This mediocre and difficult to tie and untie loop is a perfect example of how misleading and dangerous the
parroting of a knot can be, on the one hand, and how useful and revealing the
understanding of a knot is, on the other. Of course, anybody who is really
familiar with a genuine Zeppelin knot, as the
Zeppelin bend is - not only with one of its
tying methods, but also with its
mechanism, with the structure and the way it works - will never buy the so-called "Zeppelin loop" - which is not a Zeppelin-like knot, and which, moreover, is difficult to tie, AND to untie ( because it is a not-PET eyeknot, and also because it is based on two overhand knots, which can clinch too tightly around themselves after heavy loading, a disadvantage from which a genuine Zeppelin knot, the Zeppelin bend, for instance, will never run the danger to suffer from...). Another, not so-evident shortcoming of this low quality merchandise is that, if the first overhand knot, the one tied on the Standing Part before-the-eye, happens to "close" first ( and it does so, most of the times, if this is not prevented manually and properly, during the tightening and shrinking of the knot ), the second overhand knot, the one tied on the continuation of the returning eye leg, may remain slack, thus making it redundant, and not contributing in any constructive and beneficial way to the distribution and absorption, within the nub, of the tensile forces coming through the Standing End. (2)
How did this whole ridiculous story emerge in the first place ? Somebody who was parroting knots, had this descent of the Holy Spirit, his moment of "Eureka", his great, ingenious idea : The
Zeppelin bend is easy to untie, so, if we want an eyeknot that will be also be easy to untie, the only thing we have to do is to "convert" a
Zeppelin bend into a loop, by joining the Standing End of the one link with the Tail End of the other.
Ingenious or knot I am not qualified to judge, but what I can tell, for sure, is that this idea was the most
stupid idea, regarding knots, I had ever met in my life !
We do not want an eyeknot that
looks like a Zeppelin knot ! We want an eyeknot that is easy to untie, like a Zeppelin knot ! Why a Zeppelin knot is easy to untie ? THAT is what we should understand first, and only then "translate", so to speak, this understanding in the case of a loop, and tie a loop that will be easy to untie.
Anybody who is really
familiar with a Zeppelin knot, in general, and with the
Zeppelin bend, in particular, will see at a glance that the two overhand knots of each link can not clinch too tightly around each other, and make the knot difficult to untie, for two simple reasons : First, they are not loaded through both their ends : in a bend, each link is loaded only by one end, not two, so each overhand knot is loaded only by one of its two ends, meaning that it will not be prone to jamming. Second, they are minimally interlocked, they are not entangled the one over and around the other, so that when the one "closes" tightly, it will force the other to "close" tightly, too. The parts of those overhand knots that are most heavily loaded, their first curves ( where the segments of the rope are loaded by 100% of the tensile forces coming through the Standing Ends ), are not interweaved within each other : the first curves are not "hooked" within each other, they remain adjacent but only parallel to each other, and they are independent, regarding how much they may shrink and how compact they may become - so the 'closing" of the one overhand knot tied on the first link does not generate, or interfere with, any "closing" of the other overhand knot tied on the second link. The two first curves stay close to each other only because they are hooked around a
third agent, the pair of the Tail Ends that penetrate them both, NOT because they are hooked around each other ! That fact is what I had described by the whimsical ( yet revealing the truth about its mechanism, so useful, indeed ) description of the
Zeppelin bend as a
"rope-made hinge". The pair of the first curves works like the "knuckles", and the pair of the Tail Ends works like the "pin"/pivot/axle.
So, the Ze
ppelin bend is easy to untie because the Tail Ends are not loaded, and because the heavily loaded first curves are not "hooked" within each other. THOSE are the characteristics a genuine, not fake, Zeppelin knot should have, in order to be able to be untied easily. And THOSE characteristics are exactly what the fake, so-called "Zeppelin loop" destroys completely, in its effort to
mimic, blindly, the superficial, skin-deep
appearance of the Zeppelin bend, its "looks", and not its
essence, its mechanism. By loading the second end of the most important overhand knot, the one tied on the Standing Part before-the-eye ( and thus loaded by the 100% of the tensile forces ), and by interweaving within the nub the now highly tensioned by both ends segment ( which previously, as a Tail, was used to be loaded only by one of its ends), BOTH properties which had allowed the knot to be easily untiable in the first place are lost for ever, in one single stroke of a genius, yet stupid transformation ! In this relic of a genuine Zeppelin knot, this fake, torn apart copycat, the so-called "Zepelin loop", the "looks" of the "parent"
Zeppelin bend are retained, but the mechanism which prevents the two overhand knots to clinch tightly around themselves and each other was torn apart : so much for the genius knot-parroting-tyers, who blustered troothlessly that
I am the one who makes "
fake appearance-based analysis of knots"(sic) !
The negative publicity against the few more-Zeppelin-like eyeknots we have (1), try to blur one thing : that we do not need the
appearance of a
real Zeppelin knot, as the
Zeppelin bend is, in order to ascertain a easily untiable eyeknot : we need its
essence. Its essence is the absence of convoluted around each other overhand knots ( or, for that matter, fig.8 knots as well ), because, under heavy loading, they can not be untied as easily as the bowlines, for example, which are based on more "open", not clinching around themselves nipping structures. ( Moreover, I have seen that the overhand and the fig.8 knots can close too tightly, even if they are tied at the continuation of the returning eye leg, which is loaded with 50%, only, of the total load - so these "closed" structures should better be avoided even there.)
So, the
Zeppelin bend is a Zeppelin knot - and that is not a tautology : it reveals that the "Zeppelin" mechanism is present, and not destroyed in any stupid way, in the Zeppelin bend. And the fake, so-called "Zeppelin loop"
is not, and that is not an opinion, it is a fact, that is based on the differences of the mechanisms, despite the "similarity" of the superficial appearances.
Regarding how "
mess"(sic) is a Zeppelin-like eyeknot, which is PET, and it is not based on an overhand knot tied on the Standing Part before-the-eye ( so it can be released instantly, the moment the Tail End / pin / pivot / axle is pulled out, and its nub can not "close" too tightly ), the interested reader can judge by himself, looking at the attached pictures. The slipped tail can be avoided, of course, but I had included it because it makes the pin / pivot / axle stiffer.
1.
http://igkt.net/sm/index.php?topic=4095 2.
http://igkt.net/sm/index.php?topic=4606.msg29767#msg29767