Knot Tying Resources in Praise of the Humble Knot

If you’ve been reading ITS for awhile, it will come as no surprise that we’re advocates for learning the skill of Knot Tying. In this article, I’d like to highlight some great resources for learning more about Knot Tying through books, videos and of course through our own archive of ITS Knot of the Week articles.

First off, I’d like to present a phenomenal video from the New York Times Style Magazine interviewing Master Knot Expert Des Paulson of Ipswich, England.

Something which really stuck with me from this video, is that Paulson points out “a Nuclear Submarine still requires rope and knots to tie it up when it comes in to dock.” Think about that for a second and you might agree that society as a whole is largely dependent on knots and rope. Even in this digital world we’re living in, it still makes sense to learn about rope and knot tying.

I like to say that many of the skills we advocate here at ITS are those that are forgotten or not as sexy as other skills you can learn. Take shooting for example. I fully endorse and practice shooting proficiency myself, but I also recognize that I’m far more likely to need to tie a knot to secure something, than I am to draw a firearm in defense. Not to take anything away from shooting, I very much enjoy it and feel its practice to be therapeutic.

My point in the comparison is that when you look at practical skills as a whole, or the bigger picture if you will, there’s plenty of things we take for granted on a daily basis. Building a fire is just another example of one of these skills that not enough people take the time to learn, but I digress.

Knot Tying Books

A few of my favorite knot tying books are reflected in the list below. These are my go-to sources when I need information for tying a knot; there’s just something about picking up a book to me that just feels right when it comes to knots. However, as you’ll see below, I appreciate good video instruction due to being a visual learner. This being said, if I do pick up a book, it has to have pictures or diagrams like the books below feature.

• Ashley Book of Knots by Clifford Ashley – – This is the definitive knot tying bible, which is evident by Ashley’s passion for knot tying and the sheer volume of content contained in Book of Knots.
• The Marlinspike Sailor by Hervey Garrett Smith
• The Complete Book of Decorative Knots by Geoffrey Budworth
• Paracord Fusion Ties: Volume 1 by J.D. Lenzen
• Decorative Fusion Knots by J.D. Lenzen
• The Splicing Handbook by Barbara Merry
• What Knot? by Geoffrey Budworth

Videos

Here’s a few YouTube channels I really like and that I try to keep up with. As mentioned above, I’m a visual learner and this is the main reason I’ve tried to create ITS videos to go along with our Knot of the Week articles. There’s just something about seeing a knot being tied that can’t be replicated with photos.

• TyingItAllTogether – JD Lenzen is one of the most talented guys out there and his channel is definitely worth a visit to check out his Fusion Knots.
• Stormdrane – David Hopper has run his Stormdrane channel for an extremely long time and is another artist I admire and respect.
• ITS Knot of the Week – Here’s a link to all our Knot of the Week videos on YouTube.

In addition to our ITS Knot of the Week videos, we have many accompanying articles with detailed photos and instructions that you can reference as well. Here’s a direct link to those.

Notes

The skill of tying knots isn’t glamorous, but it’s certainly one I use on a regular basis, more so than any other tool in my tool box. To quote the earlier video above from Des Paulson, “It was knots and rope that made us civilized and we still need knots to make us civilized today.”

Get out there and practice and take the time to share your knowledge with those around you. We’d all be better off if more people knew how to tie a few basic knots and didn’t live by the adage of “if you can’t tie a knot, tie a lot.“