Fisherman’s Knot - Also called Water Knot, Anglers Knot etc. It is formed from two overhand knots each tied round the opposite end: it is very suitable for rope in general and is used mainly for small stuff. It is, however, beginning to find favour amongst climbers as a bend for nylon rope.

Sheepshank - A knot tied in the bight for shortening a rope or taking up the slack, without cutting it. It can also be used to protect a weak, damaged or frayed section of the rope. See also Tom Fool Knot.

Double Sheet Bend - The Sheet Bend is never truly safe and secure when one rope is thicker than the other. The Double Sheet Bend is a variation in which an extra turn is taken and, although it is no stronger, it is more secure. Still another turn can be taken, if thought advisable, making a Triple Sheet Bend.

Timber Hitch - One of the simplest yet most effective of hitches. Used on spars, bales, etc., for commencing a diagonal lashing, and with extra half hitches added, for towing or dragging, etc.

Midshipman's Hitch - An excellent hitch that can be temporarily or permanently made. When used to make a loop, it can be slid to adjust the loop for size. A good knot to know if you have fallen in the sea and a rope is tossed to you. Also useful as a Guyline Hitch or to substitute for a broken slider on a guyline. It is identical in form to the Rolling Hitch.

Square Lashing - The standard lashing used to fasten two spars or poles together, not necessarily at right angles, where there is no tendency for them to spring apart.

Diagonal Lashing - A lashing used for two crossing spars when it is neccessary first to draw them together. Commonly used for the centre lashing of the diagonal braces on a Treatle.

Bowline-on-a-bight - A double loop knot which is tied in the bight when the two ends are fixed or inaccessible. The strain should come equally on both standing parts. A good rescue or chair knot.

Firemans Chair Knot - A double loop knot used for lowering an injured person from a height. It is tied in the bight, one end secured aloft and the other end used to control the direction of lowering.

Highwayman's Hitch - A most useful Draw Hitch for securing a horse, a boat, etc. or in self rescue work. The knot will take any amount of strain on the standing part but spills the moment the end is pulled. Legend has it that Dick Turpin used this knot on his nefarious errands: if in a hurry to escape, he just had to leap on his horse, Black Bess, at the same time snatching the end, when he was away.

Marlingspike Hitch - A temporay hitch made with a Marlingspike, or a tent peg, etc., when extra strain is needed to heave a small rope taut, as, for example, the turns of lashings or seizings. Also used on occasion in Sheepshanks or Harvester's Hitch.

Shear Lashing - A lashing used to produce Shear Legs or, alternatively a lashing to secure poles or spars end to end.

Crown - A knot that is tied in the end of a rope with the unlaid strands. It is seldom, if ever, used on its own but as a constituent part of a multiple knot, e.g. a Wall and Crown, etc. It is also used to commence a Back Splice. The Crown Knot is the exact opposite of the Wall Knot.

Back Splice - Also known as Crown Splice and Dog Pointing. A simple and effective method of finishing the end of a rope in which a Crown Knot is made with the strands at the end which are then spliced back into the rope. It is clumsy compared with Whipping but useful in an emergency or if it is desirous to know by feel when the end of the rope has been reached.

Man Harness Knot - Also called the Artillery Knot. A loop knot tied in the bight through which an arm can be put up to the shoulder to assist in hauling, while leaving the hands free. Formerly used on gun carriages, one end of the rope being fastenend to a ring on the end of the axle.

Middleman's Knot - Also called the Englishman's Loop (in America) the Fisherman's or Angler's Loop, and it is one of the several knots known as True Lover's Knot. It is a useful loop knot tied in the bight by one of at least four different methods. Once much used for the middleman on a rope in climbing, but now superseded for this purpose by better knots such as the Alpine Butterfly.

Water Bowline - When a rope has to be pulled through water, any knot has a tendency to tighten and jam. In the case of a Bowline, an extra hitch as shown will lessen this tendency.

Rolling Hitch - A knot used to fasten a small rope to a larger one when the pull is at an acute angle. Used, for example, for hauling a towrope by means of a thrown line. See also Magnus Hitch.

Barrel Hitch - This is the simplest yet most effective method of slinging or hoisting a barrel in a vertical position

Fishermans Bend - This is one of just three knots incorrectly called 'bends' which are actually hitches. It is strong and secure and is probably the most used Anchor Hitch, apart from being an excellent hitch for all normal purposes.

Eye Splice - A method of putting a permanent eye in the end of a rope. The strands are unlaid, a loop of suitable size formed and the three strands spliced or worked in and out of the rope, usually under and over. Three 'tucks' are normally taken.

Cats Paw - The most suitable Hook Hitch for slings and probably the best. It cannot jam and spills immediately when taken from the hook. It is particularly suitable for heavy lifts

Carrick Bend - An excellent knot, probably the nearest to the perfect bend. It is symmetrical, easy to tie, will not slip nor ham, is very strong and is easily untied. Its particular use is as a bend for hawsers and cables. It can be used in two forms, drawn up or open and seized and it should always be tied so that the two ends are diagonally opposite.

Turk's Head - The Turk's Head is, more accurately, a system rather than just a knot, generally tubular in form, decorative and very useful. Basically a binding knot, but can be worked flat for decorative purposes. Can be made with separate strands (Standing Turk's Heads) or with a single, continuous strand (Running Turk's Head).

Scaffold Hitch - A first-class method of slinging a plank to make a platform for such purposes as painting, etc.

Racking Bend - When two ropes of widely different thicknesses have to be bent together, the conventional bends are virtually useless. The Racking Bend, however, serves the purpose excellently.

Monkey's Fist - A knob knot at the end of a rope, usually made round a pebble or ball of lead, etc. It is the best heaving line knot, the heavy core in the knot giving it the weight to carry the mass of the line when thrown.

Short Splice - The best method of joining two ropes together end ofr end, provided that the spliced rope does not have to reeve through a block. It is stronger, more secure and more permanent than any bend.

Japanese Square Lashing - A lashing used in lightweight construction work.

Filipino Diagonal Lashing - A lashing used in lightweight construction work.

Start with the middle of the rope, tucking the running ends through the middle "loop" after going round both spars. Use the "loop" to pull the spars together.

Now proceed as for a diagonal lashing taking the running end round both spars, keeping both ends together.

Separate the ends and take frapping turns between the spars, pulling the rope tight as you do so.

Complete the frapping turns and finish off with a square knot.

Harvester's Hitch - Sometimes also called the Haymaker's Hitch. Used by lorry or truck drivers to secure a load. When a trapaulin is thrown over the load and is being tied down, additional purchase is obtained by the use of this knot and the rope drawn much tighter. The knot is also useful as an emergency tackle when blocks with sheaves are not immediately available.