Let's start a thread about knots, lashings, hitches, and weaves. What are everyone's favorite knots and their purposes?
Here's my top ten list. Numbers 2-10 are in no particular order, but number one is my favorite one of them all:
1) Figure-Eight Follow Through: I use this knot for just about everything. If you need a secure knot that will hold a lot of weight, this is the one. Many folks associate this knot with tying into a climbing harness or setting a climbing anchor. I also use it to tie my rope onto my bear bag among many other things. The knot is perfect for making a fixed loop around an object. When tied correctly, this knot is perfectly safe for rappelling, although you will not be able to retrieve the rope.
2) Bowline: This is a must-know for any serious outdoorsman. It too is used to create a fixed loop around an object, but I don't trust my life on a bowline like I do a fig-8 follow-through.
3) Trucker's Hitch: This hitch consists of multiple component knots; Two half-hitches, the slipknot, and the quick-release bight. The hitch is fairly complicated to learn, but it has a plethora of uses. I prefer it for use in setting up a clothesline or a ridgeline for an a-frame dining fly/tarp. It can also be used to tie things down to a trailer or luggage rack. The hitch works to create and maintain maximum tension while still being easy to untie.
4) Taught-Line Hitch: I use this versatile hitch for stringing out tent lines mostly. The hitch is used to create a one-way loop that slides to add tension and hold it.
5) Double Fisherman's Knot: The uses of this knot are many. It's most popular use is to attach two pieces of fishing line with a secure joint. The self-tightening knot can also be used to connect the two ends of a single piece of rope, forming a full circle that can then be used as a climbing anchor among other uses.
6) Daisy Chain: Daisy chains are used to store rope or webbing so that it is ready for action whenever needed. The quick-deploy design releases the rope in seconds with a simple pull. I really like this knot for securing bear bag lines to trees. By adapting the knot and daisy chaining around a tree you save the time and energy required to wrap and unwrap the entire remainder of the rope as a single strand.
7) Clove Hitch: Most often used in top-rope climbing, the clove hitch is an essential knot for any array of situations. The hitch is used to adjust the length of rope without having to untie it. In top-rope climbing the clove hitch is used in setting the N-anchor created by the static line, ensuring that the "BFK" knot is centered between two anchor points.
8) Figure-Eight on a Bight: This knot looks exactly the same as the fig-8 follow-through and creates the same fixed loop, but it is not tied around an object. Instead, it can be tied quickly in order to form a loop "bight." This bight is a good place for a biner to be clipped into. It has the same strength as the follow-through version.
9) Timber Hitch: This simple hitch has one main use; to drag large pieces of wood. Though it's uses are limited, it offers a valuable mechanical advantage when transporting large lengths of firewood or building materials for a shelter.
10) Double Overhand Knot: Simple, yet invaluable, this quick knot is used all the time as a safety knot in climbing or just as a general knot to tie something off.
-------------------- Two roads diverged in a wood, and I cut straight through the forest, and that has made all the difference.
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My favorite knots generally fall into two categories, fishing and rock climbing or rope-work: three some knots specifically for flyfishing. And are mostly interchangeable, with a few exceptions..
1) The stopper or uni knot: useful for most fishing lines to attach lures or join similar diameter lines or backing to monofilament top shot. For pursicks and plugs on rope.
2) Perfection loop. mostly to make a straight loop on monofilament leader for loop to loop connections in fly line.
3) Bimini twist. forms a loop also but different applications. Mainly for a double line to connect spectra backing to mono topshot. Super strong knot that passes through guides effortlessly. Not an effortless knot to tie, fun tho.
4) Trilene knot: for attaching lures using mono, not for spectra. The body off the knot sits on a double foundation. In mono up to 15-20# test.
5) San Diego jam: strong easy to tie lure attachment for line 25# and up. some tie this knot in mono up to 250# test , it gets huge.
A uni to uni in fishing line has more shock resistance than a typical double surgeons knot for leader tying, just takes a minute or two longer to tie.
You can't go wrong with the figure 8 and all of it variations for rope work.
Lots of good knots out there i-crosser, dropper loops, spider hitch, monkey balls..
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I use a knot at work every single day to tie stuff to my truck.
I don't know what it's called, but it's my favorite knot ever.
It takes me like a half second to tie, can be made as tight as I can pull, and then leaves me with one end that I can tug and the whole thing unravels.
-------------------- After one comes, through contact with it's administrators, no longer to cherish greatly the law as a remedy in abuses, then the bottle becomes a sovereign means of direct action. If you cannot throw it at least you can always drink out of it. - Ernest Hemingway
If it is life that you feel you are missing I can tell you where to find it. In the law courts, in business, in government. There is nothing occurring in the streets. Nothing but a dumbshow composed of the helpless and the impotent. -Cormac MacCarthy
He who learns must suffer. And even in our sleep pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, and in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom to us by the awful grace of God. - Aeschylus
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