All Knots

This directory holds every knot on the site — 100 in total, spanning six real families: loops that hold a circle of rope open, fixed or adjustable, at one end; bends that join two separate rope ends; hitches that attach a rope to a fixed object; friction hitches that grip a taut, loaded rope by hand without cutting into it; binding knots and lashings that hold objects together; and a handful of stopper and decorative knots that round out the roster. Every family solves a genuinely different mechanical problem, which is why this site organizes its task-first and activity-first hubs around exactly this same structure rather than an alphabetical list alone.

Browsing by name works well when you already know roughly what you're looking for, or when you want to compare close relatives directly — the bowline family alone includes half a dozen documented variants (water bowline, Spanish bowline, Portuguese bowline, triple bowline, Yosemite bowline) that each solve a slightly different version of the same core problem, and seeing them listed together makes those small, real differences easier to spot than hunting for them one at a time.

Each knot's own page carries the same structure: real history and mechanics where it's genuinely known, an original step-by-step diagram redrawn from scratch for this site (never traced from another knot reference), an honest strength-and-security note stating what percentage of a rope's rated strength the knot typically retains and where it should and shouldn't be trusted, and genuine alternative knots worth considering for the same job. Knots used in life-safety contexts — climbing, rescue, rope access — carry an explicit warning that illustrations are for learning, not a substitute for qualified in-person instruction.

If you already know which knot you're after, search or scan the list below. If you're not sure which knot actually fits your situation, starting from the task (the knots-by-task directory) or the activity (the knots-by-activity directory) usually narrows the field faster than browsing the full alphabetical roster.

A quick way to read the roster below: hitches and bends solve the two most common everyday problems (attaching to something fixed, joining two lengths of rope), so those two families are the largest on the site. Friction hitches are a comparatively small, specialized family — the prusik, klemheist, and autoblock, chiefly — but each one earns its place because gripping a loaded rope without a mechanical device is a genuinely different skill from tying a fixed loop or a bend, and the three differ from each other in how easily they release under load once weighted. Binding knots and lashings round out the list for jobs involving multiple poles or bundled objects rather than a single continuous rope run, and the small stopper-and-decorative group exists mostly to finish a rope end cleanly or for ropework that's meant to be looked at rather than loaded.

Many of the 100 entries here are close variants of a smaller set of core mechanical ideas rather than 100 unrelated shapes, and knowing that helps make sense of the roster faster. The sheet bend and the double sheet bend are the same basic tuck, repeated once for extra security with slippery or mismatched line; the round turn and two half hitches is essentially a clove hitch with an extra wrap added for a heavier or more dynamic load. Recognizing those families of small variation — rather than treating each of the 100 names as an isolated fact to memorize — is usually the fastest way to actually retain what a knot does and why a related knot exists alongside it.

Search by name if you already have one in mind, including common aliases (a "cowboy bowline" and a "left-handed bowline" refer to the same structure, for instance) — the search covers those aliases directly rather than only the page's canonical title.