On Jul 8, 9:51*am, wrote:

Since you bring up the Bowline, another knot form that I had in mind
was a partial or uncompleted bowline. *It is quite unstable, but can
be made a little more stable in pliable rope by winding the rabbit up
the tree instead of going down the hole. * It's related to the bell-
ringer's knot discussed he

I think that this is on the right track, although it would
be nice to somehow nail the origin of this "Iron Knot".

There is some variance to how well the Bellringer's knot can perform.
One way to I think improve both the knot's holding AND releasing,
and get some better wear resistance to boot,
is to make a fixed eyeknot in the end of the line,
and to size this so that its double strands will be what bear the
load, and its bight-end will be what is nipped by that Bowlinesque
turn -- the twin tension on the bight will better resist capsizing
forces of the nip, and should maybe also better help spring
apart and better free themselves with some helpful rope shaking.
The pre-tied eyeknot just makes this twin-loaded bight possible,
vs. trying some other way of involving multiple strands in the
nipping turn. Maybe works best if minimal bight-end is brought
through the nip (set & load carefully).

I just tried playing around with some other constructs, and there
seemed
an annoying risk that the release wouldn't go as hoped, and one would
end up with a simple but at least some-force-sustaining knot in the
rope when one wanted it to come free. (easily freed by a groundman)
(Heck, using 3/4" manila, hoisting 62.5# of wgt.s, I ended up
loosening
an Overhand eyeknot in this system before I shook free the nip !!
HUH?!)

--dl*
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