Buntline Hitch

The Buntline hitch was traditionally used to tie a line to the foot of a square sail. It has gained popularity in recent years due to its performance in slippery modern synthetic lines. The Buntline hitch is useful for attaching lines to rings, eyes, posts, rods, and railings where a compact and secure knot is required. It will jam when subjected to extreme loads. Given this propensity for jamming it is often made in a slipped form which is much easier to release by hand, albeit bulkier.
The Buntline hitch is security and reliability. Once set, repeated jerking and slating tend to tighten it further rather than loosening it. It is compact in size which is another advantage of this knot.
The Buntline hitch is the same knot as the four-in-hand knot used for neckties. When it is made in flat material in the manner used to fasten a necktie, the working end is brought more parallel to the standing part during tightening.

Rope knots can basically be divided into the following groups:

1. Bends    - Joining two lines by intertwining them, without splicing, or sewing.
2. Hitches  - A knot that secures a rope or line to another object.
3. Stopper  – Used to bind strands at the end of a rope to stop fraying or unraveling.
              Also formed to stop a rope slipping through a hole or to provide a weight or handhold.
4. Bindings – Much like hitches. They are used to bind either lines or objects together. Their aim is
              to keep objects in place.
5. Splices  – Describes the act of joining the ends, or the end and a standing part, of rope by
              interweaving strands. They are not knots in themselves.
6. Loops    – Loops create structures used to tie, or secure, another object or line to another line.
              They can be formed at the end or midway a length of rope.
7. Plaits   - Weaving several lines together to form a pattern and a cohesive structure.
8. Miscellaneous & Decorative – Knots that have decorative, dress or multiple category
              characteristics.

The rope knot section of this site is set out with these groups firmly in mind.

Good luck

Andy

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andrew Galwey is the publisher of Australia’s most successful trailer boating publication, Trailerboat Fisherman and Australian Boating, a publication dedicated to the cruiser enthusiast. He developed the Internet site www.marinews.com back in 1996 as a window to pass on some of his skills. Fishing, boating and the art of knot tying are certainly skills he’s mastered well. As a fishing enthusiast, fishing both commercially and recreationally, Andy developed a fascination and skill for the art of knot tying. His 40 years of both working the land and boating has seen those knot tying skills extended way beyond fishing knots and into the world of rope knots as well.

He’s a member of the Pacific Americas Branch of the International Guild of Knot Tyers and encourages anyone with a knot tying interest to visit their website (www.igktpab.org).

Marinews would like to thank Andy for his support and hope you not only learn from this excellent section on knot tying but also get many hours of enjoyment from it.

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