Palomar, Uni, Plaited, Bimini Twist ... .
Here's another perspective on mysterious angling knots;
www.fishingkites.co.nz/fishingknots/index_fishing_knots.htmlPresentations of angling knots have the frustrating characteristic of
seldom giving a good image of the completed, set knot. The Plaited
one cited by Derek is an exception, and the Uni is a paradigm. I
think that in most cases the Uni knot is expected to be what one
might call a multi-Overhand or Strangle--i.e., that all those easily
put on turns around end & SPart will be drawn into overwraps upon
setting the knot by pulling on the free/tag end. But this usually isn't
made clear, and it didn't happen completely that way in some 0.8mm
nylon monofilament line I just played with (rather stiff & intractable).
In fact, there seem to be several angling knots that ultimately have
this same form. On that Vic Dunaway WWWeb page, the image of
the snell to the hook at the top shows the structure that is the last
obvious/clear one before the tightening step (for other applications
of the Uni), where the loaded line passes through wraps to arc
outside of them all the way around.
Geoff Wilson gives a "Triple Palomar" for HMPE line wherre one
intially takes 3 turns around the hook eye before continuing.
Many images of this knot show the bight-end of it left around
the hook shank, though some instructions require that one move
it off of the shank and around the knot body; Budworth takes the
novel presentation of showing it moved all the way up to collar
the SPart!? As for it having sharp turns, hmmm, maybe the finely
braided line does some significant flattening over the metal, and
so with its slickness transmits force into the knot that causes it to
fail elsewhere. (Wilson gives 72% as a strength.)
There was a recent article in an angling magazine presenting
one fellow's testing that showed a 12-turn Bimini (IIRC, else 20-)
to be optimal, more turns (20/40/60) being weaker; this met with
some surprise and skepticism on one forum, but ... .
--dl*
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