Anyone have a knows for nots? I mean a nose for knots?
I have two ends of a slippery line (braided spectra fishing line, in case it matters, though this isn’t for fishing). I need to tie them together securely, with the added caveat that the knot needs to be cinchable–that is, I need to be able to apply mild tension as I’m tying the knot to keep the bundle secure.
A (double or triple) fisherman’s knot is effective aside from the cinchability.
Multiple knots would be fine as well. For instance, a noose-like knot on one end and some kind of cinchable knot on the other would work. Ideally, the knots wouldn’t have too large a diameter, but three or four line diameters would be ok.
Any time I need to cinch something using a line or rope, I tie a loop in one end (using a bowline, perfection loop, or surgeons loop depending on the material) then pass the line around whatever, pull the tag end through the loop and secure it back on itself with a double half-hitch or even a quick release hitch (regular double half-hitch only with the tag end formed into a small loop before making the second hitch). If additional tensioning is required, you can add a drop loop to the tag end some distance up the line from where the knot will end up, then pass the tag end through the loop in the other end of the line and back through the drop loop to multiply your pulling force before tying it off. This is sometimes called a trucker’s hitch or a Mississippi Come-along.
If you need to pull it really tight, look into various “trucker’s hitches.” These apply triple tension to the binding. A dutchman may not work on that line, but various other verisons (work as well, not as easy to untie as the dutchman) certainly will. You still need some sort of hitch to secure the end after pulling the binding tight, but it only has 1/3 tension on it, and any slack you give up while tying it only gives 1/3 the slack to the binding, so it is usually pretty easy to keep the binding tight enough.
Your suggestions helped immensely for my project. The surgeon’s loop especially is a fantastic little knot–very easy to remember, and I love how the knot turns from a messy loop into a perfect little “beehive” as soon as you tighten the ends.
As it turned out, we didn’t actually use the trucker’s hitch–the spectra line was so slippery that the best strategy was to tie a single half-hitch (to the end of the surgeon’s loop) and cinch that–it stayed in place well enough that it acted as a nice “ratchet”. Several more half-hitches completed the knot.
