The Carrick Bend
ABOK 1439
Ashley's comment on this bend, from article 1439 of The Ashley's Book of Knots:
"The Carrick Bend ... is perhaps the nearest thing we have to a perfect
bend. It is symmetrical, it is easy to tie, it does not slip easily in
wet material, it is among the strongest of knots, it cannot jam and is
readily untied."
The Carrick bend is one of several well known extremely reliable bends that are also virtually jam proof. The others are the Zeppelin bend and the Alpine Butterfly bend. (See Jam testing several bends).
The Carrick bend is easier to tie, and its structure is harder to
remember, than the other bends in this class. The Carrick bend
lacks the
Zeppelin's simple mnemonic for its structure, but the method of tying
it described here is so simple that the difficulty of correctly
remembering its structure should not matter: don't remember its
structure, remember how to make it.
There are many knots that looks very like this one, but which have
inferior properties. This may be the reason that the Carrick bend is
not used more frequently. It is inadvisable to try to remember the
structure of the Carrick bend visually, because the inferior variants
resemble this best one so closely. Instead, remember the hand motions
needed to make
this one correctly. The necessary memorization is greatly
simplified by the fact that the first few motions are identical to the
sailor's way of making both the sheet bend and the bowline. The bend is
then complete in two more simple moves.You learn
the greater part of the best methods for making three importand
knots for the price of one. Everyone who has the slightest need for
knots should know these ways of making these three knots.
The carrick bend is useful for all sizes of cordage from string to
hawsers. If you need to pull a truck out of a ditch with a 1-1/2
inch nylon rope,
the Carrick bend or the Zeppelin bend, or the Alpine Butterfly bend, used to form the rope into a loop
are excellent knots for the job.
To this point, the motions are the same as for starting the sailor's way of making the sheet bend and the bowline.
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