Learn to tie towline knots and overhand loop knots by going through the rabbit hole.
Part One: Rope Terminology
Part Two: How to Tie a Overhand Knot in a Series
In Part 3 of this series, go through a rabbit hole with an overhand knot. The overhand knot is often the pesky knot that has tied itself in the 50-foot extension cord you put away last Christmas. It’s formed when you pull the running end of your line (or almost anything else) through a loop.
In this installment, a “bowline bunny” (the running end) will help us learn. A bowline is simple: It’s a secure loop that won’t slip and is easy to tie or untie. Now, let’s learn how to tie an overhand knot on purpose.
- Bight: The curve in a piece of rope.
- Running end: The end of the rope.
- Standing end: The body of the rope.
- Loop: What happens when you cross the running end over a bight.
- Hitch: A loop over a long object (such as a pole).
Overhand Knot
Let’s take a moment to gaze at the overhand knot through a “rabbit hole.” The “rabbit,” in either the overhand or the bowline, is the running end of our line. In both, the “rabbit hole” is the loop.
The knot seemingly ties itself using a bight drawn through the loop to create the convenient (optional) quick release. This, in turn, allows the knot to be untied after it’s loaded.
Tying the Overhand Loop Knot with a Quick Release
Photo A1: Form a loop in your left hand with the running end on top, and dangle the end. You’re looking through the “rabbit hole” at the running end.
Photo A2: Reach through the rabbit hole (loop) to grasp that rabbit (the running end), and pull it through the loop to form an overhand knot.
Photo A3: If you reach back through the rabbit hole and grasp the rabbit by his rear end (the bight), you’ll pull out a quick release (in this case, a slipknot).
Photo A4: If you pull the rabbit back through the hole by his nose, drag his rear through, and let go … you’ll have undone your knot.
Let’s return for a moment to the unwanted overhand knot, which has tied itself in our extension cord. It slithers behind as we walk with a battery charger in the direction of our dead pickup.
We’re running with that rabbit (the running end) through what amounts to an infinite number of obstacles. The unwanted knot snags. You yank the standing end in frustration, and you’re promptly rewarded by the tight fist of a clenched knot in the cord. It’ll be a long time before the rabbit sees daylight through that hole! The unwanted knot will remain sitting. Or, in trying to rid the cord of the fouled knot (that you put in it), you’ll exhaust your vocabulary of swear words.
But let’s talk “knotty” a moment longer: Assuming the obstacle didn’t release the knot when you pulled, you “loaded” the knot, making it more “fast” (tight). The overhand became fast without moving. Lesson learned: Don’t pull on snagged knots. For most farm applications, we’re more concerned with untying it afterward than with slippage.
Using a Bowline for an Anchor
With the overhand knot, we open a veritable wonderland of applications.
Photo B1: Approach the anchor (the object you’re tying around) from the same direction every time. I go in from left to right.
Photo B2: Tie the overhand knot on the standing end.
Photo B3: Don’t forget that if you can afford to have a less “fast” knot, use a quick release.
Using the Bight
Remember that anything you can do with that wascilly wabbit of a running end, you can do with a bight.
Photo C1: An overhand knot tied with a bight yields an overhand loop.
Photo C2: Bring the running end through this overhand loop, and you’ll have a cinch knot that develops a 2-to-1 (minus friction) mechanical advantage.
Photo C3: Secure with a clove hitch and quick release.
Trucker’s Knot
Whether you’re pitching a clothesline, fastening cargo, or trying to pull a car out of a ditch with a rope, you’ll find mechanical advantage to your convenience. A simple but wonderful application of mechanical advantage is the “trucker’s knot.” But, for the bunny to help explain the trucker’s knot, he must turn around and run with the standing end.
Tying the Trucker’s Knot
Photo D1: Secure the first anchor point with the running end and run like a bunny all the way around your second anchor or tie it down with the standing end. While bunny catches his breath, carefully stow the standing end.
Photo D2: Reach across, grab the line, and then twist counter-clockwise to make a rabbit hole (loop). The running end of the loop should be on top and the standing end underneath.
Photo D3: Create a bight from the standing end, and then pull the bight through the rabbit hole.
Photo D4: Run the standing end – which is starting to look a lot like a running end – through the aforementioned bight, and then pull away from the original anchor. Secure with a clove hitch and quick release.
As you may see around your farm or on your travels, the running hitch on a trucker’s knot allows you to secure most any load – but maybe not a wascilly wabbit, so tie off the running end.
