Which knots are actually worth knowing?
Four knots that cover almost every everyday job, what each is for, and how to make sure they hold.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 30 min
- Read
- 3 min
- Safety
- warning
Short answer
Learn four: a bowline for a loop that will not slip, a clove hitch for tying to a post, two half hitches for general securing, and a truckers hitch for pulling something tight. Between them they cover nearly everything domestic rope is used for.
People tie the same overhand knot for everything, which is hard to undo and slips under load. Four knots take an afternoon to learn and are far better at all of it.
Safety
Step by step
- Learn the bowline for a fixed loop.It makes a loop that will not tighten under load and unties easily afterwards, even after being heavily loaded. Use it for putting a loop over a post, around a bag, or on the end of a line.
- Practise the bowline until it is automatic.The classic teaching phrase runs the end up through the small loop, around the standing line and back down. Tie it twenty times with your eyes on something else and it stays with you.
- Learn the clove hitch for tying to a rail or post.Two turns crossed over themselves. Fast, adjustable, and easy to undo. It can slip if the load changes direction, so back it up with a half hitch where that matters.
- Learn two half hitches for general securing.A turn around the object then two identical hitches around the standing line. It is the workhorse for tying anything to anything and it holds well under steady load.
- Learn a truckers hitch for pulling tight.A loop in the line that the working end passes through gives a pulley effect, roughly tripling the tension you can apply. It is what actually secures a load on a roof rack or a tarpaulin.
- Learn a reef knot only for what it is for.Joining two ends of the same line around a bundle. It is not a knot for joining two ropes under load — it fails at that, and a sheet bend is the correct choice.
- Dress the knot before loading it.Work the parts so they lie neatly alongside each other with no crossed turns, then tighten. A badly dressed knot is substantially weaker and much harder to undo.
- Leave a decent tail.At least ten centimetres beyond the knot. Knots work themselves loose slightly under changing load, and a short tail is how they come undone entirely.
- Match the rope to the job.Natural fibre grips well and rots. Polypropylene floats, is cheap and degrades in sunlight. Nylon stretches. Polyester holds up outdoors. Slippery modern rope needs an extra hitch to hold.
- Practise with the actual rope you will use.Knots behave differently in stiff, thick or slippery rope than in the soft cord people learn with. Ten minutes with the real thing is worth an hour of practice cord.
Tips
- Learn one knot properly rather than six badly. A well-tied bowline covers an enormous amount of ground.
- Whip or heat-seal the ends of synthetic rope. Frayed ends make every knot harder to tie and thread.
- If a knot is difficult to untie afterwards, it was probably the wrong knot rather than a good one.
Questions people ask
What is the most useful knot to learn?
The bowline. It makes a fixed loop that will not slip under load and unties easily afterwards, and it covers a large share of everyday rope jobs on its own.
How do I tie something down tightly?
A truckers hitch. A loop in the line acts as a simple pulley, letting you apply far more tension than pulling directly, then it is finished off with two half hitches.