What knots do you use?

[michael]

Hi,

 

I was wondering what knots you guys use for everyday rigging and ones useful for me to know.

 

Thanks

 

Michael

[jonathanhill]

Ideally, you should know AT LEAST one knot, one bend and one hitch. The common ones are bowline, sheet bend and clove hitch. After that maybe a double sheet bend and a rolling hitch.

 

Learning how tie a 'long' bowline is essential for any proper ground rigging work.

[dbuckley]

My knot collection is the overhand, the reef, and the obligatory round turn with two half hitches. And the ability to whip the end of a bit of rope.

 

For someone who isn't a specialist rigger, that collection appears to work. I have an excellent book on knots, which is fun to read and play, but despite there being literally hundreds of other knots, my standard collection is "good enough". Many knots can be substituted for others, and they come in groups, but a key metric of a knot is how much weaker he knot makes the rope.

[paulears]

I can do bows and reef knots. Anything as useful as a bowline is an accident. I've never had a knot I have tied come undone, however undoing many of them is almost impossible. I know 'how' to do these useful and probably vital ones, but after doing excellently for a repeated number of them, it just goes again with just a week off! I have the same problem with dancing. I know what to do, but cannot remember the sequence. There's probably a name for the inability to remember knots. It's one thing I have never mastered.

[kerry davies]

I agree with Wikipedia for once http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clove_hitch The clove hitch, bowline and sheet bend are the essentials, in that order.

I find the sheepshank handy on outdoor sites and a fun way to learn about knots is: http://www.animatedknots.com/

 

Not that I am a rigger, they tend to use a wider variety of climbing based knots than us footsloggers.

[michael]

Thank you all for your replies should keep me busy learning the above!!!:** laughs out loud **:

[GridGirl]

I've always preferred a carrick bend to a sheet bend - for some reason it usually takes me about four attempts to tie a sheet bend but I can tie a carrick bend first time, every time!

[andy_s]

I wasn't entirely sure what a carrick bend was, though I spend a week crossing the Carrick Roads on the ferry, performing in Falmouth and staying in digs on the other side of the water.... nice way to get to work.

 

Anyway, looked it up in my book of knots, I must say to me it looks more complicated than a sheetbend, perhaps it depends which one you learn first.

 

Knots bends lashings and splices I have used in a theatrical environment include:

 

reef knot, sheetbend, sheepshank ( or a variant thereof) clove hitch and 2 half hitches, bowline, spanish bowline (aka chair knot, fireman's chair knot, square lashing, back splice, eye splice ... and quite a few others...

also a knot the name of which I never knew until I looked it up just now in said book of knots which I've tied countless times when tieing stuff off in a wagon or tied in a cleat line fixed to a flat (who knows how to do that nowadays?)which it seems is called an Overhand Loop.

 

the one I've probably used most often is the clove hitch. (spent a fair bit of time in hemp houses)

[Pete McCrea]

I used to be able to tie 18 Knots/bends/splices. Underwater. In Nil Visibility. In Plymouth Sound. Part of My Professional Diving ticket I took at Uni.

 

Be buggered if I can manage any more than a Bowline or round turn and two half hitches now...

[ddproduction]

10 years in the Scouts certainly helps me with the knots (AKA we actually did "Knot Of The Week") - I'm ALWAYS asked to build a raft with a 10' rope ladder attached suitable for mountain rescue at the last minute :P

[Brian]

For a book which covers the basics....

 

http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/1591748089.01.MZZZZZZZ.jpg

 

...I have a copy which lives in the smallest room in the house!

[Jamtastic3]

So what knot would you use for the rigging and de rigging of moving heads from high rigs, say, via a pulley system?

[smalljoshua]

I use a bowline after being advised to do so by a qualified climbing instructor (closest thing to a rigger I could find in Am-Dram)

 

Josh

[adamharman]

So what knot would you use for the rigging and de rigging of moving heads from high rigs, say, via a pulley system?

 

The problem with using a pulley is getting it up high enough that you can take the weight of the fixture on the rope as you unhook it from the bar.

As for what's on the end of the rope, I find a carabiner fits the handle or safety point on most things and is much quicker than tying a rope on each time. Most of my ropes have either a spliced loop or an overhand loop in them, but they mostly get used for other things.

[Seano]

.. but a key metric of a knot is how much weaker he knot makes the rope.

Interesting in theory, but doesn't really matter in practice as the rope is so much stronger than you need it to be. (If it isn't, you're using the wrong rope!)

 

Not that I am a rigger, they tend to use a wider variety of climbing based knots than us footsloggers.

They really don't y'know. Most riggers use a bowline for almost everything, and a clove hitch for almost everything else.

 

If the OP wants advice on which knots to learn here's mine:

Bowline. Clove hitch. Until you can tie both of those in about 3 seconds flat, without a moments thought or hesitation, right way up, upside down, whilst talking to someone about something else, etc.. don't spend too much time practicing anything else. Stick a bit of cord in your pocket and take it everywhere.

When you can tie both of those, look at sheet bend and round turn + half hitches; you'll discover you can already tie those too.

(I'm a bit surprised the sheet bend has had so many mentions in its own right btw, a sheet bend *is* a bowline, its just called by a different name when its used to join two separate ropes rather than to make a loop.)

Then move on to other stuff.

 

Next on my list is overhand and overhand variants (esp. double overhand used as a stopper knot, as a barrel knot or as a double fisherman's), and alpine butterfly (useful for some of the tricks that make rigging a little quicker and easier).

 

I've always preferred a carrick bend to a sheet bend

I think you're the first person I've heard of using a carrick bend on purpose.

I generally only see it when someone has tried to tie a bowline/sheet bend and got it wrong. ;)

 

So what knot would you use for the rigging and de rigging of moving heads from high rigs, say, via a pulley system?

Don't. Bring the truss or LX bar in and do it on the floor. Ha ha, ok, I know that's not always possible, but it is always the preferred option.

 

The problem with using a pulley is getting it up high enough that you can take the weight of the fixture on the rope as you unhook it from the bar.

Yep. If its possible to get the pulley in a better place its always worth taking a bit of time to do that.

 

... and is much quicker than tying a rope on each time

If its more than a few seconds quicker (and nobody is *that* pushed for time), the person tying the knots needs more practice. ;)

 

Sometimes (in situations where the rope isn't being pulled from the floor) using a karabiner can be slower because it means using the same end of the rope each time rather than alternating.