I'm surprised that you would think this bend to be considered safe.
I do not
think, I
know, and
I can prove it experimentally ! However, although I am disappointed for not been able to convey to you what I mean by those looong boooring posts, I understand you.
Simple things are not easy, they are often more difficult and subtle than we think... I myself was amazed by how
surprising safe and strong is this bend ( for ropes of the same diameter and similar material, as it happens with ABoK#1406.)
It happens, even to knot tyers with great experience, to confuse matters, because, after a certain point, they tend to
think of knots in terms of other knots, and lose the ability and will to think of knots as rope mechanisms, as structures made of simple knot elements. It is the economy of thought that drives them to this slippery road, where, when they meet a new - to them - thing, they run the danger of seeing past it.
My dear TMCD,
this bend has nothing to do with the reef family of knots in general, and the square knot in particular ! I had tried to explain it in looong previous posts...Ths bend is not working because of the friction forces around an
embrace of two rope strands, that effectively blocks their motion relatively to each other and secures the tails. This bend is working because the tails are resisting to shear forces that try to bend them, as they are squeezed in between segments of the two bights.
They claim you should never use the square knot as a bend, but I'd much rather use it than this mess.
They are right.
You are wrong.
This bend has nothing to do with the square knot, it is not a
"mess", it is
a marvellous rope mechanism that you have not understood yet, so you can not tie it...but I am sure you will, eventually, if you tie it correctly an adequate number of times.
you've been able to somehow roll the orange half hitch on top of the white half hitch
Yes, because I tie it carefuly, knowing what I am doing and why am I doing it so, and I place the tails in the correct positions...You obviously do not follow neither my explanation of the working of this bend, nor my picture of the tightened knot, so it is expcted you will fail to tie it. I did not say that it could be easy, did I ? On the contrary, have stressed many times that it is a difficult knot to tie, because oftentimes the less is also the most difficult. However, do not confuse difficulty with insecurity ! There are many things and practices we use everyday that are difficult , but they are safe, if constructed and executed correctly. Do you think that an airplane is an easy thing to make or drive ? Does it gives you a FALSE sense of insecurity ?
It is amusing that I have compared this bend with - and only with - the Whatknot (ABoK#1406) almost a dozen of times at those posts, but nobody has ever told a word about their relation ! I guess that people feel shy and uneasy to criticize anything that is in the ABoK, but enjoy and feel proud to criticizing anything that is not !
However, everything that was said about this bend could have been also said for the ABoK#1406 and the ABoK#1875 as well.
There are
hundreds of good bends out there...That does not mean we will stop examining bends and their mechanisms ! I myself have written many things about the ABoK#1451 and its close relatives in this forum ( search the previous threads). I am not impressed by
any interlocked overhand knot - based bend, ( with the notable exception of this rope-made hinge, the Zeppelin bend ), probably because it is expected that, by using the amount of curvature those bends use, we will succeed to secure the tails. I am impressed by the simpler bends, like the ABoK#1406 and the Double Harness bend, because there is something unexpected, almost
miraculous, in their efficacy. And the most amazing bend for me is this symmetric sheet bend, a beautiful little knotting jewel...that enlarges, by its mere existence, our view of what really is
a knot .