
- double windsor

The slipknot is really useful for gardening and hauling.

[I.D.10-t]

50 plus without trying.

At a certain point it all blends together to me. Is it a bowline, or just a sheet bend using one rope? Do draw loops make something a new knot? Heck the Trucker's Hitch is just a combination of one or two other knots.

I always wished there was a taxonomy of knots where one could just follow the family lines of knots down to their origins.

[MTGuru]

I look down to find my shoelaces untied often enough that I'm not entirely sure I've mastered that one yet.

But at one point I knew how to macramé a nice headband for you, to go with your tie-dyed T-shirt.

[German Whistler]

how many knots ...?
As a sailor .... many more than 6

[mutepointe]

I grew up in neckties and it bothers me greatly when I see a necktie knot that isn't symetrical. My best friend ties his neckties in a style that I describe as "spin it around and shoot it through".

[ytliek]

The knots have it vs. the have knots.

[MeMyselfandI]

No monkey's fist!?!? Well, I'll have to fix that... Monkey's Fist, bowline (one and two handed), figure 8, square knot, granny knot (does that count? ), sheet bend, two half hitches, taught line, timber hitch, clove hitch, slip knot, ... erm... I think I'm missing one or two... I used to know the fisherman's knot and the... what is it, sheep knot? Something along those lines. I never had to use them, so I didn't retain them.

[benhall.1]

I voted 6+. I can tie as many as you like. Over and over again.



... oh wait ...

[Tunborough]

Rigger's bend, Zeppelin bend, ...

Two almost-identical knots with maybe a half-dozen names between them, and I can't remember which is which. My go-to knot for tying two ropes together.