Twenty years of tying ropes and I had the bowline backwards

Last week I was teaching a new guy the running bowline for a canopy tie and he asked why I was looping it counter-clockwise. I said the loop direction didn't matter, which is what my old foreman told me back in 2004. He pulled out his phone and showed me a slow-motion video of the knot under load, and sure enough the wraps were twisting the standing part. I tested it on a branch at my own property with 200 pounds of hang weight and the difference was clear. The twist puts uneven pressure on the rope fibers, so it wears faster over the long haul. I re-tied every rigging line I own that week. Has anyone else ever been shown a basic knot that you had been doing wrong for decades, and what fixed it for you?

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pat95414d ago

Man, that twist thing makes me want to double check every knot I know now.