How to Tie the 10 Most Useful Knots

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[7] CLOVE HITCH: This hitch won't be secure unless there's a load acting on both ends of the knot, and should only be considered as a general utility hitch for temporary use. To make it, roll a bight around a pole, pipe, or post and then across the standing part. Next, make a second turn around Me pole and pass the bitter end under the last bight. You can tie a clove hitch before you need it—so the hoop can be passed over a post-or the knot can be put in with a loop-the-loop operation (as over your pickup truck's cargo-tiedown hooks) while tension is held on the standing part of the rope. It's a so-called "jam" knot, because the harder the strain it takes, the tighter the knot becomes ... yet it can be slipped the second the stress is removed.

[8] TIMBER HITCH: This knot is designed to roll around a tree to hold a temporary guy, to drag or winch a log, or to lift timber with a boom hoist. Just loop the bitter end of the rope around a tree, timber, or log, then turn it around the standing part, and twist it back along the bight for as few as two-or as many as eightturns. (The more turns, the less likely the knot is to slip under strain.)

Any pull on the standing part will tighten the timber hitch and jam the turns of the rope against the surface of whatever is being lifted, dragged, or towed. When stress on the standing part is eased, the timber hitch can easily be unwound and released.

[9] TAUT-LINE HITCH: Here's a handy knot for folks who work or play around high places (see ''Go Climb a Tree!" elsewhere in this issue). The taut-line hitch will slide up and down to provide a climber with freedom of movement, but—should he or she slip—it will tighten up and stop the fall short.

Start this knot by throwing a rope over a branch (or whatever) so that two lines hang parallel to each other. The longer end—which extends down to the ground—is called (appropriately) a ground line. The other end of the rope should be looped (twice) through a ring in a special climber's belt, leaving a working end of about two feet in length.

Take this 24-inch tail and pass its working end around the ground line in a clockwise direction to form two complete tight loops, the second below the first. Then, form two more clockwise loops (also around the ground line) but at a point above the first two and with the difference that—each time the leading end is brought around the ground line to complete these coils—it must pass under its own bight. Hence, the complete knot includes four tight loops, side-by-side, around the ground line ... and resembles four doughnuts on a stick.

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