Tying knots is one of the most essential skills everyone should know, prepper or not. This skill comes in handy in your day-to-day life and emergency situations, even saving a life.

Since one of the best ways we can prepare for future survival scenarios is to learn how to tie a few different knots. I’ll also cover the essential tools for knot tying, the different parts of knots, and everything in between.

Do you know how to tie a knot if it meant your survival? How about a specific knot that you would need in a sudden survival scenario?

Knowing how to tie a climbing knot sounds more pleasant than learning how to fall safely, doesn’t it?
You don’t need to learn and try to perfect all the hitches, but developing your skills with the knots, will be useful and practical for everyday use.

If you haven’t learned the essential knots to be able to tie yet, not a problem. Tying a specific survival or fishing Knot can mean the difference between surviving and knot surviving. There are thousands of different Knots for each kind of scenario. From doomsday situations to fishing for dinner.

Some knots are essential to learning more than others. Most of the time you’ll only have to be able to tie a few knots. Other knots are only needed in rare or special circumstances. So depending on your activities, some knot categories would be more essential for you than others. There are knots just for fisherman use and knots that are more common when camping. Learn the ones that you are going to use the most first.

Know The Knot

The importance of knowing how to tie knots, when, and where to use them are more than useful—they could be life-saving.

Of course, depending on your situation, every knot has its special place and is used for specific purposes. It’s best to learn ahead of time before you find yourself in an emergency learning how to tie a knot.

Rope Construction

The construction of the rope tells you important details about what can and should be done with the rope. Certain materials should be used for certain purposes and knots, while other types of construction are for other uses and types of knots.

Materials

There are two kinds of cordage materials. Natural and Synthetic. You can even make your cordage on your own.

Natural Materials

• cotton
• sisal
• manila

Synthetic Materials

• polypropylene
• polyester
• nylon

Useful Tools

Choosing to use tools when handling ropes and knots; will easily make you 50% more efficient than not using them.

Here is a list of some essential tools.

• Sailmakers Palm and Needle
• Adhesive Tape
• Sharp Knife
• Netting Needle
• Marlinspike
• Swedish Fid

Terms & Tips

When first starting, most of us watch tutorial videos and try to follow them. However, the terms and phrases used by these experts can sometimes be confusing. It’s best to try and learn a few basic terms to follow along while working with cordage and viewing the videos.

Types of Knots

Focus on mastering just one survival knot at a time. Once you can pull off tying and untying the knot with your eyes closed and can teach someone else how to do it, move on to another knot.

Knots can be broken down into different fields they’re primarily used in, such as survival knots or sailing knots. Another way to break them into is by specific types, such as hitches and bend knots.

Types:

• Coils
• Hitches
• Bends
• Loops
• Binding
• Stopper
• Splices & Whippings
• Decorative

Three-Strand- the simplest braid

The three-strand knot is also known as a plait or braid. If you are familiar with braiding hair, then this should be very easy for you. The first step is usually easy; it usually involves making the three ropes become one. You can do this by holding the three ropes together and making a knot on one end of the rope.

Double Sheet Bend

The double sheet bend, or weaver’s knot, is used to connect two pieces of cordage together. If you must join two ropes together during a survival situation, time will likely be of the essence. The double sheet bend knot will help you accomplish the task quickly without sacrificing sturdiness.

Weaver’s knots are not prone to jamming or locking up while being used and can be untied rapidly. This type of knot is often used when creating a guideline across a waterway, hanging food high up in a tree, increasing the length of cordage when constructing a shelter, using non-traditional and short types of material as cordage, and tying down large loads.

THREADED FIGURE-EIGHT

The threaded figure-eight knot is an essential climbing knot. The way it’s tied allows it to jam under strain. The best part about this knot is it’s easy to recognize, so you can easily check a buddy to make sure they’re safely knotted before the climb. 

Where to use it:

• Tying a rope onto an anchor
• Attaching a rope to a climber’s harness
• Creating a “stopper”

Square Knot

The reef knot, or square knot, is an ancient and simple binding knot used to secure a rope or line around an object. In addition to being used by sailors for reefing and furling sails, it is also one of the key knots of decorative macrame textiles. The knot lies flat when made with cloth and has been historically used for tying bandages.

To tie this knot, take one end of the rope in your left hand and a length of rope in your right hand. Cross the left over the right, forming an X so that your rope ends are in the opposite hand. Then, put the right over left, forming an X, and pull tight. 

Butterfly knot

Need a secure loop in a rope? There are many ways of doing this, but the butterfly knot is one of the best. Often used by climbers, it’s handy if you can get some slack in the rope and need a loop that won’t slip under a heavy load.

Gather in some slack and form an 8-shaped loop in the rope. Fold the upper loop down, pass it around the rope then thread it through the lower loop and pull it tight. That’s all it takes.

Are these all the knots you can use to help you survive? Nowhere near! There are hundreds of knots, some of them very specialized. The more you can learn, the better equipped you’ll be to survive. These four will cover most things, though. Get some bits of rope and practice until you can tie them confidently, and you’ll have a big advantage when modern fasteners aren’t available anymore.

Conclusion

Knot tying in survival and in everyday use can be very important. If you struggle with the important and essential knots, I would encourage you to get a nice thick piece of rope and start learning knots with a much larger rope. This can make a world of difference. Thicker rope holds its shape better while you tie and it is also much easier to handle.

We used thick rope to teach shoelace tying in our house. If it can help 4-year-old fingers get more dexterous and effective then it will work for you.

If you feel pretty proficient with knots then spend some time bashing up natural materials and making cordage from nature.