Knotted soft shackles

[mcjtom]

I got interested in unspliced soft shackle constructs.  Here is a basic video to show what I'm after.

Could somebody steer me in the right direction to find out more about them (e.g. other versions, different tying for slippery braided/unsheathed Dyneema vs regular cord, failing mode/security/testing/jamming)?

One possible improvement to the last construct shown in the video I can think of is using Bull hitch instead of Cow hitch to improve slack resistance.

Another mod could be tying the Dimond/Lenyard knot instead of the Ashley stopper, but I'm not sure if this is an improvement.

For the loop, perhaps something like the Poacher's or Scaffold noose could do better than the Slipknot (or the Cow/Bull hitch)? Though they need to be strategically placed as they wouldn't equalize/tighten as easily as the Cow/Bull hitches and possibly jam easier (the button knot can jam, but the noose probably shouldn't as the shackle is to be opened).  But slipknots et. al. may be easier to use as they can be premade on the shackle's loop and they make it obvious where the button should go (without having to think of tying the Cow/Bull hitch).

I found this thread but don't know what a 'hand twisted loop' is...

[mcjtom]

I've been playing with different combinations of stoppers/buttons and nooses to make knotted soft shackles and it seems that the combination of the Ashley stopper [#526] and the Tag noose [#1126] may be the winner for simplicity and slack resistance.

p.s. There are also other 'variants' (don't know how to call them :-)) of #1126 with the Clove or Bull hitch instead of the Cow hitch to make the noose, which look good, but I'm not sure if they're any better than the original version for soft shackle purpose - although they may provide even more slack security, they are slightly more difficult to tie and may be less easy to untie after loads higher than I was able to test them with.

[mcjtom]

There is one more idea that I wanted to share, in case there is somebody interested in it.  So far my knotted soft shackles builds followed the structures shown in the video, i.e. the shackle loop is doubled.  That has its strengths, but I was thinking that it may be easier to use a single, short strand of rope: a stopper on the one end and a noose on the other.

I tried the Gnat + Ashley stopper combination on a polyester cord, which seems to work, but probably wouldn't hold on naked Dyneema.

Another combination I'm trying is Estar stopper + Scaffold/Poacher's noose which is probably more resistant to slipping on a slick rope but may still not be enough for stuff like Amsteel Blue.

Is there a knotted noose that would hold on unsheathed Dyneema better than Scaffold/Poacher's?

[mcjtom]

An interesting variation on the theme:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=X1TBzXPVoAE