Video
How to Tie a Reef (Square) Knot
Transcript
Hi! My name is Ranger Chris. We’re going to show you some knots today. Uh, one in particular that is a really useful one. It’s called a square knot. Sometimes you’ll hear people call it a reef knot. It is the same knot, but it’s one of the most useful ones out there for connecting two pieces of rope together or maybe you’re using it to tie around something. You need something that’s going to be reliable but it’s not complicated to tie or untie either. It’s actually a really pretty knot to look at. I’ve got one made out that you can see right here. It’s actually two loops that are kind of intertwined with each other.
I’m going to take these two pieces on this side of the knot and the other two on the other and kind of push towards each other. Yeah, there we go. You can actually see the two loops and how they’re intertwined with each other. And you just pull them tight and what that allows you to do is take the two major pieces, the two ends here, pull away and you can see it’s a reliable knot. Right. So, basically, you’re taking two different pieces of rope and temporarily tying them to each other. So, it’s a great little knot here.
So, I’m going to first untie this knot and then show you kind of a slow motion and we’ll get up a little closer so you can see some of the detail as well. First you want to, yeah, loosen it up. Comes undone really easily once it’s loose and you’ve got your two pieces here. And, again, you can use whatever’s handy. I’m using rope here. If you’ve got rope, great! Go for it. You can use string. You can use shoelaces. Whatever it is handy. It doesn’t really matter. But, in fact the shoelace idea is kind of where we’re going with this because the way you start this knot is just like you tie your shoes.
So, you’re going to take one piece, cross it in front of the other, and go around exactly like starting to tie your shoes. And then, here, things can sometimes get a bit confusing when you’re learning how to tie this knot. And this actually happens to me all the time. Especially when I’m trying to do it really quickly. But if you end up getting it incorrect and you try to pull it tight this is what it’ll look like. Yeah, that didn’t work well at all, did it? It’s a knot that even though if it binds up and seems like it’s going to get tight, it’s not reliable. It could easily come apart. And if you’ve got something heavy that this rope is attached to, you don’t want to be under that.
So, it’s a knot that can fail. Happens to me a lot. So, whether you get good at it and it still happens to you every once in a while or whether you’re learning it and it doesn’t seem like it’s going well- don't worry. It happens to me all the time. You will get the hang of it. What you want to do to tie it correct, once you’ve started to tie it – in fact, why don’t we actually focus on one part? The black tape here that you can see on this end. Let’s focus on that one. So I’ve got my two pieces. Let’s focus on the black tape. I’m going to cross in front with the black tape one and go around. Okay. And keep your eye on the black tape. We’re going to keep it in front, cross in front of the other one, and go around. That is the right way to do it. Take a close look and you’ll see that this is actually a pretty looking knot. You know you’ve done it right. Take a look at the two pieces coming out one side. They are right next to each other and they are coming out through this loop together on the same side. They’re coming out on the same side. On the other side over here, these two pieces- they are right next to each other, right? And they, too, are coming out through the same side. That’s how you know you’ve done it right. And if you pull it tight it’s not going to flip or loosen up or anything like that. Don’t worry if it takes a little time to practice and get this right. I’m still practicing myself today, and I still do this wrong. Mainly, because I rush it. But, don’t get frustrated. Once you got the hang of it, this is a very simple knot to remember and very useful as well. The square knot or the reef knot.
Description
How to Tie a Reef (Square) Knot with Ranger Chris.
Duration
4 minutes, 16 seconds
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