It has been refreshing how you have taken a classic knot and basically demonstrated maybe all the variations. Thank you for your extensive research and easy to follow instructions It would be great if you had a series of knots with their variations.
Great video sir, well done! You tied the Yosemite right, but it is very crucial to remember to tighten the standing end first. That way if the Yosemite tie off ever came undone in a climbing situation, it would just turn into a regular bowline. If the working end is tightened first, and the Yosemite finish happens to come undone it would turn into an insecure knot which could be catastrophic if used in a climbing situation. How you dress it is very vital, just had to throw that out there!
It would be even more useful if you explained the rational of each variantion. "Why and in which circumstances is this certain variant superior compared to the regular bowline?" Thanks anyway
I came to the comments to say exactly that. There's no point knowing myriad variations, if you can't then select the right one for your needs. They all exist for a reason.
I took a rescue training class and we learned the bowline. Tbh kinda forgot how to when I was practicing after the training. Now I can show off to the others lol
While the video is very educational and easy to follow, it would be even better if you suggest the benefit/s of using the different variations of each knot.
This is a great video. A veritable treasure trove of Bowliney goodness. I did noticed that the 'Slipknot' Bowline, as you did it, produced a Cossack Knot. If you want a Classic Bowline, you need to take the bight from the standing part through the loop.
Most people are incorrect with the Eskimo bowline. This bowline begins by starting with a bend rather than a loop on the fixed side and completing by forming a loop with the working end and pass through the bend and around the bend as you would do when around you might be tying a sheet bend. As I understand it from an Inuit sled circa 1823 brought to England by Sir John Ross, in a museum [I have forgotten the details] this was particularly useful to tie a series of attached loops such as fastening a cargo roll pack on a sled and especially using a leather hide strip or rope of a fairly limited length, so that if required the fixed and working ends were almost equally accessible. To proceed with say the the fixed end secured and tied to the sled, the process was to wrap a loop around the load including some of the sled structure, then when the loop was almost complete form a bend in the fixed side and then complete the knot with the long working end passing through the bend to form the loop much in the way you would complete a sheet bend. This way you can tighten and adjust the large pack loop and have the greater length working end hanging out. You then are able to continue with this working end along the cargo pack to the next location where you form another securing loop. Repeat the procedure and go on to any additional loops that you can make with whatever length working end that is left over. Sort of like tying a bowline backwards i.e. start with a bend and complete with a loop as you would do with a sheet bend. No need to remember "rabbit holes" etc. just a series of easily adjustable sheet bends. The inconvenience is that you often have a rather long working end to fiddle about with. If more was then needed another length would be added using a suitable joining knot [ sheet bend, angers knot or such] I have often used this form of knot and find it most satisfactory and useful.
Yes you can tie the Eskimo in the way you describe. You just end up with a very long working end and a very short standing end :) It's the same thing as a Crabber's loop once it's locked.
Nice!! What you tied as a Portuguese is actually a French bowline. The Portuguese goes over top of the ignition loop before going into the rabbit hole.
Thanks for this video for I 've refresh myself being off for many years, but now I'm so grateful sir, for you've shown many ways of tying the bowline. It was amazing! Thanks a lot sir!
My favorite method of the classical bowline was not covered and it's based on a simple knot most people already know. Simply make a very loose noose knot leaving a tail about 3 inches larger than your intended loop. Wrap the tail around your anchor if any, insert through the noose loop, and bite it back. By pulling on the standing end, the loose noose will hop onto the bite and form the bowline. It is easy to modify to have a bowline with the tail outside the loop, which I prefer. You can tie the noose as you approach the anchor making very little work when you reach it.
Thanks a lot for the super nice video and all the great explanations! The bowline on a bight is actually used a lot in Europe as a knot to tie in your climbing harness, instead of the old / classic figure 8 follow-through. From what I've heard it's especially growing in popularity here in Germany. It's not really a different variant of the knot, but a different way to tie it, in order to tie in an object. You couldn't achieve that with the method you've shown. So in order to tie in your climbing harness you also need t different method for it than you have shown for the bowline on a bight. You could use your "Classic Bowline (Method 4)" method to start it off and then when the normal bowline (around an object, e.g. climbing harness' tie-in points) you need some more slack and you retrace the rest of the knot actually starting by doing a second loop around the object. You retrace until your knot until your tail comes out at the same spot as the standing end. You'll end up with the bowline on a bight, but your object will be tied in already.
I was looking for a Specific not that I saw a tree guy tie. He started with an overhang loop and did something that ended up a double bowline. I finally figured it out and it’s very cool. Not quite sure how to describe it but I will use it a lot
A superb cure for boredom. Get a metre and half of 6mm thick rope and practice tying knots, especially when the TV adverts come on. Repetitive knot tying commits the knot to memory.
As a stage professional I like the second method. The overhand knot start for rigging. It makes the first half of the knot very easy & the finish is self evident. It also encourages a tail inside finish which has a record of being safer for overhead lifting. The double & super bowline are very secure but also difficult to untie. The Super is the same as the double but where you go around the standing end twice. I do not use the Cossac, Eskimo, Kalmyk or Portuguese since they can capsize &/or roll if not loaded correctly. The later is for the Portuguese so the Bowline on a Bight is my go to here for the double loop version. As for the Bowline on a Bight the easy way I teach this is "Tie a standard bowline with the same amount of line as the tail left over. Then chase it back to the beginning to form the second loop." This way you can tie each bow around something I have also just figured out the long way of tying the Flying or Tug bowline but with a bow or "exploding" finish & unlike doing this to a normal bowline it unties clean. No accidental half hitches or binds. The long way allows you to tie it around something as opposed to throwing it as an open loop.
I enjoyed this very much...easy style of presentation, I have only one small comment...please include a remark on what the different knots are best used for. Many thanks
Very cool video. I have a book on knots, you covered all the bowline ones here. I saw a way to make one from a slipknot and you covered that too. Well done. I trust the ones with double loops to be stronger, I assume a normal bowline can be used for climbing? Or not?
I have a new Bowline to share. The Water Bowline replaces the basic 'ring' in the standing part of a Bowline with a Clove Hitch (two half hitches). The basic Bowline ring can also be replaced with a Cow Hitch. The result, which has no name I know of, is a shade awkward looking, compared to other Bowlines, but it is secure. Sorry I cannot include a picture.
You seem to have missed some common variations - the bowline WITH a bight, as opposed to ON a night, the double bowline with a bight gives 4 loops and a tail - cutting the loops gives the bosun’s cat ‘o nine tails, and the true lover’s knot, or middleman’s knot, Also two other ways to secure a bowline (other than the Yosemite finish) is the Alex Knot which is a neater variation than the Yosemite, and to finish by using the tail to add a double overhand knot. These are useful in sailing to ensure a mooring doesn’t slip open with the constant movement of a boat overnight. The Eskimo and Cossack variations appear to me to be a bowline tied into the wrong part of the loop - ie not into the standing end of the rope. But - us (English) Venture Scouts should stick together!
you keep saying "working end" in the video but i was always taught it is called the "running" end. was i taught incorrectly or is it common to hear it called by both terms?
Makes a great strong knot, but i found that with this particular explanation it's hard to predict where on the string your loop actually generates or 'seeds'
Yes it is, but I actually did another video all about tying the knots for a tent in this video if you want to have a look at that: th-cam.com/video/i-4dTOuqTGo/w-d-xo.html
TH-cam search Craig Cameron Knots and check out his better bowline.... It's a slip knot and unties with one pull. Yep. He's a real cowboy and a National Treasure!
Nice video. I was already learning variations, but you've added some new ones. You can also mix and match features to get combinations, some merely ridiculous, like these: Slipped double bowline, Left-handed super bowline, Inuit water bowline, and Triple, left-handed, super, double Inuit bowline. Not all combinations are viable. Slipped and Triple are mutually exclusive, and the triple, super water bowline is just TOO ugly!
I absolutely loved this video! I do have a suggestion, though. Next time please set the aperture on your camera smaller, so there is more depth of field, and then turn off autofocus. There were times that your hands were moving that made the rest of the frame be out of focus, and I found it distracting. Otherwise, you had excellent audio, clear instructions, and great imagery - I loved everything else. You are an excellent teacher.
Thanks Stephen! Yeah, I had a hard time getting the lens to work well for this one. I’m using a different lens now, so hopefully won’t have similar issues in the future!
Hi Iannis - I’m not 100% sure what you mean, but I can tell you that the Eskimo bowline and Cossack knot are essentially the same, but the main difference is whether the working end of the rope ends on the inside of the loop or on the outside of the loop. Hopefully that answers your question.
Ok,but there are other ways of tying the bowline ,also other bowlines,you can't tie a bowline without first tying an overhand knot ,now you can tie this clockwise or anticlockwise which form different bowlines,you can also make a bowline when the rope is under tension,I personally don't like the way you make a loop first and then put your end into it but on the whole you done a good job of this
At 2:58 basically not correct. In practice PINCHING the overlay of the loop affords the user FAR greater control of the line and and the knot. I have been a PROFESSIONAL Mariner US Merchant MArine since 1975 when I was taught my first bowline using ONLY muscle memory. No rabbits and holes on a vessel. In my first three days I could tie six knots and short splice and back splice three strand line.
On ALL types of vessels there are no rabbits or rabbit holes. There is only MUSCLE MEMORY. I teach my students how to tie a bowline blind folded before I even let my students LOOK at the knot. People have died at sea while under duress trying to put that damn rabbit in his stupid hole. I explicitly tell them to skip over and NEVER watch a rabbit in the hole method.
You teach the bowline one way, in the first lot, then to tie it around something in front of you, you teach a different way of tying it. Why don't you just use the bowline for tying around an object for all variations? Learn only one version instead of two?
Because they have different uses. I use the first version for quickly tying a bowline around myself. Tying it that way is faster, and I believe has applications for search and rescue, though I’m not an expert on that field myself.
Great demo 👍. I love this Yosemite knot. It looks great
It has been refreshing how you have taken a classic knot and basically demonstrated maybe all the variations. Thank you for your extensive research and easy to follow instructions
It would be great if you had a series of knots with their variations.
Great video. You can bet a hundred yards of rope that this video would help upcoming Riggers and Sailors..........Bravo !
Nicely done and very easy to understand. Thanks!
Great video sir, well done! You tied the Yosemite right, but it is very crucial to remember to tighten the standing end first. That way if the Yosemite tie off ever came undone in a climbing situation, it would just turn into a regular bowline. If the working end is tightened first, and the Yosemite finish happens to come undone it would turn into an insecure knot which could be catastrophic if used in a climbing situation. How you dress it is very vital, just had to throw that out there!
Hey Larry - good to know! Thanks for the note, and glad you liked the video overall.
It would be even more useful if you explained the rational of each variantion. "Why and in which circumstances is this certain variant superior compared to the regular bowline?" Thanks anyway
I came to the comments to say exactly that. There's no point knowing myriad variations, if you can't then select the right one for your needs.
They all exist for a reason.
Great video! Nothing like watching knot videos 60 feet in the air to rope a tree. Bowline is the perfect knot to fell a tree!
I took a rescue training class and we learned the bowline. Tbh kinda forgot how to when I was practicing after the training. Now I can show off to the others lol
Circus bowline is a great midline knot for pulling on hard.
Nice video man
While the video is very educational and easy to follow, it would be even better if you suggest the benefit/s of using the different variations of each knot.
Love this!!! Thank you sooooooo much for sharing!!!
This is a great video. A veritable treasure trove of Bowliney goodness.
I did noticed that the 'Slipknot' Bowline, as you did it, produced a Cossack Knot. If you want a Classic Bowline, you need to take the bight from the standing part through the loop.
Most people are incorrect with the Eskimo bowline. This bowline begins by starting with a bend rather than a loop on the fixed side and completing by forming a loop with the working end and pass through the bend and around the bend as you would do when around you might be tying a sheet bend. As I understand it from an Inuit sled circa 1823 brought to England by Sir John Ross, in a museum [I have forgotten the details] this was particularly useful to tie a series of attached loops such as fastening a cargo roll pack on a sled and especially using a leather hide strip or rope of a fairly limited length, so that if required the fixed and working ends were almost equally accessible. To proceed with say the the fixed end secured and tied to the sled, the process was to wrap a loop around the load including some of the sled structure, then when the loop was almost complete form a bend in the fixed side and then complete the knot with the long working end passing through the bend to form the loop much in the way you would complete a sheet bend. This way you can tighten and adjust the large pack loop and have the greater length working end hanging out. You then are able to continue with this working end along the cargo pack to the next location where you form another securing loop. Repeat the procedure and go on to any additional loops that you can make with whatever length working end that is left over. Sort of like tying a bowline backwards i.e. start with a bend and complete with a loop as you would do with a sheet bend. No need to remember "rabbit holes" etc. just a series of easily adjustable sheet bends. The inconvenience is that you often have a rather long working end to fiddle about with. If more was then needed another length would be added using a suitable joining knot [ sheet bend, angers knot or such] I have often used this form of knot and find it most satisfactory and useful.
Yes you can tie the Eskimo in the way you describe. You just end up with a very long working end and a very short standing end :) It's the same thing as a Crabber's loop once it's locked.
Thank you sir. I've been trying to learn how to tie the bowling
The best bowline video I've ever seen. I can't imagine a use for some of them, but they're pretty cool, nonetheless. Yeah, I'm a knot nerd.
Thanks Michael - much appreciated
I was doing the cowboy bowline all this time good to know 😁
Nice!! What you tied as a Portuguese is actually a French bowline. The Portuguese goes over top of the ignition loop before going into the rabbit hole.
+1 for "ignition loop" :)
Thank you!!!! hooray I Managed the Spanish bowline......
Nice work!
@@littlecampfires I've been trying to figure out how to tie the one in the Nature Reliance picture will you tell me what that is?
Scott’s Locked Bowline. Saweeee!!!!!!! :-j
Thanks for this video for I 've refresh myself being off for many years, but now I'm so grateful sir, for you've shown many ways of tying the bowline. It was amazing! Thanks a lot sir!
Very useful. Now we yachties can't arguing about bowlines
Best I've seen.. Well done
My favorite method of the classical bowline was not covered and it's based on a simple knot most people already know. Simply make a very loose noose knot leaving a tail about 3 inches larger than your intended loop. Wrap the tail around your anchor if any, insert through the noose loop, and bite it back. By pulling on the standing end, the loose noose will hop onto the bite and form the bowline. It is easy to modify to have a bowline with the tail outside the loop, which I prefer. You can tie the noose as you approach the anchor making very little work when you reach it.
This method was taught to me in commercial diving school, it was very handy for quickly tying up to buoys/anchor lines when there was heavy chop.
I use this very often to attach my dog to ropes and ropes to anchor points.
Thanks a lot for the super nice video and all the great explanations!
The bowline on a bight is actually used a lot in Europe as a knot to tie in your climbing harness, instead of the old / classic figure 8 follow-through. From what I've heard it's especially growing in popularity here in Germany. It's not really a different variant of the knot, but a different way to tie it, in order to tie in an object. You couldn't achieve that with the method you've shown.
So in order to tie in your climbing harness you also need t different method for it than you have shown for the bowline on a bight.
You could use your "Classic Bowline (Method 4)" method to start it off and then when the normal bowline (around an object, e.g. climbing harness' tie-in points) you need some more slack and you retrace the rest of the knot actually starting by doing a second loop around the object. You retrace until your knot until your tail comes out at the same spot as the standing end.
You'll end up with the bowline on a bight, but your object will be tied in already.
I was looking for a Specific not that I saw a tree guy tie. He started with an overhang loop and did something that ended up a double bowline. I finally figured it out and it’s very cool. Not quite sure how to describe it but I will use it a lot
A superb cure for boredom. Get a metre and half of 6mm thick rope and practice tying knots, especially when the TV adverts come on. Repetitive knot tying commits the knot to memory.
I keep a length of line close to my desk at all times. I've learned a lot of good knots, bends, and hitches that way.
@@michaelcolloton6971 ...Take a look at Gregg's Knots app. He's American.
Good video, thanks
Loved your video. I would love to know when each variation is used, and why. If you know, that would be a great video as well.
What about the flying bowline?
U aprecireciate the step by step instuction!
Best bowline video on You Tube.
I will gladly subscribe to a fellow Eagle Scout.
Hey - thanks, Dax! We Eagles gotta stick together :)
As a stage professional I like the second method. The overhand knot start for rigging. It makes the first half of the knot very easy & the finish is self evident. It also encourages a tail inside finish which has a record of being safer for overhead lifting. The double & super bowline are very secure but also difficult to untie. The Super is the same as the double but where you go around the standing end twice. I do not use the Cossac, Eskimo, Kalmyk or Portuguese since they can capsize &/or roll if not loaded correctly. The later is for the Portuguese so the Bowline on a Bight is my go to here for the double loop version. As for the Bowline on a Bight the easy way I teach this is "Tie a standard bowline with the same amount of line as the tail left over. Then chase it back to the beginning to form the second loop." This way you can tie each bow around something I have also just figured out the long way of tying the Flying or Tug bowline but with a bow or "exploding" finish & unlike doing this to a normal bowline it unties clean. No accidental half hitches or binds. The long way allows you to tie it around something as opposed to throwing it as an open loop.
Thanks, best I have seen
I enjoyed this very much...easy style of presentation, I have only one small comment...please include a remark on what the different knots are best used for. Many thanks
Cool, now to pick my favorite Bowline and practice…it will probably be the last one shown.
Snap Bowline th-cam.com/video/aNMB6qd0ets/w-d-xo.html
A flying bowline is the most impressive.
Thankyou very much i was looking for in the bight
Very cool video. I have a book on knots, you covered all the bowline ones here. I saw a way to make one from a slipknot and you covered that too. Well done. I trust the ones with double loops to be stronger, I assume a normal bowline can be used for climbing? Or not?
Excellent video! Did you show a capsizing bowline, and I didn’t see dragon bowline?
Outstanding
isn't the eskimo bowline just a sheet bend that forms a loop?
EXCELLENT!!!
Interesting 👍🏻
Wonderful!!!
I have a new Bowline to share. The Water Bowline replaces the basic 'ring' in the standing part of a Bowline with a Clove Hitch (two half hitches). The basic Bowline ring can also be replaced with a Cow Hitch. The result, which has no name I know of, is a shade awkward looking, compared to other Bowlines, but it is secure. Sorry I cannot include a picture.
You seem to have missed some common variations - the bowline WITH a bight, as opposed to ON a night, the double bowline with a bight gives 4 loops and a tail - cutting the loops gives the bosun’s cat ‘o nine tails, and the true lover’s knot, or middleman’s knot, Also two other ways to secure a bowline (other than the Yosemite finish) is the Alex Knot which is a neater variation than the Yosemite, and to finish by using the tail to add a double overhand knot. These are useful in sailing to ensure a mooring doesn’t slip open with the constant movement of a boat overnight. The Eskimo and Cossack variations appear to me to be a bowline tied into the wrong part of the loop - ie not into the standing end of the rope. But - us (English) Venture Scouts should stick together!
That bowline WITH a bight is a bit obscure but handy and I’d love to learn more.
you keep saying "working end" in the video but i was always taught it is called the "running" end. was i taught incorrectly or is it common to hear it called by both terms?
Makes a great strong knot, but i found that with this particular explanation it's hard to predict where on the string your loop actually generates or 'seeds'
Great video! That one at the end is also known as a marlin spike bowline or snap bowline. Any one of those names works! Pretty cool method of tying it
Thanks Tyler - and cool note regarding the names
For the bowline on a bight, the rabbit basically enters the 4th dimension to phase the tree through itself. Cosmic horror right there!
What rope is that? Sterling?
Isn't the orientation of the initial demonstration upside down, compared to how the knot is tied from a guyline loop on a tent?
Yes it is, but I actually did another video all about tying the knots for a tent in this video if you want to have a look at that: th-cam.com/video/i-4dTOuqTGo/w-d-xo.html
Sounds confusing I'll have to pass
😮 I watch the hole video 😊🤔
TH-cam search Craig Cameron Knots and check out his better bowline.... It's a slip knot and unties with one pull. Yep. He's a real cowboy and a National Treasure!
I clicked this video because your cord looks like the cord I use for my prussik loop.
Nice video. I was already learning variations, but you've added some new ones.
You can also mix and match features to get combinations, some merely ridiculous, like these:
Slipped double bowline,
Left-handed super bowline,
Inuit water bowline, and
Triple, left-handed, super, double Inuit bowline.
Not all combinations are viable. Slipped and Triple are mutually exclusive, and the triple, super water bowline is just TOO ugly!
Lol - we could tie bowlines for days when you consider all the variations. Cheers.
I absolutely loved this video! I do have a suggestion, though. Next time please set the aperture on your camera smaller, so there is more depth of field, and then turn off autofocus. There were times that your hands were moving that made the rest of the frame be out of focus, and I found it distracting. Otherwise, you had excellent audio, clear instructions, and great imagery - I loved everything else. You are an excellent teacher.
Thanks Stephen! Yeah, I had a hard time getting the lens to work well for this one. I’m using a different lens now, so hopefully won’t have similar issues in the future!
The only I can thing of is the draggin Bowline
Your last example: it's a simple marlin hitch. How you connect the ropes at the end will determine whether it's a regular or a cowboy bowline.
Hey Peter - so if I’m tracking with you, you’re saying that what I was calling a “slipknot bowline” is also known as a marlin hitch? That right?
cossack and eskimo are like bowline and cowboy, am i right?
Hi Iannis - I’m not 100% sure what you mean, but I can tell you that the Eskimo bowline and Cossack knot are essentially the same, but the main difference is whether the working end of the rope ends on the inside of the loop or on the outside of the loop. Hopefully that answers your question.
@@littlecampfires I think that means that the Cossack Bowline is essentially a "Left-Handed Eskimo Bowline."
the problem with your examples is usually the working end is towards you not away
Ok,but there are other ways of tying the bowline ,also other bowlines,you can't tie a bowline without first tying an overhand knot ,now you can tie this clockwise or anticlockwise which form different bowlines,you can also make a bowline when the rope is under tension,I personally don't like the way you make a loop first and then put your end into it but on the whole you done a good job of this
I AGREE WITH JONAS. VARIATIONS ARE NICE BUT YOU NEVER MENTION WHEN TO APPLY OR THE PURPOSE OF THESE VARIATIONS.
What you call bowline on a bight in Italy we call france bowline ,this Is the differenze from the portughese ,thanks for the video
I believe the last demonstration is called a "Snap Bowline" - th-cam.com/video/MCKZO65_Zcc/w-d-xo.html
👌 😄 🏈 👌
Variant 4 is not a bowline, you tied a fig of 8 in the line
Howdy - are you talking about method 4 for tying a classic bowline? Or the Cowboy Bowline?
At 2:58 basically not correct. In practice PINCHING the overlay of the loop affords the user FAR greater control of the line and and the knot.
I have been a PROFESSIONAL Mariner US Merchant MArine since 1975 when I was taught my first bowline using ONLY muscle memory. No rabbits and holes on a vessel.
In my first three days I could tie six knots and short splice and back splice three strand line.
On ALL types of vessels there are no rabbits or rabbit holes. There is only MUSCLE MEMORY. I teach my students how to tie a bowline blind folded before I even let my students LOOK at the knot.
People have died at sea while under duress trying to put that damn rabbit in his stupid hole.
I explicitly tell them to skip over and NEVER watch a rabbit in the hole method.
Have you ever heard of a Reverse Eskimo Bowline? I learned a knot by that name but i’m pretty sure its not even a bowline..
Hm - I don’t think so. I’ve heard of the Eskimo Bowline, but I’m not sure about the reverse. Hope I didn’t miss one on my big list :)
You teach the bowline one way, in the first lot, then to tie it around something in front of you, you teach a different way of tying it. Why don't you just use the bowline for tying around an object for all variations? Learn only one version instead of two?
Because they have different uses. I use the first version for quickly tying a bowline around myself. Tying it that way is faster, and I believe has applications for search and rescue, though I’m not an expert on that field myself.
Slipknot into a bowlem
Next time turn off the music playing in the background.
Yeah - I’ve since stopped adding background music. 100% agree with you in hindsight.
Could another name for the Cowboy Bowline be the Aggie Bowline?
Hmmm - possibly. I’m not sure though, haven’t heard it called by that name personally.
Only if you live in College Station.