Driving home with a 30' ladder tied down in the back of my pick-up I had to keep pulling over to re-tie it. 10 degrees and two hrs latter, it dawned on me that I needed a knot that would not slip but could be tied under tension. What kind of knot would you use to tie down a load in a truck. And what other knots do you find useful around the farm?

-- Storybook Farm (Mumaw@socket.com), December 13, 2000

Answers

Square, bowline, sheepshank or sheetbend (the one that takes up slack anyway), half hitch, horse hitch (quick release from one end, solid tie from the other), clove, can't remember proper names for others.

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), December 13, 2000.

The main knots I use are square knots, slip knots and as the last post called them horse knots. The last kind hold firm if pulled from one direction but release quickly if pulled from the other direction. Can't hardly beat a good solid square knot though.

-- Amanda in Mo (aseley@townsqr.com), December 13, 2000.

For tethering a goat( if it absolutely has to be tethered), I like a clove hitch. If for some reason the goat gets in trouble, it is very easy and quick to untie, no matter how hard the goat pulled on it. we use a lot of square knots, and slip square knots. But, I've learned to avoid the latter around where the goats can reach them since the queen doe learned how to untie them!

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), December 14, 2000.

Bowline, bowline on a blight, french bowline, clove hitch, square knot, sheepshank, masthead, figure eight, double figure eight, alpine butterfly, and half hitch.

However, the rope or string has a habit of tying itself into an axe knot, as it sits unused in the barn.

And I use a square knot on a double blight to tie my shoes, and a square knot for my boots.

-- Rich (pntbeldyk@wirefire.com), December 14, 2000.

I just did a search under knots and foun a ton of sites. Most of them had pictures or diagrams and instructions. I enjoyed learning some of them!

-- Denise (jphammock@msn.com), December 14, 2000.

My husband sits around in the evenings sometimes and teaches himself new knots. He has a small paperback book with all the knots in it. I am always amazed at how he can tied stuff down (he has sort of an engineering mind, anyway.) After reading these posts, I think I will take a look at the book and see if I can figure out a few more!

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), December 14, 2000.

if I have to untie it soon,,, like a ladder,, I use a half hitch with a loop,,, so I just pull the free end,,, loop conmes out,, and its untied,, used to use that on all my ladders when I did roofing for a living

-- STAN (sopal@net-port.com), December 14, 2000.

Having flunked knot-tying in th Boy Scouts, I mostly end up making gordion knots.

-- charles (clb@watervalley.net), December 14, 2000.

I use square knots and to tie hay trucker's hitch. The guy we buy from does a real neat one called a beehive. I think that's because they used it to tie hives. I wish I knew more! Nancy

-- Nancy in CA (sonflower35@icqmail.com), December 14, 2000.

clb uses a lot of rope! I don't even know the names of the knots I use most frequently, but I think it's the bowline that I use the most.

Denise, could you perhaps post the links to a knot page or two?

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@excite.com), December 15, 2000.

An electrician taught me this when I was helping run new cable for outdoor lights but I don't know the name of it - it's not even really a knot. But you wrap the around what you're going to pull on, then under itself once, go down about a foot and repeat, then go down another foot and repeat. The harder you pull on the rope, the tighter it gets around whatever you want to pull. And it releases real easy once you take off the tension. Works good on logs too...

-- Eric in TN (eric_m_stone@yahoo.com), December 15, 2000.

Knots I use most---square knot, slip and the famous half hitch. The old say'n about the half hitch---two'll hold a steamboat and three'll hold the devil! Don't know about that devil'n but it is a very good all around knot. Well, actually there is one more I use sometimes when things just absoooooooltly HAVE to stay tied--the HATCHET KNOT! You know--to untie it--get a hatchet! Matt. 24:44

-- hoot (hoot@pcinetwork.com), December 15, 2000.

For tie downs, I avoid rope, opting instead for bungee cords and boomer straps.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), December 15, 2000.

The "baling wire twist".

-- Mona in OK (jascamp@ipa.net), December 15, 2000.

Knots are totally, totally cool. But the coolest, by far, are "exploding" knots. They can be found in www.realknots.com. Look under "Knots in Rope." These are knots that can (1) hold, (2) slide, i.e. tighten, (3) lock, i.e. "capsize" to slide no more, (4) come undone with a sharp pull on a release, i.e. "explode" and, (5) other stuff. The simplest is to do the following: first pass a line around something, then make a bend, i.e. a bight, in the long, i.e. the standing, part of the line. Using the shorter part of the line, tie a clove hitch around this bight (the rope or line, not the "something."). Then a quick pull on the short part will release the knot instantly. Just the thing to make your spouse bug-eyed.

Take care, Marty

-- Marty Boraas (boraas@miliserv.net), December 16, 2000.

Oops, I goofed. Make a bight in the SHORT part of the line and throw a .... Oh heck, just go to the website and do it right.

All is well. Marty Boraas

-- Marty Boraas (boraas@miliserv.net), December 16, 2000.

Thanks, Marty! that was cute!

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@excite.com), December 17, 2000.

The 2 knots I use the most for tying under tension are:single, double,or triple half-hitches, and, an airplane knot which is a series of locking half-hitches. Any ole' pilot that isn't bold knows this knot.Just go to an air strip & check out the planes tied down,or ask a pilot to tie one for ya. Never substitute bungies for rope. They unhook,wear out,fatuge,break,cause wrecks,puncture tires when run over,etc...Dan.

-- Dan Urban (lyndadan@custertel.net), December 19, 2000.

Guess I have to jump in. The afore-mentioned axe or hatchet knots may be a "studing sail tack bend", ot phonetically, a "stunsil tack bend". This is merely a clove hitch thrown back on the standing part of the line, after passing the bitter end through a ring or grommet. Once tightened, it CANNOT be untied, hence will never slip. GL!

-- Brad (homefixer@SacoRiver.net), December 20, 2000.

Like Dan said a couple back.. I find double locking half hitches do the job very well, most usefull knot combination I know of for many tasks.

to pull tension on a load, like that ladder etc try a "block and tackle hitch". I used this in tree work to put lots of tension on pulling a tree down. top of rope is secured in top of a tree say. put a figure 8 loop in the standing part (like a slip not but with another loop so it won't bind up when you are done) then take the bitter end and go around bottom trunk of another tree the right distance away (2X the fall of the tree you are cutting) (or the object to be secured as the case may be), back through the loop, back on the standing part pull tension, then put in the double locking half hitch, and secure it with a 3rd half hitch on the bottom side. The rope will break before the knot combination will slip, but when you want to undo it, it's a piece of cake.

-- (Robin.Norris@compaq.com), December 20, 2000.