Figs. 22 and 23.—Running Knot with Two Ends,
Loose and Fastened.
Fig. 22 shows a method of making a rope fast to a post or pillar. The rope is doubled and passed round the post, and the ends put through the loop. For greater security, the ends may be passed round the standing part and through the bight thus formed, as in Fig. 23; or, instead of passing the cords through the bight, a loop may be formed by doubling the ends, and this loop put through the bight, thus forming a slippery hitch. This knot has the advantage of being more readily undone than the other one, as it is necessary merely to pull at the ends, and the rope is released at once. The ends may also be secured by making a Flemish knot on them, instead of an overhand knot.
Fig. 24.—Two Half Hitches.
The remainder of this chapter will discuss a different class of fastenings. It is not easy to state, however, where knots end and bends and hitches begin; indeed, a tie that, in certain circumstances and made a particular way, is called a “knot,” differently constructed, and under other conditions, is called a “bend” or “hitch,” though the result is the same in both cases. As an illustration, take two half-hitches (Fig. 24), which, if made in another way round a pole, are called a “builder’s knot.” If readers will analyse the knots illustrated throughout this book, they will find several other similar instances. A (Fig. 24) is a single hitch, being merely a loop formed in a rope. This is readily done by holding the rope in the left hand, and giving it a twist with the right; the loop then forms itself, as it were. When a tightly laid piece of cordage is twisted, these loops are apt to rise and form “kinks,” which are very objectionable, as the cord is sure to part at the kink when a strain is put on it. It is still worse in the case of wire, which breaks readily when kinked. Tight, hard cordage should always be well stretched before it is used, to avoid kinking.
Two half-hitches (Fig. 24) are a useful knot for a variety of purposes, as they are quickly made, and will not slip, no matter what strain is put upon them—indeed, the more they are hauled upon the faster they hold. They are the best means of making a rope fast to a hook. First one hitch is slipped on, and then the other on the top of it, and the rope is fast in less than two seconds. This knot is used by surgeons in reducing a dislocation of the thumb joint.
Fig. 25.—Builder’s Knot.
Fig. 25 is the builder’s knot, merely two half-hitches, but as it is used in places where the hitches cannot be passed over the ends of the timber it is made by holding one end in the left hand, passing the rope round the pole, under the end, round the pole again, above the first part, and under its own part; from its non-liability to slip laterally this knot is always used to fasten one pole to another in fitting up scaffolding, from which circumstance it has acquired its name. If, instead of beginning the knot as in Fig. 25, the end is passed, after it has gone round the pole, two or three times round the other part, as in Fig. 2 (p. 15), the remainder of the knot is rather more easily made, as it holds itself taut, and will not slip while the end is put round to complete the fastening.
A “builder’s double knot” is made in the same way, except that the end goes round again, as before, and underneath its own part, so making it much stronger. When a builder’s knot is made on a rope for the purpose of securing a small line to a stout rope, it is called a “clove-hitch.”