Why Knot?: How to Tie More than Sixty Ingenious, Useful, Beautiful, Lifesaving, and Secure Knots!

506 Pages·2013·7.46 MB·English

by  Philippe Petit

Jump Right In
Often, to begin a high-wire walk, I grab the balancing pole, place
both feet decisively on the cable, and swiftly step out from the
departure platform. It is an act of defiance of the law of gravity, a
statement of arrogance and panache—some might think it defines
courage.
By ungluing myself almost brutally from the terrestrial, becoming
almost instantly an aerial creature, I startle the onlookers and believe
I inspire them more powerfully than if I had performed a slow-
motion entrance onto the wire rope.
This preference of mine for such an introductory style—which I like
to call “attack!”—can be found in many aspects of my life. When I
open a how-to book for the first time, it is with the impatience of a
student-craftsman eager to start creating something. Noisily, I flip
past the front matter to reach where the action is (eventually I will
go back to the first pages and profit from a preface, some
information, a piece of advice).
Thus, since this is my book, let’s start immediately: “Welcome to
my personal world of knotting, where tying comes first! Quickly get
a shoelace (or a little cord roughly 1/4 inch in diameter) and,
together, let’s jump right in!”
I was not asking.

Also by Philippe Petit
Trois Coups
(Herscher, Paris 1983)
On the High Wire
(Random House, New York 1985)
Funambule
(Albin Michel, Paris 1991)
Traité du Funambulisme
(Actes Sud, Arles 1997)
To Reach the Clouds
(North Point Press/Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York 2002)
Currently translated into nine languages.
L’Art du Pickpocket
(Actes Sud, Arles 2006)
Man on Wire
(Skyhorse Publishing, New York 2008)
A Square Peg
(Unpublished, 2010)
Cheating the Impossible
(TED eBooks, New York 2012)

The material included in this book is presented only for informational purposes.
The activities discussed in this book can be dangerous. Any person should
approach these activities with caution and appropriate supervision and training.
The publisher and author are not responsible for any accidents, injuries,
damages, or loss suffered by any reader of this book.

For what is a rope but a story, a plot,
A beginning, an end, and in the middle a knot.
So whatever the problem you imagine you’ve got,
A conundrum, a puzzle, a Gordian spot,
A jumble of cordage, of ends that don’t meet,
Well such is the province of Monsieur Petit,
To tie and unravel a hawser, a hitch,
A halyard, painter, a cable, a stitch,
Of chaos and string theory, problems abstruse,
As well as the technique for tying a noose,
And an end to confusion the editors hope,
But not of the things one can do with a rope.
—Sting
To James Signorelli—who signs his name so fast that
both tittles end up over the second i!
A great producer-director, poet, painter, and cook al occhio … and lest I forget: a
transcendent man of boats, thus man of ropes. At eleven, after spending weeks
intently observing his step-uncle’s sailboat being repaired—a derelict seventeen-
foot carvel-plank daysailer—he rode his bike at dawn to the marina and slipped
the mooring line!
James has a courageous joie de vivre and such an unrivaled sense of humor—
which he keeps lending to the creation of those parody commercials you’ve seen
on Saturday Night Live since its beginning—that after thirty years of being best
friends, I still don’t have the foggiest what he’s talking about!
Thank you, sailor, for teaching me how to tie a Bowline with one hand.
Contents
Jump Right In!
Tie one of the oldest knots: THE SQUARE KNOT.
Imagine
An introduction.
About This Book
About Ropes
About Knots
ABOK and KM
Terminology
OPENINGS
Meet the Gang of Five
Graphic introduction to five of the most important knots:
SQUARE KNOT, FIGURE OF EIGHT KNOT, SHEET
BEND, CLOVE HITCH, BOWLINE KNOT.
Simple Beginnings
A basic appetizer before our tying feast: SINGLE
HITCH, HALF HITCH, OVERHAND KNOT, HALF
KNOT.
Extremities
How to secure the ends of a rope prior to cutting or
knotting. UNCOMMON WHIPPING: With ends of the
twine invisible!
TERMINATION KNOTS
Figure of Eight Knot
One of my favorites, which can be tied instantly with my special method.
Multiple Overhand Knot
Intriguing in its perfect symmetry.
BINDING KNOTS
Square Knot (revisited)
Slide it, untie it, and avoid its dangerous cousin the GRANNY KNOT.
Thief Knot
Find out if someone opened your tied-up trunk.
Double Surgeon Knot
Close a wound—or a belt—or both.
Surprise:
Virtuosity!
Twin Thumbs: Two hands, two knots, tied
simultaneously.
Super-Stubborn Shoelace Knot
Keep your shoelaces from ever untying again.
Constrictor Knot
Tired of people searching your trash bags? Learn a vicious knot no one can
untie!
BENDS
Figure of Eight Bend
Connect your harness to your climbing rope or fashion a handsome belt.
Double Sheet Bend
Escape fire through your hotel window by tying your sheets together.
Triple Grapevine Knot