Info on figure 8 knot

Not sure if this has been shared here yet but here is a video about tying a figure 8 with different configurations of the loaded or working end of the rope. This guy apparently finds a difference in depending on how you tie your figure 8 (both ways looking like perfectly dressed knots) it will effect how easy it is to untie. Also made me think about how I am tying other knots.

Well crap that explains so much. Now I have to rethink how I have been tying the follow-through. I have to go home and rethink my whole life.

M Appelquist wrote:

If I use an Alpine Butterfly for a tie-in, should I use a double overhand for a back-up or just another well dressed Alpine Butterfly?

The well dressed alpine butterfly is obviously the superior backup choice, but don't forget to back it up too!

It's alpine butterflies all the way down.

Woah

This is quite an interesting video.  (Go to 13:20 if you want to see the relevant part.)

Rich Delaney, the Australian rope expert at Ropelab, has a short video saying both are about equally strong and equally easy to untie.

But, Rich did not test it in quite the same way as the guy in the video above.

Here's an article that talks about both, has a diagram to show her we're talking about, and has a link to Rich's video.

https://www.alpinesavvy.com/blog/a-better-way-to-tie-the-figure-8

For what little it's worth, I saw this video last week and have started trying to tighten my knot with his method; I haven't taken a lot of falls, especailly longer ones, but my impression is that it has made it slightly easier to untie my knot.  Tensioning all 4 of the strands leaving a well-dressed figure 8 seems like a good practice, whereas previously I had just made sure the know was well dressed.

It's an informative video, and interesting to know that if the loaded strand is on the outside it squeezes other strands and make it even harder to untie. However, I have been tying the figure-8 follow-through with the loaded strand in the middle for decades now, that's how I learned to tie the knot and it's just automatic by this point. Even when tied with the load strand in the middle, well dressed, and pulled tight on all four strands, a figure-8 follow-through is still much harder to untie than a bowline follow-through after repeated falls.

aikibujin wrote:

It's an informative video, and interesting to know that if the loaded strand is on the outside it squeezes other strands and make it even harder to untie. However, I have been tying the figure-8 follow-through with the loaded strand in the middle for decades now, that's how I learned to tie the knot and it's just automatic by this point. Even when tied with the load strand in the middle, well dressed, and pulled tight on all four strands, a figure-8 follow-through is still much harder to untie than a bowline follow-through after repeated falls.

I agree with this. I tie in the way the guy in the video says is easy to untie and, after years of anecdotal experience, i find it annoyingly difficult to untie after a big fall or multiple falls.

Folks, please let's not rehash the long-running discussion of whether a bowline is better as a tie in knot.

That's not the point of the post. The point of the post is if you do choose to tie a figure 8, either on a bight or retraced, how can you best tie it so it's easiest to untie.

John Godino wrote:

Folks, please let's not rehash the long-running discussion of whether a bowline is better as a tie in knot.

That's not the point of the post. The point of the post is if you do choose to tie a figure 8, either on a bight or retraced, how can you best tie it so it's easiest to untie.

My apologies. The guy spent hours typing figure-8s and shooting that video, it was bad form on my part to bring in a totally different knot into the conversation. Just to clarify on one point though, no one (besides you) said bowline is a "better" tie-in knot. I actually tie in more often with the figure-8 follow-through because it's easy and doesn't freak people out. But if the whole point is to figure out how to tie in so it's easy to untie after repeated falls, I guess thinking outside the box isn't allowed?