Reef Knot
- An excellent general purpose knot for tying two pieces of
string or twine together, the reef knot is possibly the most commonly used
knot for the job, and is easy to learn. However, it cannot be overly
stressed that the Reef knot is not a long term or secure knot, and it should
only be used to finish parcels or bindings. In other cases, use a more
secure method of bending two ropes together, such as a
Sheetbend, a
Double Sheetbend, or a Fisherman's Knot.
- Unfortunately, the Reef knot can easily change into a slipping
Lark's Head (see below), so it should
never be used where life or limb are at risk.
- Holding one end of each rope in each hand, pass the left rope over the
right, and tuck under. Then pass the same rope, now in the right hand, over
the left rope, and tuck under.
- It is common to chant "Left over Right and Under, Right over Left and
Under" when tying the knot. (This can also be performed as "Right over
Left and Under, Left over Right and Under".)
- The reef knot can easliy be undone by gripping one loose end, and
pulling it back over the knot, in the opposite direction, thus straightening
the rope which is pulled. The other rope forms a
Lark's Head knot, and slips off the tugged rope.
- The knot gets its name from its use on sailing ships, when the sails
were "reefed" - rolled up and tied to the cross spar with a reef knot. To
release the sail, the sailors would climb the rigging, and work their way
along the cross spar, pulling the top end of the reef knot down. They only
had to use one hand, holding on with the other. The weight of the sail would
cause the reef knot to slip, and the sail would be released.
- Tip. If you want to tie two ropes together of similar thickness then
never use a Reef knot. Only use it with string and twine when tying parcels,
whippings and bindings.
- Tip. Never use this knot to join ropes of two different thicknesses.
