May 21, 2011

Bowline And Sheet Bend Knots

I just learned the "sheet bend" knot.  The "bowline" is considered "the king of knots".


The two knots are tied completely differently but are effectively the same.  I just realized that.

Weavers use the "sheet bend".  It's common in netmaking as well.  The "sheet bend" is called a sheet because it's used in sailing for tying to a "clew" (I think)... but don't have a clue what a clew is.

Kinda neat seeing they form mirror images of one another.

The sheet bend on the left is actually made by tying a rope to another rope in a loop... so it's really a hitch on another rope.  The bowline is made with a single line.

Math-like people enjoy this sort of thing.  They like finding the underlying structure of things.

The "bowline" is almost a "square knot".  A "square knot" is almost a "granny knot".  A "granny knot", I read, is the most dangerous knot in existence because it's almost a "square knot" but can easily unravel.

In the end, the king of knots is a loop tied by the pawn of knots, the half hitch.

3 comments:

Kim said...

That is cool!

Anonymous said...

I like to play with knots seeing how they resolve. Just this morning I cut the loop of a bowline and saw the sheet bend appear before my eyes.

Keith said...

Cool! Thanks for commenting :-)