I had devised a simple method, to offer a
proof of the fact that the "Locked" Cow hitch is a much, much more "tight" hitch than the ABoK#1683 (1)(2).
I have tied them on the two ends of the same rope, around the same pole, and dressed them and then tightened them by pulling their standing ends with the same force, simultaneously, by pulling the "bridge", the bight that connects their two Stranding ends together. I had repeated the same experiment over and over again, always with the same eye-opening results !
The interested and careful reader can "see" the difference, by seeing the difference of the shapes of the corresponding Cow hitch bights in the two knots. The bight of the Locked Cow hitch at the left, was forced to become completely U shaped, and its two legs were completely straightened out, and became almost parallel to each other. On the contrary, the bight of the ABoK#1683 at the right was not forced to "close" so much, it remained horseshoe shaped, not U shaped, and its two legs retained a certain amount of curvature, induced by the stiff and springy nature of the material used.
Another proof, which , unfortunately, I can not communicate to the reader, is the funny high pitch noises the Locked Cow hitch made during tightening, while it was squeezing the PVC pole - it was screaming, while the ABoK#1683 was only whispering...
Why did Ashley missed this most simple hitch, while he investigated many similar ones ? I guess we will never find out...Why all the knot tyers after Ashley repeated this mistake ? I suppose this is something we should have learned by now... Parooting is an endemic and contagious disease of the knot tying community ! Therefore, I have no doubt that this will go on, that nobody ( well, almost nobody...) will ever tie and compare those two hitches side by side, as I did, and that nobody will ever "see", explain and understand the
huge difference in their structure ( the standing end of the Locked Cow hitch is squeezed in between two opposed bights, by the well known and most efficient locking mechanism, while the Standing end of the ABoK#1683 uses the legs of those bights only as simple riding turns...).
1.
http://igkt.net/sm/index.php?topic=4035.msg24785#msg247852.
http://igkt.net/sm/index.php?topic=4155