Bowline and 15 Bowline Variants

In this video we will be discussing the Bowline knot, the most useful knot in the world. We'll look at the advantages and disadvantages to this knot, where and when to use the Bowline and it's variants, several different tying methods, and look at 15 different variations of this knot.
0:00 Introduction
0:26 Standard Tie Method
1:56 Quick Tie Method
4:44 Snap Bowline
6:04 General Uses, Advantages and Disadvantages
8:28 Running Bowline
10:44 Cowboy/Dutch Bowline
11:50 Yosemite Bowline
13:21 Dangers of the Yosemite Bowline
15:36 Scott's Locked Bowline
17:12 Double Bowline
18:37 Water Bowline
20:49 Birmingham Bowline
23:05 Eskimo Bowline
24:55 Cossack Knot
26:55 Kalmyk Loop
28:58 Kalmyk Loop Quick Tie Method
30:01 Portuguese Bowline (Traditional)
31:50 Portuguese Bowline (Splayed)
33:10 French Bowline
35:07 Bowline On A Bight
36:35 Triple Bowline
38:11 Spanish Bowline
40:23 My Favorite Bowline Variations

Пікірлер: 67

  • @captainnemo6222
    @captainnemo6222 Жыл бұрын

    I have been teaching people to tie knots and use rope (mostly in the maritime field) since 1975. In that time, I have seen only two other knot tying sites which are as useful and simple to follow as yours. Those are Grog on Knots, and JD from Tying it all Together. I put you in the same league as JD and I HOPE that you are a member of the International Guild of Knot Tyers, because based on this bowline video you deserve to be. (If you apply, just don't hold your breath waiting for them to get back to you, as I suspect they're a bit of a clannish bunch. i applied for membership about 8 or 9 years back, and sent them what I thought MIGHT be a new knot or a new way of tying an old one, and in three subsequent email attempts to ask them if they either got my post or had considered me, I've heard nothing. But my main point is that you have a real gift for teaching what many people consider to be a difficult subject. Keep it up!

  • @donnellykieranj

    @donnellykieranj

    9 ай бұрын

    Why Knot is a very good channel as well

  • @Scootchels
    @Scootchels Жыл бұрын

    Yay! So many videos claim the French and Portuguese are the same, or confuse them. Thanks for this fun vid. I added Kalmyk to my repertoire.

  • @Zolodar
    @Zolodar10 ай бұрын

    Easily one of the most comprehensive, yet super concise videos about a whole lot of bowline variants! Awesome video - really great work on the presentation and explanations! My favorite is also the scott's lock bowline, aside from the bowline on a bight, which we use here in Germany for tying in to our harness while climbing. The scott's lock bowline is so easy to learn and to do and just gives so much extra security to the knot. I appreciate the demonstration about the yosemite finish as well - looks like a magic trick when you first see it, until you realize that the loops are just working their way around each other in order to change the knots internal structure. Thanks so much! It's a great reference as well!

  • @vibeslide
    @vibeslide2 жыл бұрын

    I love the bowline. It's one of the very few knots I can actually remember and it's so versatile that I don't have to remember much else

  • @jack002tuber

    @jack002tuber

    Жыл бұрын

    It's so simple. Half the steps to tying your shoes

  • @txtoolcrib
    @txtoolcrib2 жыл бұрын

    0:00 Introduction 0:26 Standard Tie Method 1:56 Quick Tie Method 4:44 Snap Bowline 6:04 General Uses, Advantages and Disadvantages 8:28 Running Bowline 10:44 Cowboy/Dutch Bowline 11:50 Yosemite Bowline 13:21 Dangers of the Yosemite Bowline 15:36 Scott's Locked Bowline 17:12 Double Bowline 18:37 Water Bowline 20:49 Birmingham Bowline 23:05 Eskimo Bowline 24:55 Cossack Knot 26:55 Kalmyk Loop 28:58 Kalmyk Loop Quick Tie Method 30:01 Portuguese Bowline (Traditional) 31:50 Portuguese Bowline (Splayed) 33:10 French Bowline 35:07 Bowline On A Bight 36:35 Triple Bowline 38:11 Spanish Bowline 40:23 My Favorite Bowline Variations

  • @tombb7653

    @tombb7653

    Жыл бұрын

    I just wanted to say thx! I enjoy your tutorials, including this one! You do a good job. 🙂

  • @clgrooms
    @clgrooms Жыл бұрын

    Ben, I’ve rewatched almost all the knot videos you’ve produced and they’re awesome. Just a couple of days ago I thought, “Why (k)not tie a Scott’s Locked into the Portuguese and French Bowlines?” I tie those knots and then just do the “over, under, over” through the nipping loop to lock it all in. And the loops still easily slide/adjust. It’s awesome - and some of our favorites combined!

  • @stephanddd

    @stephanddd

    Жыл бұрын

    That's a really good idea actually. I've never seen that. One of the things I don't like about the Portuguese bowline, especially in its "splayed" form when tied around two anchors, is that the sliding mechanism that allows the loops to resize may cause the nipping loop to open up, and then the working end could slip out. If locked the way you describe, plus a safety knot around the standing end, it would become a lot more reliable. The other approach I've seen is a Yosemite style finish, which would also allow for a safety knot on the standing end.

  • @gailkellum832
    @gailkellum832 Жыл бұрын

    Wow! The one hand method was a challenge but fairly easy. And I did one time eyes closed and was successful. Fantastic instructions!

  • @nickjones4752
    @nickjones4752 Жыл бұрын

    I had never heard the rabbit analogy before. Just started getting into tree work, so that was a real help for me. Thanks for that.

  • @paulcrave3112

    @paulcrave3112

    Жыл бұрын

    That’s how I learned it in Scouts.

  • @bodhi7945
    @bodhi79452 жыл бұрын

    Didn't even know there were this many variations, thanks.

  • @BrooksKindle
    @BrooksKindle8 ай бұрын

    Would you consider the splayed variant of the Portuguese bowline to be less secure than the traditional method? With the splayed version, if the right loop were to be adjusted to be as large as possible, the left loop would disappear and the knot would fall apart. It doesn't look like that would happen with the traditional method.

  • @hansen704
    @hansen704 Жыл бұрын

    Great knots. Thanks for showing this 👍

  • @darnellb85
    @darnellb852 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for the great review sharing this knowledge very useful 👍

  • @bcyork
    @bcyork11 ай бұрын

    Awesome video!! Thanks for putting this together!

  • @EiderJChavesC2
    @EiderJChavesC22 жыл бұрын

    Awesome 👍👍👍. Thank you for sharing.

  • @vinvivofikas9973
    @vinvivofikas99739 ай бұрын

    great video! Thanks!

  • @nanaandbump.
    @nanaandbump. Жыл бұрын

    Very well done video, thanks for sharing your expertise!

  • @tomcat-68
    @tomcat-68 Жыл бұрын

    Great VideoLesson! Thanks a lot for your efforts. My favorite is also the Scott‘s Locked version. 👍🏼👌🏼🖖🏼

  • @txtoolcrib

    @txtoolcrib

    Жыл бұрын

    Thank you

  • @perplexedon9834
    @perplexedon983410 ай бұрын

    One version you missed is the bowline on a bight rethreaded. With the method you showed, it is difficult to tie in on a harness (technically you can make the collar loop huge and step through it) and impossible to tie into a fixed loop. You can tie it into your harnes by making a normal bowline around your rope loops with a large tail, then follow back through the harness, through the nipping loop and back out towards the load strand. Very secure, very easy to untie after large falls. In the incredible unlikely possiblility that cyclic loading undoes the tail, you are left with a basic bowline with a huge tail, so it is kind of redundant in thay way. Its very easy to inspect, basically there should be two strands everywhere except for the collar. Upon untie-ing it completely removes any knots from the rope, meaning you can safely pull it through an anchor. In my opinion it beats the figure 8 in climbing applications, and is my go-to for tying in, fixing a rope or hauling loads.

  • @jimmyhua731

    @jimmyhua731

    8 ай бұрын

    What do you call this knot though? I tried searching for bowline follow through and nothing shows up.

  • @sablinger
    @sablinger8 ай бұрын

    In sailing classes we learned to never have the end of the rope inside the loop, to prevent rubbing pushing the end out of the knot... idk, seems right when attaching the bowline to an object, right?

  • @billytrevathan6405
    @billytrevathan6405 Жыл бұрын

    Great knot content and well presented! You have a new subscriber.

  • @eribertosoares4666
    @eribertosoares46662 жыл бұрын

    Top!

  • @c.f.beeble
    @c.f.beeble Жыл бұрын

    I've read that the Water Bowline, (shown around 18:40), is still used in modern ropes by some lobstermen, to secure lobster pots to their buoys. That second "nip" helps prevent tail creep, from the repeated tugs-and-releases that naturally occur as the waves and winds affect the buoy. The second nip does most of the work, plus it grabs the tail snugly at each tug! The result is that the tail feels little-if-any pull from the bowline knot proper, and so the water bowline is very unlikely to come undone in these situations, even left underwater for days, and in slippery modern rope. A side benefit is that the bowline itself doesn't grow ever-tighter, since it ALSO doesn't feel the repeated tugs. BTW - There is an alternate way to create a Water Bowline: simply tie a loose OVERHAND knot ahead of time, (in the part of the rope that's going to form the main loop), and then just tie a normal bowline above it. Later, that overhand knot can be reversed into a half-hitch, and re-positioned anywhere along the loop, to encircle the tail. Try it! :-)

  • @imjooboy
    @imjooboy Жыл бұрын

    I just started learning knots a couple days ago. I’ve watched a number of your videos to learn. I had a thought… what if you combine the Eskimo knot with the Scott’s locked bowline?

  • @cky3396
    @cky339611 ай бұрын

    Can you safely add a Scott's Locked type "tuck" to the Water Boline in some fashion to get the tail out of the loop?

  • @craigmcqueen7992
    @craigmcqueen79927 ай бұрын

    If I understand correctly, there is a danger with the Splayed variant of the Portuguese Bowline: If you let one of the loops unload and slip through, so that the other loop opens up, then the whole knot unravels catastrophically. The first, non-splayed variant of the Portuguese Bowline doesn't appear to have this failure mode.

  • @Yupppi
    @Yupppi Жыл бұрын

    I like the snap/marlingspike/slipknot method of tying bowline because then I don't have to think how it's done. That turn and pull is natural enough to come from the spine, then just pulling the end through. It also makes tidier looking bowline knots for me and they feel better. Purely subjective on that. What I've been wondering for a while is why it's pronounced like bowling, when the first thought would be a string of bow, say a bow line. Haven't figured that one out.

  • @alexbondarev8986
    @alexbondarev898618 күн бұрын

    The Cossack bowline is obtained by pulling a loop from the Kalmyk knot or vice versa. The trick is that Kalmytsky gets untied instantly. It is not possible to perform the same trick with an Eskimo bowline, creating a return loop in it.

  • @nicksanders9140
    @nicksanders91408 ай бұрын

    I.always knew the Scott's as a locked bowline

  • @ryanbeard1119
    @ryanbeard1119 Жыл бұрын

    Do you prefer the parawrap type type over diamond brade

  • @CrespinGaming
    @CrespinGaming Жыл бұрын

    I'm fairly good with knots but every time I try the bowling on a bite it becomes a slipknot and not a fixed Loop can't figure out what I'm doing wrong

  • @StagnantMizu
    @StagnantMizu Жыл бұрын

    with my bowline the working end always hangs on the outside of the loop inside of inside is this a problem?

  • @physicist137
    @physicist1372 жыл бұрын

    The Cossack knot is the unslipped version of the Kalmyk Loop (ref: "Marine Knots" by Lev Skryagin, a Russian knot book, a bit like the Russian counterpart of Ashley's Book of Knots; also found that way in Geoffrey Budworth's and Nic Compton's Books) and it is also called Eskimo Bowline; this is the one you called Eskimo Bowline. The other one (you called Cossack knot) is a variant that I couldn't find in any of my knot books (and I have quite a few). Where did you get that distinction from?

  • @stephanddd

    @stephanddd

    Жыл бұрын

    I think that the Russian books call the Eskimo and Cossak differently. But in a lot of the Western literature, and the discussion forums such as iktg, the Eskimo bowline is tied with the tail ending on the inside of the fixed loop (but can still be pulled sideways to make it stick to the outside), while the Cossak loop is tied with the tail ending on the outside of the fixed loop. The relationship between the two is basically like the relationship between a standard vs cowboy bowline.... the rabbit goes the opposite way around the tree. And if you accept this terminology, the Kalmyk loop is a slipped Eskimo bowline.

  • @mixedmartialnutrition1746
    @mixedmartialnutrition17469 ай бұрын

    Whats the advantage of bowline vs surgeons or perfection loop?

  • @txtoolcrib

    @txtoolcrib

    9 ай бұрын

    Easy to untie, retains more of the original rope strength.

  • @isvaraov
    @isvaraov9 ай бұрын

    End Bound Single Bowline (EBSB)

  • @tanguerochas
    @tanguerochas Жыл бұрын

    I prefer the triple bowline as a rescue knot with a different size third loop. Two equal-sized for the legs and a larger one for the torso. I have used this knot in a rescue of four people from 50-degree water. Excellent on one-handed. Thank you for Scott's Locked Bowline; I've been teaching it for years and this is the first video on it I've seen.

  • @markifi
    @markifi2 жыл бұрын

    i like Scott Safier's version 15:36

  • @whiteinge
    @whiteinge Жыл бұрын

    Me: I'm not sure I'm up for 40 minutes on just the bowline. Me 40 minutes later: Ok, one more watch.

  • @kurtschmidt5746
    @kurtschmidt5746 Жыл бұрын

    Never use the Bowline on a Bight if the 2 ends are going to be loaded in different directions. See the Alpine Butterfly, can be tied on a bight, and takes loads however.

  • @c.f.beeble
    @c.f.beeble Жыл бұрын

    I think the so-called "Cowboy/Dutch" bowline, (10:50), might actually have been used by cowboys, to create a quick "honda" loop, in a running bowline, but I doubt that the Dutch navy actually used this knot, back in the day. MY theory is that British sailors called it the "Dutch Bowline" as a way to express their disdain for the Dutch navy's nautical skills. I suspect it was kind of a "Dutch Joke," intended to emphasize to sailors that the knot shouldn't be tied like this. IMHO, of course. 🙂

  • @paulcrave3112
    @paulcrave3112 Жыл бұрын

    Do you know the Texas Bowline?

  • @alexbondarev8986
    @alexbondarev898618 күн бұрын

    You are mistaken Kalmyk knot - this is not a variant of the Eskimo bowline, but a Cossack knot!

  • @txtoolcrib

    @txtoolcrib

    18 күн бұрын

    I assure you I am not.

  • @alexbondarev8986

    @alexbondarev8986

    15 күн бұрын

    @@txtoolcrib Tie Eskimo bowline with a return stitch for easy untie. Try to untie it. Do the same with the Cossack knot. And you will see that the Cossack knot with a return loop turns into a Kalmyk knot, but the Eskimo does not.

  • @jeepien
    @jeepien10 ай бұрын

    half the action is out iof frame. 😞

  • @ricstormwolf
    @ricstormwolf2 жыл бұрын

    The way you're saying it throws me off. I've always heard it said "bow line."

  • @txtoolcrib

    @txtoolcrib

    2 жыл бұрын

    I actually say it both ways. Purist seem to get angry whenever you say bow line.

  • @ushi120
    @ushi1208 ай бұрын

    01:50 this is NOT a "lefthand-bowline". Lefthand-bowlne means that the bitter end is outside the loop, and not as you said "I tie it with my lefthand". 😂😂😂 Btw: The "lefthand-bowline" is also well known as "Dutch-bowline" "Cowboy-bowline"

  • @txtoolcrib

    @txtoolcrib

    2 ай бұрын

    Left Handed Bowline is simply the mirror image of the traditional Bowline. The Cowboy/Dutch Bowline is not the Left Handed Bowline.

  • @ushi120

    @ushi120

    2 ай бұрын

    Only in your bubble. 😂😂😂

  • @alexbondarev8986
    @alexbondarev898618 күн бұрын

    28:58 You showed an unnatural way to form a knot! This knot is tied without using fingers. Whole palm. This knot has long been used by sailors in the Soviet Union and now, thank God, in the post-Soviet space. You can easily find on Russian-language KZread the correct way to form a knot. And further. The knot has one weakness. If you do not take it into account, the knot will be dangerous!!! Unfortunately, you didn’t talk about this. Perhaps you don't know this.

  • @johnymey4034
    @johnymey403411 ай бұрын

    Inferior demonstration

  • @Western_Hemlock

    @Western_Hemlock

    7 ай бұрын

    Nope

  • @johnymey4034

    @johnymey4034

    7 ай бұрын

    @@Western_Hemlock yup

  • @pessimisticoptimist2064

    @pessimisticoptimist2064

    5 ай бұрын

    You need to say why. Otherwise you're just a troll.