Reef knot

Reef knot

Names	Reef knot, Square knot, Hercules knot
Category	Binding
Category #2	Bend
Origin	Ancient
Related	Thief knot, Granny knot, Grief knot, Surgeon's knot, Shoelace knot
Releasing	Jamming
Typical use	Joining two ends of a single line to bind around an object.
Caveat	Not secure as a bend. Spills easily if one of the free ends is pulled outward. Does not hold well if the two lines are not the same thickness.
ABoK	#74, #75, #460, #1204, #1402, #2096, #2573, #2574, #2577, #2580
Instructions

The reef knot, or square knot, is an ancient and simple binding knot used to secure a rope or line around an object. It is sometimes also referred to as a Hercules knot. The knot is formed by tying a left-handed overhand knot and then a right-handed overhand knot, or vice versa. A common mnemonic for this procedure is "right over left; left over right", which is often appended with the rhyming suffix "... makes a knot both tidy and tight". Two consecutive overhands of the same handedness will make a granny knot. The working ends of the reef knot must emerge both at the top or both at the bottom, otherwise a thief knot results.

Although the reef knot is often seen used for tying two ropes together, it is not recommended for this purpose because of the potential instability of the knot, and over-use has resulted in many deaths (see #Misuse as a bend).

Naming

The reef knot is at least between 4,000 and 9,000 years old. The name "reef knot" dates from at least 1794^[1] and originates from its common use to reef sails,^[2]^[3] that is to tie part of the sail down to decrease its effective surface area in strong winds. To release the knot a sailor could collapse it with a pull of one hand; the sail's weight would make the collapsed knot come apart. It is specifically this behavior which makes the knot unsafe for connecting two ropes together.^[4]

The name "square knot" is found in Dana's 1841 maritime compendium A Seaman's Friend, which also gives "reef knot" as an alternative name.^[5]^[6]

The name square knot is often used for the unslipped version of reef knot. Reef knot itself then is understood as the single slipped version, while the name shoelace knot is to indicate double slipped version. Sometimes the name bowtie also may be used to indicate a double slipped version, but tying a bowtie is usually performed on flat material, and involves a slip knot of one end holding a bight of the other end i.e. not really a double slipped reef knot. The name "Square knot" is also used for completely different other knots such as the mathematical concept of square knot, or friendship knot; this last one earns the name by being flat and drawing a square on one face (and a cross on the other face).

Uses

The reef knot is used to tie the two ends of a single line together such that they will secure something, for example a bundle of objects, that is unlikely to move much. In addition to being used by sailors for reefing and furling sails, it is also one of the key knots of macrame textiles.^[7]

The knot lies flat when made with cloth and has been used for tying bandages for millennia. As a binding knot it was known to the ancient Greeks as the Hercules knot (Herakleotikon hamma) and is still used extensively in medicine.^[8] In his Natural History, Pliny relates the belief that wounds heal more quickly when bound with a Hercules knot.^[9]

It has also been used since ancient times to tie belts and sashes. A modern use in this manner includes tying the obi (or belt) of a martial arts keikogi.

With both ends tucked (slipped) it becomes a good way to tie shoelaces, whilst the non-slipped version is useful for shoelaces that are excessively short. It is appropriate for tying plastic garbage or trash bags, as the knot forms a handle when tied in two twisted edges of the bag.

The reef knot figures prominently in Scouting worldwide. It is included in the international membership badge^[10] and many scouting awards.^[11] In the Boy Scouts of America demonstrating the proper tying of the square knot is a requirement for all boys joining the program.^[12] In Pioneering (Scouting), it is commonly used as a binding knot to finish off specialized lashing (ropework) and whipping knots.^[13] However, it is an insecure knot, unstable when jiggled, and is not suitable for supporting weight.

A surgeon's variation, used where a third hand is unavailable, is made with two or three twists of the ropes on bottom, and sometimes on top, instead of just one.

Detail of Egyptian statue dating from 2350 BC depicting a reef knot securing a belt
Ancient Greek jewelry from Pontika (now in Ukraine), 300 BC, in the form of a reef knot
Singly slipped reef knot
Diagram of common shoelace bow knot, a doubly slipped reef knot

Misuse as a bend

The reef knot can capsize (spill) when one of the free ends is pulled outward.

The reef knot's familiarity, ease of tying, and visually appealing symmetry conceal its weakness. The International Guild of Knot Tyers warns that this knot should never be used to bend two ropes together.^[14] A proper bend knot, for instance a sheet bend or double fisherman's knot, should be used instead. Knotting authority Clifford Ashley claimed that misused reef knots have caused more deaths and injuries than all other knots combined.^[15] Further, it is easily confused with the granny knot, which is a very poor knot.

Physical analysis

An approximate physical analysis^[16] predicts that a reef knot will hold if $2\mu e^{\mu\pi} \ge 1$ , where μ is the relevant coefficient of friction. This inequality holds if $\mu \gtrsim 0.24$ . Experiments show that the critical value of μ is actually somewhat lower.^[17]

Related knots

Notes and references

↑ David Steel (1794), The Elements and Practice of Rigging and Seamanship, London: David Steel, p. 183
↑ Lever, Darcy (1998) [1819], The Young Sea Officer's Sheet Anchor (2nd ed.), Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, p. 83, ISBN 978-0-486-40220-8
↑ Cyrus Lawrence Day (1986), The Art of Knotting and Splicing (4th ed.), Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, p. 42
↑ Ashley, Clifford W. (1944), The Ashley Book of Knots, New York: Doubleday, p. 258, ISBN 978-0-385-04025-9
↑ Ashley, p. 220.
↑ Richard Henry Dana, Jr. (1997) [1879], The Seaman's Friend: A Treatise on Practical Seamanship (14th revised and corrected ed.), Mineola, NY: Dover, p. 49, ISBN 0-486-29918-X
↑ Ashley, pp. 399-400.
↑ Hage, J. Joris (April 2008), "Heraklas on Knots: Sixteen Surgical Nooses and Knots from the First Century A.D.", World Journal of Surgery 32 (4), pp. 648–655, doi:10.1007/s00268-007-9359-x, PMID 18224483
↑ Pliny the Elder, Bostock, John; Riley, H. T., eds., The Natural History, p. 28.17, retrieved 2009-08-23
↑ See File:World Scout Emblem 1955.svg for an image of the emblem.
↑ Square Knots - Meaning and Placement, retrieved 2009-08-17
↑ Boy Scouts of America, Boy Scout Joining Requirements, retrieved 2009-08-23
↑ "Foolproof Way to ALWAYS Tie a Square Knot Right". www.scoutpioneering.com. Retrieved 2013-06-17.
↑ International Guild of Knot Tyers, Sea Cadet Knots, retrieved 2016-04-19
↑ Ashley, p. 18.
↑ Maddocks, J.H. and Keller, J. B., "Ropes in Equilibrium," SIAM J Appl. Math., 47 (1987), pp. 1185-1200
↑ Crowell, "The physics of knots," http://www.lightandmatter.com/article/knots.html

External links

Knots

By type

Bends	Adjustable bend Albright special Ashley's bend Alpine butterfly bend Basket weave knot Beer knot Blood knot Carrick bend Double fisherman's knot Fisherman's knot Flemish bend Grief knot Halyard bend Harness bend Heaving line bend Hunter's bend Nail knot One-sided overhand bend Racking bend Sheet bend Shoelace knot Shroud knot Simple Simon under Single carrick bend Surgeon's knot Surgeon's loop Triple fisherman's knot True lover's knot Water knot Zeppelin bend Zeppelin loop

Binding	Boa knot Bottle sling Constrictor knot Corned beef knot Granny knot Ground-line hitch Jamming knot Miller's knot Packer's knot Reef knot Strangle knot Thief knot Transom knot

Climbing	Autoblock Bachmann knot Beer knot Bowline on a bight Alpine butterfly knot Directional figure eight Double anchorman knot Double bowline Farmer's loop Figure-eight knot Figure-eight loop Figure-of-nine loop Friction hitch Klemheist knot Munter hitch Overhand loop Prusik Trident loop Yosemite bowline

Coils	Butterfly coil Alpine coil

Decorative	Carrick mat Chinese button knot Celtic button knot Diamond knot Fiador knot Friendship knot Matthew Walker knot Turk's head knot Wall and crown knot

Fishing (angling)	Angler's loop Arbor knot Bimini twist Blood knot Fisherman's knot Half blood knot Improved clinch knot Knotless knot Nail knot Palomar knot Snell knot Trilene knot Triple fisherman's knot Turle knot Uni knot

Hitches	Adjustable grip hitch Anchor bend Axle hitch Bachmann knot Bale sling hitch Barrel hitch Becket hitch Blackwall hitch Blake's hitch Boom hitch Buntline hitch Cat's paw Clove hitch Cow hitch Double overhand noose Falconer's knot Farrimond friction hitch Friction hitch Garda hitch Gripping Sailor's hitch Ground-line hitch Half hitch Halter hitch Highpoint hitch Highwayman's hitch Hitching tie Icicle hitch Improved clinch knot Killick hitch Knute hitch Lobster buoy hitch Marlinespike hitch Munter hitch Ossel hitch Pile hitch Snuggle hitch Swing hitch Taut-line hitch Timber hitch

Loop	Angler's loop Artillery loop Bale sling hitch Bowline Bumper knot Carrick bend loop Cowboy bowline Diamond knot Double bowline Dropper loop Eskimo bowline Fiador knot Fireman's chair knot Friendship knot loop Halter hitch Handcuff knot Honda knot Jury mast knot Overhand loop Portuguese bowline Rigid double splayed loop in the bight Slippery eight loop Span loop Spanish bowline Tom fool's knot Trident loop Triple bowline Triple crown knot Water bowline Yosemite bowline Zeppelin loop

Running (slip)	Hangman's knot Running bowline Running highwayman's hitch Slip knot Tarbuck knot

Shanks	Catshank Dogshank Sheepshank

Stopper	Ashley's stopper knot Button knot Double overhand knot Monkey's fist Overhand knot Stevedore knot

Whipping	Common whipping Overhand knot with draw-loop Portuguese whipping Sailmaker's whipping West Country whipping

Lists of knots
Related topics

Lists of knots	Bends Bindings Decorative knots Hitches (friction) Macramé Mathematical

Related topics	Chinese knotting International Guild of Knot Tyers Lashing Rope splicing Seizing

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