The Square Knot (Reef Knot)

More details about the The Square Knot (Reef Knot)

The Square Knot (Reef Knot)

First Time: The Square (Reef) Knot (ABOK # 1402, p 258) is usually learned when we tie the laces on our first pair of shoes. Admittedly it is usually a bow that we tie - but the underlying knot is a Square (Reef) Knot. We also learn just how unsatisfactory the knot is. It slips, it comes undone, it jams, and it is all too easy to tie a granny instead which behaves even less well.

Caution: Click on the picture on the left to demonstrate how even a "Stack" of square knots can be capsized and then pulled undone easily. This photograph was created just by pulling on the ends of the blue rope. "There have probably been more lives lost as a result of using a square knot as a bend (to tie two ropes together) than from the failure of any other half dozen knots combined." (ABOK page 258). Never use it for critical loads or supporting people.

Uses: Nevertheless, the Square (Reef) knot has a (small) place on your yacht: you can tie the sail cover on to the mainsail or mizzen; you can tie the string on the present that you send home to make someone jealous; and you can tie the laces on your deck shoes (if they still come with laces). More importantly, the experience of tying a Square knot teaches the fundamental process of tying a half knot or half hitch.

Variations: When the Square (Reef) Knot is used it is common to add additional half hitches as security - a tribute to how unsatisfactory a knot it is. When surgeons tie such knots they commonly use a variation of the Square (Reef) Knot - in the first half knot they take the ends around each other an additional time. This has the advantage of gripping better while the second, third (and more) half hitches are added. They call it a "Surgeon's Knot".

The Square (Reef) knot can also be tied using bights (loops). For example, to use up long shoelaces, the knot can be tied with loops from the start. This means the final "bow" cannot be untied by pulling the ends - but it makes a secure knot.