Tying knots is a key skill for Scouts, and you will use your knot tying skills in many Scouting activities including camping, pioneering, climbing, boating, and fishing. It’s important to know which knot to use when, as selecting the right one will often be a safety requirement. Let’s start by getting some words right, so that we all have the same understanding, there are some strange words, but if we all use them to mean the same thing we shouldn’t get confused:
Rope This is the manufactured material, before it is given a specific use.
Line Once rope is purposely sized, cut, spliced, or simply assigned a function, it is referred to as a line.
Now let’s look at the words that describe the parts of a knot:
Bight Any curved section, or slack part between the ends of a line.
Loop A full circle formed by passing the working end over itself.
Elbow Two crossing points created by an extra twist in a loop.
Standing end is the longer end of the line not involved in the knot, often shown as unfinished. It is often (but not always) the end of the line under load after the knot is complete. For example, when a clove hitch ties a boat to a pier, the end going to the boat is the standing end.
The standing part is the section of line between knot and the standing end.
Turn
A single turn is a single pass behind or through an object (A).
A round turn is the complete encirclement of an object; requires two
passes (B).
Two round turns circles the object twice; requires three passes (C).
Working end is the active end of a line used in making the knot and may also be called the 'running end'.
There are many categories of different knots for different purposes, and some knots may belong to more than one category.
Bend A knot uniting two lines.
Binding A knot that restricts object(s) by making multiple winds.
Hitch A knot tied to a post, cable, ring, or spar.
Lashing A knot used to hold (usually) poles together.
Loop A knot used to create a closed circle in a line.
Splice A knot formed by interweaving strands of rope rather than whole lines.
Stopper A knot tied to hold a line through a hole.
Whipping A binding knot used to prevent another line from fraying.
The Reef Knot (or square knot)
This is the most common Scouting knot, but should never be used as a bend (to tie two lines together, as it comes undone very easily).
It’s great as your first practice knot, and is useful for tying parcels, tying bandages and slings (because it lies flat) and for its original use which was tying down sails on sailing boats – which is called reefing.
Sheet Bend
The sheet bend is used for tying two lines of unequal thickness together, but is also actually better than the reef knot for tying two lines of equal thickness. To make it secure you need to ensure that the two working ends finish up on the same side of the knot.
This can be made even more secure by converting it to a double sheet bend. Always work with the thinner of the two lines.
The first place you will need to use this knot in Scouting is when you tie the halyard (that’s the special name for a line that raises and lowers something, like a flag or a sail) to the loop at the bottom of the Union flag
Clove Hitch
You will use the clove hitch in lots of different applications, for example for starting a square lashing (this is part of second class), and for tying things to poles, rings or spars. It is very quick to tie, and useful because the length of the standing part can be adjusted very easily.
It is used very widely in sailing and boating as well as pioneering.
The
structure is actually the same as the sheet bend; the bowline just makes a loop
in the end of one line. If you can tell what a sheet bend looks like when you
have tied it correctly, you will be able to recognise a correctly tied bowline
too.
Another
really useful knot for tying things to poles, spars or rings. You will remember
that the round turn is shown in this picture as B.
Next,
a "half hitch" is put round the end of the knot, so as to hold the
remaining two ropes tightly together.
Rope This is the manufactured material, before it is given a specific use.
Line Once rope is purposely sized, cut, spliced, or simply assigned a function, it is referred to as a line.
Now let’s look at the words that describe the parts of a knot:
Loop A full circle formed by passing the working end over itself.
Elbow Two crossing points created by an extra twist in a loop.
Standing end is the longer end of the line not involved in the knot, often shown as unfinished. It is often (but not always) the end of the line under load after the knot is complete. For example, when a clove hitch ties a boat to a pier, the end going to the boat is the standing end.
The standing part is the section of line between knot and the standing end.
Turn
A single turn is a single pass behind or through an object (A).A round turn is the complete encirclement of an object; requires two
passes (B).
Two round turns circles the object twice; requires three passes (C).
Working end is the active end of a line used in making the knot and may also be called the 'running end'.
There are many categories of different knots for different purposes, and some knots may belong to more than one category.
Bend A knot uniting two lines.
Binding A knot that restricts object(s) by making multiple winds.
Hitch A knot tied to a post, cable, ring, or spar.
Lashing A knot used to hold (usually) poles together.
Loop A knot used to create a closed circle in a line.
Splice A knot formed by interweaving strands of rope rather than whole lines.
Stopper A knot tied to hold a line through a hole.
Whipping A binding knot used to prevent another line from fraying.
The Reef Knot (or square knot)
This is the most common Scouting knot, but should never be used as a bend (to tie two lines together, as it comes undone very easily).
It’s great as your first practice knot, and is useful for tying parcels, tying bandages and slings (because it lies flat) and for its original use which was tying down sails on sailing boats – which is called reefing.
Sheet Bend
The sheet bend is used for tying two lines of unequal thickness together, but is also actually better than the reef knot for tying two lines of equal thickness. To make it secure you need to ensure that the two working ends finish up on the same side of the knot.
This can be made even more secure by converting it to a double sheet bend. Always work with the thinner of the two lines.
The first place you will need to use this knot in Scouting is when you tie the halyard (that’s the special name for a line that raises and lowers something, like a flag or a sail) to the loop at the bottom of the Union flag
Clove Hitch
You will use the clove hitch in lots of different applications, for example for starting a square lashing (this is part of second class), and for tying things to poles, rings or spars. It is very quick to tie, and useful because the length of the standing part can be adjusted very easily.
It is used very widely in sailing and boating as well as pioneering.
Bowline
This
is widely regarded as the best knot for forming a secure loop in a line, which
can be untied easily even after it has been under great pressure. It is
commonly used for tying boats to quaysides, and if you imagine the weight of a
heavy boat, constantly tugging at it’s mooring you need a knot that can be
untied easily afterwards. The bowline used to be common in mountaineering and
as a rescue knot, and it is useful for you to learn to tie it around your
waist, but other better knots are more commonly used for these purposes now.
The
structure is actually the same as the sheet bend; the bowline just makes a loop
in the end of one line. If you can tell what a sheet bend looks like when you
have tied it correctly, you will be able to recognise a correctly tied bowline
too.
Round turn and two half hitches
Another
really useful knot for tying things to poles, spars or rings. You will remember
that the round turn is shown in this picture as B.
Adding
the two half hitches is a simple way of making it secure.
Sheepshank
There
are times when a piece of line needs to be shorter, but we don’t want to cut it
and make it permanently shorter. A good example of this is shortening the guy
line for a tent – we may want it short this time, but need the whole length the
next time we put the tent up.
The
sheepshank can also be used to protect a weak part of the line temporarily,
before we get round to repairing or replacing it.
To
start with, the rope must be folded into three layers. (If the knot is used for
protection of a weak part, the weak part should be in the centre of the middle
layer).
Next,
a "half hitch" is put round the end of the knot, so as to hold the
remaining two ropes tightly together.
The
same is repeated at the other end.
The
two ends are then pulled tight, and the knot is finished.
