Knot research, help needed please!

SteveBullman

SteveBullman

TreeHouser
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Jun 12, 2005
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Location
Suffolk, UK
Hi Guys, i'm just doing a bit of research on some various knots and I have several obscure ones i'm unable to find any information on. I've posted a list of them below, and i'd be extremely grateful if you have any experience with any of them, if you could post your feedback. I'm particularly interested in pro's and con's, applications, and ideal rope diameters.

Thanks kindly!


Double fig 8 bend

Lingens knot

Lock knot

Michoacan Martin eye-tie

Moth

Prusik - assymetrical swabich

Prusik - saxon

Single prohaska

Spong

Steeplejack hitch

French two

Happy hitch

Very happy hitch

Howard hitch
 
Double figure 8 bend is just a single figure 8 in the end of one rope, and a second rope end traces back through it in the opposite direction; used to join the two ropes, as is the case with any bend. It gets tight as a tick if you have to load it up much, so there are better choices. You'd want two ropes of the same diameter and hand.
 
Not absolutely positive, but I think the michoacan/martin is a closed Blake's hitch. No experience with it, but I believe NickfromWisconsin does climb on it.
 
I recall the steeplejack hitch is in ON ROPE...let me look it up...

OK, it's described as much like a tautline, with one more turn. Poor pic looks like the extra turn is on the bottom end. Page 287 if you have that text.
 
Hi Steve. Burnham is correct on the Michoacan it's a 4-1 or 5-1 double eye Blakes hitch. The Spong and Single end Prohaska appear on Gary Storrick's website along with many others. Well worth looking up. The Single Eye Prohaska along with several other one eye friction hitches can be turned into double end ones by substituting the stopper knot for another eye. You just have to make sure both legs are equal in length. I first found this out while tying a Tarbuck with a double eye cord which I nicknamed the Tarbuckle. The double eyes don't seem to bite as much as the singles.

The Howard hitch was shown awhile back on Treebuzz, it's finicky on equalizing the double ends.

If you're not familiar with it also look up IGKT (International Guild of Knot Tyers). Are you going to be posting any of your findings on your website?
 
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Thanks for that brocky. Yes it will all be published shortly once ive got htese last few knots sorted
 
If you're interested in other friction hitches look up Franz Bachmann's website also.
 
Burnham I think the knot you refer to is often called the Flemish bend. There's another knot that goes by the name double figure eight bend (ABOK # 1416).

Only pic I could find:

7zSDF.jpg


It's a funny knot as it's hard to get just right but it does lay nice when it is correct.
 
That looks different than what I think Burnham explained and I was thinking. Instead of just going around the standing part of the other line once, both lines follow along each tuck and bend of the other rope
 
Burnham said:
Not absolutely positive, but I think the michoacan/martin is a closed Blake's hitch. No experience with it, but I believe NickfromWisconsin does climb on it.
Click to expand...

Apologize for the link to that other site, but that is where I find the article on the Michoacan:

Michoacan

it's my favorite hitch so far.
 
sotc said:
That looks different than what I think Burnham explained and I was thinking. Instead of just going around the standing part of the other line once, both lines follow along each tuck and bend of the other rope
Click to expand...

knob_flamsk_knob_300p.jpg


Like this one, right?

Called a flemish knot around here ( except we say it in Danish, of course)
 
Steve I don't know if you included this bend in your list but it is one of the most jamb proof of them all ,the carrick bend
 

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:dontknow:that is damned cool, I will use it next time I have to join two lowering lines. Been using the sheet bend and found it often jams up good under load. Have to use a stick to beat it into submission so it will relax and untie. Don't know a thing about all the rest of the knots mentioned in the beginning of this thread; kinda think some of us have way too much time on our hands.
Al Smith said:
Steve I don't know if you included this bend in your list but it is one of the most jamb proof of them all ,the carrick bend
Click to expand...
 
The Zeppelin bend (or Rosendahl) is a great one for joining two ropes; it holds quite well and doesn't undo itself with repeated tension and slack cycles, yet is much easier to untie than the likes of the doubled eight.

As its name might imply it was used for mooring dirigibles.
I use it when I need to extend an SRT entry line that is to be tied off to the base of another tree.

Here's a link to how it gets tied:
Zeppelin Bend

"Both names for this knot stem from its use to moor airships: a Zeppelin being a rigid-bodied type of airship, and Charles Rosendahl being the US Navy officer who insisted it be used to moor airships under his command.
Despite being praised by some sources as a nearly ideal bend knot, it is not very well-known; Clifford Ashley, author of The Ashley Book of Knots, was apparently unaware of this bend."
 
FWIW I learned all that knot stuff from my dad who got it from his grandfather,my great grand father .The old boy was in the British corps of engineers and was all over the world .

Kind of funny really .When I was in the navy I knew more stuff than most boatswains mates ,just a fact no bragging intended .Fact being although I was a technition I was also the top side petty officer . Keep in mind though that in those days the braided lines we know of today did not exist .Three stand was the line used .Things change .:)
 
crawdaddy said:
:dontknow:that is damned cool, I will use it next time I have to join two lowering lines. Been using the sheet bend and found it often jams up good under load. Have to use a stick to beat it into submission so it will relax and untie.
Click to expand...

If you take two turns around on the sheetbend instead of one, it holds up to load much better in terms of not jamming.
 
Yes Stig, just like that.
Al, I agree,the carrick bend is great. That is what crab fishermen use to join pot lines
 
Any time we begin to talk about the names of knots and what that name specifically refers to, we enter shoal waters. There is no definitive source, though ABOK is a close approximation.
:)
 
I just thought of something .Although nobody would use poly line for tree work much else anything except to tie up a boat ,it's some slick stuff to ever get a bend to hold .That is where something like the double figure 8/Flemish bend is usefull .

If you ever have the misfortune of having to use that stuff make darned sure to use a knot that holds because it's so slick and thusly has so little friction upon itself most knots just pull out .I mean even a square knot you'd best back it up with a couple of half hitches on each side .I for one do not trust it .
 
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