The B bend

[xarax]

it was the centermost turNip that got to binding hard, but back-ups weren't so
involved

  In that case, the knot was not dressed properly/succesfully. If all the B s are not involved, we do not need them there, neither need this B thing itself ! You have to pre-stretch, pre-load the hitches as much as you can with bare hands, before you load it for the test. So, in the case of the B bend, you have to pull the two Doule Overhand- Strangle neckbands away from each other, so the B s will already have started to block the Main line, when you proceed to load the hitch.  Or, in the case of the B loop, you have to pull the eye line and the collar, or the eye line and the Standing end, so the loop is pre-loaded before it becomes ready to be loode for good. 

often a trio of turNips is in the form ofa clovehitch (aka "two half-hitches ")

   I have thought of it, and decided that I do not like configurations with odd number of nipping loops, for many reasons I find it difficult to analyse here. In this mechanism, I see that the nipping loops work in tandem, in pairs, and this is a reason I have named those hitches "B" hitches, B bends, B loops, B bowlines, etc. I prefer a hitch where all nipping loops are in the "owl eye s"-like configuration, OR in the "clove hitch"-like configuration, but I do not see any reason whatsoever one has to mix them...   

[xarax]

 The B bend in a bowline form, where we have put collars in the place of Double Overhand "necks". Right handed and left handed variations. 

  I don't like running the tails beside the nipping loops (hitches) and through collars ; rather, run the tails back through (and so broaden/?strengthen) the nipping stuctures.

  Something like this, I guess : (see attached picture). Also, read my reply at (2), and the original post, at (1).
1) http://igkt.net/sm/index.php?topic=2871.msg17177#msg17177
2) http://igkt.net/sm/index.php?topic=2871.msg17218#msg17218

[xarax]

   Nah, the simple step from that eye-knot to a corresponding bend in terms of mechanics is to finish collar the white loop's S.Part with the orange tail (matching that done to orange with white).THAT preserves the load-on-both-ends-of-nipping-loop mechanics of the eyeknot.
...to ensure that there is tension on, to help lock, the strangles.

   Why should the second end of the nipping loop (the one that goes to the strangle ending) be (as) loaded as the first ? It need not - and should not, if we do not wish to have the rope - that pass through this nipping loop - to be nipped less there, and some of the tension to be absorbed by the function of the collar. I think that there is a real difference between the B bend with the strangle endings, and the B bend with the collar endings, which we may better describe as a form of a "two bowlines bend." ( with the two loops of the "imaginary" bowlines omitted, as the loading is absorbed entirely by their nipping loops and their collars).
    So, I think that those two bends ( shown at (1) and (2)), should better be considered as two different knots, and not as variations of the same knot.
    On the B bend with the strangle endings, all we need is the alignment of the second ends of the nipping loops with the line that pass through them and the first ends. The strangles can remain "locked" by themselves, they are knots tight enough, that can keep their shape without permanent loading of their ends. Their function here is limited : they should only be tied close to the nipping loops, so they serve only to keep the second ends of the nipping loops unable to be rotated, not unable to be translated. The blocking of the translation is achieved by the nipping loops, and the nipping loops only.   

1) http://igkt.net/sm/index.php?topic=2871.msg17140#msg17140
    http://igkt.net/sm/index.php?topic=2871.msg17151#msg17151
2) http://igkt.net/sm/index.php?topic=2871.msg17177#msg17177
    http://igkt.net/sm/index.php?topic=2871.msg18410#msg18410

[xarax]

   From time to time, I retie knots that I have learned long ago, from memory, to see if I still remember the "ratio" behind the structure, and be able to reproduce the same knot, following the same path that drove me there in the first place...Needless to say, I often end up with a different knot, or a different variation of the same knot, that I have missed the first time...
   See the attached pictures for a slightly different variation of the old bowline B bend, of Reply#16. ( The interesting thing is that this time, I had also some different thoughts in my mind, so this knot helped me to tie another, simpler bend - the "Helical" bend,  which I will publish shortly. There, I replace the nipping coils of this bowline B bend with open helical coils, and the result is a new, interesting knot.)