Weaver’s Knot: little known, very useful

It has an intriguing name and is not widely known, but it is useful and easy to tie. It belongs to the large family of “loops, eyelets, or nooses on a single rope,” at least according to the definition in the “bible” of Clifford W. Ashley, The Complete Book of Knots.

So, if you need, for example, to set up a block and tackle to reduce the load in tension, if you need to secure a package, or simply create a hitch point on your rope, here’s the weaver’s knot: it’s tied in no time, and unlike knots generally used by less experienced sailors, it can be undone even after enduring very strong tensions.

The temptation is to make a simple loop with a simple knot or a figure-eight knot (as shown in the photo above), but keep a good knife handy if you want to untie them after heavy and prolonged tension. Let’s see how to tie the weaver’s knot. First, create a nice long loop at the desired point along the rope.

The second step involves rotating the loop onto itself.

At this point, you need to “fold” the figure-eight that has formed (downward in the photo).

Now comes the key moment for executing the weaver’s knot: first, locate the central passage created at the center of the figure-eight.

Then, pass the end of the loop through it, from underneath.

Now pull (upward in the photo), always keeping a bit of tension on both ends of the rope.

Finally, after tightening well, the weaver’s knot is complete.