Knots

Summary (TLDR):

  1. Avoid the overhand knot (the simple knot everyone knows)

  2. Learn the bowline (pronounced like bowling)

  3. Learn the figure-eight

Lesson 1: Avoid the Overhand Knot

This is the simple knot everyone knows, and may be the only knot you know. It’s rarely the right knot for the job, so the first lesson is simply: avoid using it. Of course, to follow this advice, you must know what knot to use instead, so this advice is really an incentive to learn the better alternatives, like the bowline and figure eight.

Lesson 2: The Bowline

If you have to learn exactly one knot, it’s the bowline. It rhymes with bowling, don’t ask why, it’s a sailor thing where everything is pronounced funny, like leeward ("loo-ward") and boatswain ("bosun"); pretend you’re a pirate if that helps.

It’s a somewhat complicated knot, and there’s no easy way to learn it other than with practice. Get a length of rope (twine, shoelace, whatever’s handy) with one free end, and follow the picture carefully, noting the under/over/under/over pattern of the end going through the loop. Keep practicing until you can do it with your eyes closed (and pretend you’re underwater). Beware that it’s easy to do it wrong, e.g., if the initial loop is backwards. Google for tips and tricks that might work for you (e.g., "the rabbit comes out the hole, around the tree, and back in the hole").

Lesson 3: The Figure Eight, and beyond

This one’s pretty easy. Use it as a stopper on one end of a rope, e.g. for the downhaul or outhaul.

Probably the next most useful knot is “two half-hitches”. I use this to tie a board to my roof rack. (Sorry, no picture.)

If by now you’ve become addicted to knots, there are a million resources out there to look up. Read carefully the pros and cons of each knot; there are many “popular” knots that are described for the purpose of avoiding, like the boy scout’s favorite “sheepshank”. Even the clove-hitch which many people still use is not very secure, except temporarily.