Bow-Line Knot
To form a loop that will not slip and yet may be easily untied use the bow-line knot.
(1) When the loop is not fastened to anything use the overhand method of tying it. First measure off sufficient rope for the loop you wish to make and hold the place with your left hand (this place is indicated by the arrow in [Fig. 56]); then with your right hand throw the short end of the rope over the long rope ([Fig. 56]). Still holding the short end with your right hand, with the left hand bring the long rope up to form a loop over the end ([Fig. 54]). Now with your right hand take up the end, draw it farther through the loop, and pass it behind the long rope above the loop, from right to left ([Fig. 58]). Bring the end forward again and slip it downward through the loop ([Fig. 59]). Draw the knot tight and it cannot slip, no matter how great the strain.
(2) Use the underhand method when the loop is passed around something or through a ring. This loop may be put around the neck of a horse or cow without danger of injury, for it will not slip and tighten. It can also be used in place of the hitching tie.
Slip the rope through the ring, or around the object, from left to right while you hold the long rope in your left hand. Take a half-hitch around the long rope, passing the end over the long rope, then under it. This makes a loop like [Fig. 60]. Transfer this loop from the short rope to the long rope by holding loosely, or giving slack, with the left hand and pulling up with the right. A little practise will enable you to do this easily. [Fig. 61] shows the loop transferred to the long rope with the short end passing through it. At this stage carry the short end over, then under the long rope below the loop ([Fig. 62]), then up and through the loop as in [Fig. 63]. Tighten the knot by pulling on both the long rope and the short end.