The Ties That Bind
Other Columnists
Cynthia Robson was in a tight spot one late- July weekend.
Actually, the wooden stake she was using to help plant her cedar trellis was in
the tight spot - stuck nearly 3 feet deep in compacted soil near the patio in
her Locust Valley backyard. She and her husband, Daniel, tugged away, but the
stake wouldn't budge.
"The trellis is nearly 10 feet high, and we were going to pound stakes into
the ground and then pull them out," says Robson. "The trellis legs would then
fit into the holes left behind."
But when the stake wouldn't cooperate, the Robsons unleashed a special
power they had right at their fingertips. The power of knots - not to mention
hitches and ropes.
They wove one end of a cotton rope around the stake in a series of "half
hitches," then wrapped the other end around a piece of lumber in a "clove
hitch." With a push here and a tug there, the rope-and-wood lever loosened the
stake.
The trellis went up with a hitch, you might say.
If you're wondering what a "half hitch" or "clove hitch" is, that's some of
what this story is all about.
A few of us - OK, a very few - might have considered building a mechanical
lever to free that stuck stake, but the Robsons had the practical knowledge
they needed to succeed. Their rope didn't slip because their "hitches" - knots
designed to secure rope or cord to a pole or cleat - did exactly what they were
designed to do.
4,000 ways to tie a rope
"If you have the right line and a basic knowledge of tying, you can do
quite a few things around the house," says Capt. Cynthia Robson, U.S. Merchant
Marines, U.S. Maritime Service. Which isn't surprising, since there about 4,000
different ways to tie a rope.
Robson should know - she teaches a series of knot-tying classes to students
at the United States Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point. And her husband,
a former Navy engineer, can tie most knots "in his sleep," she likes to tell
her students.
While most of us probably can't match the Robsons, or even Cynthia Robson's
student- sailors, for knot expertise, we all use ropes and knots more than we
realize. By the way, a knot is different from a hitch in that a knot joins two
ropes together. And a good or useful knot or hitch must be easy to tie and just
as easy to untie.
Like the double-slip reef knot most of us use to tie shoelaces. Or the
trucker's hitch you may have fashioned from twine to secure lumber to the top
of the van on your last trip to the home center or hardware store.
Humans have used rope for ages and knots for almost as long. In fact,
fossilized rope made from papyrus and dating back to about 500 BC was
discovered in North Africa during World War II. "The first time man twisted
some vine together, he was using rope," says Dave Richards, technical director
for The Cordage Institute, a Pennsylvania-based international association of
cordage, rope and twine manufacturers.
Our parents and grandparents probably relied on rope and knots in more
obvious ways, Richards says. Depending on where you grew up or how old you are,
you might remember rope and knots being used around a farm or in conjunction
with livestock. Or perhaps you have memories of wooden double-hung windows and
the cotton cord and counterweight that kept them in place. And if you're a baby
boomer or older - whose grandmother didn't hang laundry out to dry on a line
in the backyard?
Today, our use of ropes and knots is more subtle. The last time you picked
up a needle and thread to do some mending - when was that? - you most certainly
used an overhand knot as a "stopper" at the end of the thread. Of course, you
would've had to get the thread through the eye of the needle first.
Any number of knots and hitches such as the "surgeon's knot" or "running
bowline" can be used to bundle newspapers for recycling or tree branches that
come in after a storm. Square knots can be used to make decorative macrame
plant holders from thick jute. Some men prefer neckties with a Windsor knot.
Others use the half Windsor, and some a knot called the four-in-hand.
Many of us use knots at work or play. Surgeons use several types of square
knots in sutures. Rock climbers, campers, emergency medical technicians and
arborists have to know their knots and hitches to ensure safety or to complete
certain tasks.
Nautical knots and hitches
And nowhere are knots and hitches as important as on the water. If you
fish, you inevitably know how to tie an arbor knot to attach line to the reel.
At the end of the same line, you'd use a Palomar knot to secure the hook.
Boaters use dozens and dozens of tying techniques to secure lines and hoist
sails.
"Knots and hitches on the seas are designed not to bind," says Josh Herman,
a shipwright and amateur rigger - the term applied to the person who installs
and repairs the weight-handling gear, line and cable on ships - at the Long
Island Maritime Museum in West Sayville. Because of unpredictable wind gusts at
sea, lines on ships must be easy to loosen.
The bowline - one of the most common sailing knots - can be used to fasten
a line to a cleat or a pin. But when there is a load on the standing end - the
end of the line that does not have a knot in it - it can be difficult to untie.
A better way to secure a line prone to sudden shifts might be a knot called a
"round turn and two half hitches."
On land, a mason might slip a bowline over a nail on a board to lay out a
brick patio. A round turn and two half hitches would come in handy to lash the
handle of a paint can or bucket to the rung of a ladder.
Herman, who lives in Brentwood, gravitated toward boat building because of
an affinity for woodworking. Once he began to specialize in wooden boats, also
called traditional boats, his career as an amateur rigger began to take shape.
"I found you can't be around a traditional boat without learning how to sail,"
he says. "And then you find you can't be around a sailboat without learning
knots."
Robson, who grew up on power boats on the waters near Houston, learned
knot-tying from her father, a rocket scientist in the space program and an avid
boater. Although she was the first woman to take a ship through the Panama
Canal and the first female captain of an oil tanker, she finds a certain
empowerment in her knot knowledge, especially when working. "A man might be
strong enough to lift a stump or log and just haul it away," she says. "I find
I can do the same thing by tying a timber hitch to the same object and dragging
it."
Which goes to show, if you know your knots, you'll never reach the end of
your rope.
Tying up the home front
With the right knot you can do almost anything:
Bundle branches using a miller's knot.
Hang ladders with a round turn and two half-hitches.
Hoist lumber by fashioning a clove hitch.
Secure a load by tying a trucker's hitch.
Put up a swing with a bowline.
Knot Know-how
Sources for more information on rope, cord, knots and hitches:
The Cordage Institute. www.rope cord.com. An international association of
manufacturers, producers and resellers of cordage, rope and twine
RealKnots.Com. www.realknots .com. Web site devoted to knots, from neckties
to sailboats
New England Ropes. www.ne ropes.com. Manufacturer's Web site has great
instructions on how to tie knots, hitches and "splice" rope.
Samson Rope Technologies. www .samsonrope.com. Another informative
manufacturer's site
Grogono Animated Knots. www .grogono.com/knot. Web site with about a dozen
photographs and 10- step photographed instructions on how to tie the basic knots
"The Ashley Book of Knots" (Doubleday, 1993). Author Clifford W. Ashley
presents more than 3,900 knots in almost 7,000 illustrations; find info online
at www.amazon .com
"The Encyclopedia of Knots and Fancy Rope Work" (Cornell Maritime Press) by
Raoul Graumont and John Hensel. First published in 1939, this book - featuring
3,600 knots and a history of knots and rope making - is now in its fourth
edition.
