We do not name each and every whale we meet in the ocean - probably for not any other reason else than the most obvious one : we do not have as many names - and even if we had, we couldn t remember them all. We do not name each and every knot we meet : we deserve that privilege for the ones we get involved, and become sentimentally entangled with.
I was thinking of the hooked and blooded Fisherman s knot tied by Mr Lehman (1), which, as one can see, can be considered as "
three knots in a row", arranged along the axis of loading, the one after the other. It is but a small step to think of simple ways to enhance even this knot, in the case the monster Dyneema manage to slip it. The most simple thing is to embrace the
hooked and blooded ex-tails in the middle of the compound knot evenmore, so to make this middle knotted structure even more convoluted. The greater, perhaps, advantage of this "
three in a row" arrangement, is that any increment of the volume - and, subsequently, of the cross section - of any one of them does not increase the volume of the others. In the middle of the compound whole knot, there is still some empty space that can be filled with material ( because the middle knotted structure is still slimmer than the end ones ), without altering the cross section of the knot as a whole.
The second thing that was concerning me was that the hooked and blooded Fisherman s knot is not side-symmetric, and so it can not be inspected very easily.
The moment I was trying to envision how to entangle the ex-tails of the parent Fisherman s knot more within the middle knotted structure, two things happened, at once : First, I realized that, if I make each link of this knotted structure, (which now is just two embracing each other bights, two hooked hooks ) just a little more convoluted, each link will become as convoluted as the overhand knot - or, it will become an overhand knot !
And second,
envisioning was helped by
listening !
I started listening the musical sounds the giant bronze statue of Alexandro emits, in the blowing wind, as the strings of the Aeolian guitar in its one hand are vibrating.
My colleagues want to erect a giant bronze statue of me, holding a guitar in one hand and the knot in the other.
In other words, I imagined the middle knotted structure as another pair of stoppers, and the whole knot as one Fisherman s knot, each link been composed of two twin stoppers, i.e, not
three knotted structures in a raw any more, but
four in a raw ! Of course, the resulting monster ex-Fisherman s knot cannot be longer, or bulkier, than it would be, if each of those four knotted structures are not bigger or different than a single overhand knot.
So, four overhand knots in a row, in two pairs ,= two twin overhand knot stoppers, sliding / interpenetrating through each other. Even if the corresponding sliding / inter-penetrating end-to-end knot is proved to be an over-kill ( which, most probably, is - after all, no monster material is sooo monstrous, to allow only
that monstrous end-to-end knot to survive, I suppose...), the individual stopper of each link, itself made of two overhand knot stoppers sliding / interpenetrating through each other, is very interesting and good looking, IMHO. Although it is a 10-crossings knot, like Alexandro s stopper, it is conceptually simple, and it can be learned, remembered, tied and inspected very easily. In the attached pictures I show it in a loose form - resembling one clef of the notes Alexandro s statue holds in his hand along with the knot, perhaps ?
Those twin overhand knots stoppers are now different animals from the "parent" Fisherman s knot single overhand knots - as now the mammals are different animals from the fishes - so I had named this bend
Whaler s knot - and I bet that Ashley s, Moby Dick s and captain s Ahab s souls would approve that baptism !
We have spotted another creature swimming around KnotOcean...
1.
http://igkt.net/sm/index.php?topic=4792.0
