Knot a Habit
I got a really great book a while ago and in an effort to help build some habits and develop some simple skills at the same time, I’m going to try learning a (very small) subset of the knots therein.
I talk about it a bit on the book page, but essentially there are several iconically identified collections in the book:
I’m going to start with all the “Best For The Purpose” ones. The list isn’t necessary any kind of ‘all-star’ set and certainly isn’t a “Top X Knots to Know” kind of list. There’s some overlap in use cases and there are some that are pretty unlikely to come up in everyday use (e.g the Jury Mast Knot) but Clifford Ashley was obsessed with knots in a way that defies most common understanding. It’s hope that picking a list so authoritatively subjective that i’ll capture some unwritten body of his meaning.
This list also avoids most of the extra tools and setup for some of the more complicated knots which makes it all that much more accessible.
Best For The Purpose
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The Corned Beef and Salt Pork Knot - ABOK#191
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The Ground Line Hitch - ABOK#277
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The Angler’s Loop - ABOK#286 and ABOK#1017
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The Barrel Knot - ABOK#295
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The Lineman’s Loop - ABOK#331
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The Figure-Eight Knot - ABOK#524
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Bowline on a bight - ABOK#1075
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Double Splayed loop in the bight - ABOK#1100
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The Figure-Eight noose - ABOK#1116
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The Jug Sling - ABOK#1142 See #2554
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The Jury Mast Knot - ABOK#1169
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The Constrictor Knot - ABOK#1249
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A Single Stopper (bend) - ABOK#1464
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An Adjustable Bend - ABOK#1472
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A Short End Bend - ABOK#1473
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The Drawstring Bend - ABOK#1474
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The Grass Bend - ABOK#1490
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The Magnus Hitch - ABOK#1736 See ABOK#2555
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Two Half Hitches - ABOK#1781 See: ABOK#2549
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The Fisherman’s Bend - ABOK#1841
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The Cat’s-Paw - ABOK#1891
The individual knots will get posted up on a Knots as I get to them.
My goal will be to:
- pick one
- study the ABOK text for it
- tie it a bunch
- maybe ready/study other sources if i feel it’s warranted
- take a few pics and post it
- repeat until complete or i change my mind
