Simple 7: Knots For Every Adventure

All right, we’re here at the Anchorage again today. We’ve been doing some cooking, and now I want to show you some of my favorite knots. I’ve been somewhat of a knot geek since I was a kid, and I find it pretty interesting, all the different things you do with rope.

And we’re going to show you seven knots, use at the campground, use at home, the boat, hunting, wherever. And and we’ll just give you a little rope terminology, first of all. And you’re going to have this end that you actually tie the knot with.

It’s called the running end. Or the live end is what I call it sometimes. And the the rest of your rope is called the standing end or just the standing. So you got standing and you got the working end or the running end.

And then we got, what else we got… we got we got a bend. This is a term we use a lot. Got a overhand loop and underhand loop. And, you know, if you’re looking at this, you don’t really have to worry so much about that, because you can look at a picture nowadays.

You can go to the website and learn how to tie just about any knot. But it’s just good words to know, especially when you’re knot tying.

One of my favorite knots of all time . And it’s called Square Knot. It’s also called the Reef Knot or the love knot or bundle knot.

And basically, it’s like you can tie two ropes of the same size together. It doesn’t work so well if they’re uneven or are not the same size but for the same size. It works pretty well. And we just do this real quick, like — I’ll show you what it looks like.

But it’s just like tying your shoe. It’s all it is just overhand knot– like So.. then you do the same thing, but you do it backwards because what you want is you want two ropes. Coming out in two ropes going in so you can see how these two lay together and these two lay together.

That’s what holds it. If you do it the other way like this– You have a granny knot — you can see how they are opposite, and it’s not going to hold at all.

So if you have a granny knot, just reverse it.

This knot is great for tying bundles together, so you got a bunch of tarps or something. Just wrap it around there and boom, they’re not going anywhere. This is a super simple knot and you can use it multiple ways, but it’s great like I said, for tying packages or bundles or just– I’ve used this a lot, too, like I had to ow somebody last year and their rope, well, wasn’t long enough for the boat. So I just simple square knot, boom. We’re good to go.

Got plenty of rope that way

Alright, the next knot is what I call the two half hitch . And this is another knot I use quite a bit. Anytime I’m docking the boat to say a pier or dock or even camping.

This knot is just so easy that I find myself using it almost more than any other knot.

go around the tree. Come on the inside just like that, and then just do the same thing again. And what this does is you tighten this up, is secure as tight, and it won’t loosen up.

It stays there. I mean, if you really wanted to, you could put another knot. But I use all the time while docking, if you don’t have a cleat, it’s a perfect thing to do to find a post boom.

And at camp. You can use it multiple ways. You know, if they’ve got a tie, a guideline to the tree, you don’t have a stake, boom. It’s not going anywhere. It’s perfect. Two-half hitches , so easy to tie around a stationary post — a tree boom.

It’s a good knot to know right there.

So this knot is what I call the triple taut line, or it’s called the taut line hitch.. I call it triple taut line because it’s what I learned. And this is the only time I use this knot really is when I’m camping.

And we just went catfishing not too long ago and I use this for our tents, because what it is, it is kind of like the two half hitch. You go round the tree or stake or peg or whatever, but you go two loops on the inside just like that, two simple loops.

And then you do one. The next one goes on the outside. Just like that, she got two on the inside. Come around, do the same hitch. So you cannot you cannot move that knot… unless. Take the tension off.

So you want to tighten up your guide wire. Say it was windy. Release the tension.. if you need more. It’s a great knot — easily adjustable. I mean, that’s the whole thing with this. It’s perfect for the dining fly over a picnic table or anything.

Just keep adjusting it as you need and it unties super easy. So another important knot, and I don’t use this one that much except when we’re doing lashing. So if we’re building some kind of frame of a trees, I use this a lot.

But this knot is a good one to know. And it’s super simple. It’s called the clove hitch. Just go around the tree. Make an X. Come back under a tree or post or whatever. And you can tie this horizontally or vertically, of course.

That’s all there is to it. This thing will not come out. It just pinches on itself. This is kind of the knot, I think of the knot I think of when you watch old Westerns. This is how they do their horse.

They pull up to the saloon. Boom it. I’ve seen it many times. It’s kind of cool. Make an X come coming out under. Good to go.

Another, they’re super easy. Knot — you might not think you ever need this, but you never know.

It’s called the figure eight knot and it’s a stopper knot.

see if you’re mountain climbing or something like that. I mean, these guys use it a lot and it’s just a kind of overhand knot, which could come out and sometimes when they take pressure, they’re hard to untie.

You just do a figure eight. And I’ve used this many times. If the rope starting to fray bad, I just do this little just make a go around and back through. And you see you got a little figure eight right there.

Just pull it tight.

And there is no way anything is going past that knot.

to show you one more time round and back through perfect little figure eight knot. Any time you need a knot at the end of the rope, that’s a good one to tie right there.

All right, this next one is a sheet bend.

Another really popular knot — if you have two ropes of different size, different diameter, this is a great knot for tying them together. Just make a bend like we talked about earlier .. this, come up, go around this rope here, and then you just go right back up under and make

sure your live edge are running end is on top of these two. Not under. pull both of these tight. Those two ropes are together forever or until you untie them. And this this rope, you need pressure on it, though, because if you let this go, it’s real easy to untie.

But it works really well for joining two ropes of different sizes.

So the last ones are bowline knot or bowline knot. And it’s used especially in like mountaineering or rescue. It’s also used a lot in sailing too I’ve heard. not much of a sailor, but you’ve got a loop.

You come under. One way I learned this was as a kid, the rabbit comes out of the hole, goes around the tree, and then back in the hole and just pull all that tight. And it forms a loop that is super strong.

And the reason I say this is using rescue is because you can say you got to drop down for somebody, drop a rope down. This is the easy knot for them to tie– even with one hand, you can tie the knot if it’s around your waist.

But hopefully we don’t have to use it for that. But it is a great, great knot for tying a loop that is super strong and easy to untie.

the bowline.