Brunner - Tying Knots Made Easy: Step by Step Guide On How to Make Different Kinds of Knots the Easy Way

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you needed to fasten a cording with a knot, but the knot couldn't hold its shape or complete the task for which you needed it to?

Do you engage in knot-dependent activities such as mountaineering, sailing, scouting, camping and such or are you interested in taking one or all of them up and you need to learn about tying knots?

If so, you couldn't have found yourself a better guide than this one right here!

This book will walk you through everything you need to know, from rope selection to tying a wide range of available knots. Once you finish reading this book, you will be able to tie any kind of knot!

Let's begin!

Table of Contents

When you think about the first time you ever tied a knot, you will probably not be able to pinpoint exactly when. Knots have always been in our lives, from the simplest act of tying our shoes, tying a tie and tying hair ribbons to more complicated actions such as fastening a fishing line or securing a load.

Whether you like to admit it or not (no pun intended), knot tying is an essential tool in our lives that will call for you to apply the skill occasionally.

Let us now look at a brief history of knot tying:

When we look back to the past, the most primitive remains of knots and ropes date back to approximately 15,000-17,000 years ago. This suggests that the technology of knotting is way more ancient than the ax or wheel. Knots have existed through time as a crucial component for significant innovations such as basket making, hunting traps, and fishing nets.

How Were Knots Used in The Past?

Before planes, trains, subways, and cars, transportation was by use of animals or boats. It was necessary to secure the boats on the dock to avoid them being drawn away by a powerful tide. Also, the animals were tied up to prevent them from wandering off. At the time, this simple act of fastening a knot meant holding on to something valuable or losing it.

The most commonly utilized knot for securing boats was and still is the bowline knot. It dates back to the Egyptian era based on the fossils from the recently excavated ships. With time, people have discovered several hundred knots that range from easy knots that you can create within a second to more convoluted ones which call for step-by-step directions.

We have seen how this skill was invaluable in the past, so how about we go through the usefulness of knot tying in our contemporary society?

Below are the various ways that we now use this practice:

Knot tying can be used in the following situations:

1. Knots are instrumental for carrying out outdoor activities such as:

• Mountaineering
• Camping- e.g. making some camping tools and setting up tents
• Hunting
• Sailing/boating/seamanship/ canoeing

1. Knots are also frequently utilized in arts and crafts; the most common instance is in macram. Macram grew as a primary craft during the 1970s. Examples of the most popular knots in macram are the overhand knot, clove hitch, spiral stitch, square knot, and lark's head knot.
2. Truckers utilize the trucker's hitch to gain a mechanical advantage when securing a load.
3. You can use this skill in making makeshift tools as well; for instance, the munter hitch, which you can utilize in fastening and the bowline knot, which works ideally as a rescue loop.
4. You can further apply knot making in forming a high line, nearly identical to the zip line, which can be utilized in moving injured people, supplies, or inexperienced people across ravines, crevices, or rivers.

*It is worth keeping in mind that the systems described above generally call for using various suitable knots tied appropriately.

*You may use the knots in combination as well to create intricate items such as netting and lanyards.

As with most other technical skills, when you get started on knot tying, you will come across several terms that are common to this art. Below we have covered the most popularly used terms to help you understand this skill:

1. Standing Part and Running End

The working end is the section of a cord that is active in tying knots opposite of the standing part. It's also known as the running end or working part. On the other hand, the standing end is the section of cording that is not actively used in tying knots. This is the section opposite the working end. It's the rope end sent down to the landing point or ground when rappelling or abseiling.

*Note: Ensure that you tie a stopper knot close to the standing end, even though the cord may not be touching the landing point or ground.

1. Bight

When you turn back a strand of cording against itself to create a U-shape, you form a bight. You can make it anywhere across the standing part or use the running end. The length of bights can differ from a few feet to a few inches.

As illustrated in the image below on the right, bights can be open, and they don't require having a sharp bend. The rope's running end, in this instance, is adjacent to the standing part, though it isn't crisscrossed (which would turn it into an underhand or overhand loop).

1. Take a Turn

This refers to wrapping a cord around a stake (or spar) to proceed in a similar direction. This creates some friction which gives you a grasp on the stake that helps hold the tension on the line. It also provides enhanced control in removing or inserting a line.

1. Round Turn

A round-turn is created by completely wrapping your rope around a stake and then bringing the running end back across the rope's standing part. It provides more grasp in maintaining the tension on a line. A round turn is a foundation for making several knots when using 2 half hitches to create a round turn.

1. Capsizing

When a knot deforms into a distinct shape, it is said to have capsized. While capsizing can be an outcome of misuse or incorrect tying, we use it to reinforce a knot in certain instances.