▲ 62 points
back
14 comments
Animated Knots by Grog[1] and 3D Knots[2] are oft-cited places to learn knots on the internet, but OP's is such a nice throwback. Don't miss the "requested entries" page with 28 more knots![3]
[1]: https://www.animatedknots.com/
[2]: https://knots3d.com/
Pioneering was my favorite merit badge in scouting, and it was the only place I was exposed to the engineering discipline of knots before discovering them again as a college student.
Charming old site!
It would be neat to see it updated to something along the lines of:
That said, most folks would be better served by:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16086997-why-knot-how-to...
or some other text with clear illustrations and instructions, or if one wants something comprehensive:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/816629.The_Ashley_Book_o...
(note that in the literature, knots are referred to by their ABOK#)
I teach a class on knots "for people who can't remember knots", and specifically for tent campers (in the SCA).
Basically, I teach the half-hitch (just to get the class introduced to the teaching style), the square (vs granny) for securing things until you want them freed, the figure 8 (for a variety of uses, including making a loop), and the tautline hitch (for tightening ropes). [0]
I then show them how to secure things on their car rooftops with a porter's hitch (trucker's hitch), and pitfalls to avoid there.
My focus is: simple, reuse of the fewest knots possible, and reliable.
I spoke to another knot teacher once, asking them why they taught the bowline knot. I was very seriously told: "If one of my students was ever in a life-or-death situation, it could blah blah blah!" Except... the bowline is in every way inferior to a figure 8, except for (1) amount of rope used and (2) bragging rights to "prove" you know knots.
It always amazes me how people glorify the bowline. It's harder to remember, more prone to breaking and slipping, and far harder to visually "check" for correctness.
[0]: I also venture a little abroad, like the surgeon's variation on the square. But it all builds on those three knots in slight variation.
Agree with the other commenter - this is very charming! I find it a wonderfully romantic idea to contemplate that, at some point in human past, studying and developing new knots (or even stumbling upon new knots and sharing that idea) would have been a realistic endeavour that expanded the boundary of human knowledge and gave us newer or safer ways of building and achieving things.
It isn't a hobby of the past. Arborists are professionals still using knots and studying them (especially with the modern rope materials changing the old knowledge around knots). Rock climbing is a hobby but knots are life-or-death for them.
Knots are still being invented nowadays. Or variants of existing knots.
Here are PACI's systematic studies on a few vital knots:
https://www.paci.com.au/knots.php
Here is a recent (2025) paper on the stability of the bowline:
https://www.epfl.ch/labs/flexlab/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/...
Thanks! Oh I have every confidence we are still studying this, and that it's a thriving field – forgive me for implying that it wasn't.
I was (badly) getting at the fact that back then, as a function of the totality of knowledge we had, discovering a new knot could be quite transformational – whereas now it's just one of many professional fields of modern research. Not implying it was then, or now, merely a hobby.
The number of hitches which come out of the arborist community is pretty mind bending. It's one of my favorite things about climbing.
Tons of tree climbers are pretty experienced splicers as well. State of the art there continues to advance year after year.
NASA uses knots instead of cable ties, for example on the Mars rovers [1] so they remain with us (I use a half dozen regularly myself)
1: https://www.planetary.org/articles/20120905-knots-on-mars
You would be surprised. New useful knots are still being found. E.g. The Zeppelin bend is exceptionally good and was invented in the 60s. The icicle hitch is from the 90s. Some fishing knots are less than 20 years old.
> The Zeppelin bend is exceptionally good and was invented in the 60s.
I'm not so sure about that. The history of the Zeppelin bend is incredibly contentious and apocryphal.
Can we at least agree that it does not appear in ABOK when it was published in the 40s?
Yeah, that's fair.
On the history, everything I know is from this excellent article, so might as well cite it here for the curious, and just in case you haven't seen it:
https://www.paci.com.au/downloads_public/knots/KnotBio_zeppe... (password: copyright)
"This website is best when viewed with a rope."
Surely there is a data structure joke in here?