Straight knot

Straight knot - a rope knot for connecting (tying) ropes and cables.

Straight knot
Straight knot
Canonical name	Straight knot
Synonyms	Heracles knot
Category	Connecting nodes
Efficiency	~ 40%
Origin	Ancient
Related Nodes	admiralty site , surgical site , woman's site , mother-in-law's site
Decoupling	Easy when using special tricks
Application	Universal
disadvantages	On synthetic ropes and on ropes of different thicknesses are unreliable
Knot book	1204, 1402

It consists of two half nodes, sequentially tied one above the other in different directions.

It is reliable enough on ropes made of plant materials with a tack at not strong traction, on synthetic cables without a tack of free ends it is extremely unreliable. Linking two ropes of different diameters with this knot can cause a thin rope to break a thick rope under load. Tends to self untie when the rope is loaded. To prevent self-loosening and slipping of the assembly, control nodes can be added at both ends.

The ancient Greeks and Romans called it the Heracles knot.

Attention! If you knit half nodes in one direction, you get another knot. Such a node is called a woman's knot and is extremely unreliable.

In Ashley ’s Book of Knots (New York, 1977), the direct knot says the following: “Previously, this knot had a specific purpose in the Navy - they tied the reef seasons of the sails when they took the reefs. Previously, sailors had never used it to bind two ropes if the latter were of different thicknesses or dressings. It cannot be used to connect two cables that will be subject to strong traction. This knot creeps and is dangerous when it gets wet. After tying a knot, each of its running ends needs to be tacked with a line to the root end. ”In another part of his book, Ashley writes:“ This knot, used to tie two cables, claimed more lives than a dozen other knots combined. ”

Due to the use of a direct knot for linking reef seasons, it was sometimes called a reef knot , which creates confusion.

The use of a direct knot for corrugation of sails is due to the fact that it is relatively easily and quickly untied, even being tightened. To do this, it is enough to sharply pull the running and root ends of one of the cables. The direct knot then transforms into a cow knot sliding along the second cable. Another method of easy untying is that before tightening the knot between its half-nodes, an object is inserted that is taken out before untying.