DIY: Bowline knot

The bowline knot is known by every Boy Scout, sailor and knot nut. “The Ashley Book of Knots,” first published in 1944 and one of the most extensive encyclopedia of knots, lists the bowline as an essential knot.

The bowline is useful because it does not cinch, but rather bites on itself. If you are being rescued at sea by a helicopter and you tied a bowline, it would stay in place. Another knot might dangerously constrict around you.

However, Noah Hoelscher, Vinland senior and rock climber, says the bowline is a useful knot, but can be easily untied unintentionally when not under tension.

The same principle works in your favor if you need to hang something—what you are hanging will provide constant tension.

 

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