M
Muggs
Guest
I have been wanting to share this knot ever since I learned it this past year. It is a simple usage of the Daisy Chain technique that everyone knows for shortening rope/cords/hoses, etc. It was shown to our crew by an English climber who moved to Canada, and he had been using it for years. It is both a hitch and a running knot. We find it so useful for rigging that we use it in place of the running bowline, and combined with a marl, it is the only rigging knot we use.
The Daisy Chain Knot is simple, quick and easy to tie in any position, and easy to inspect, but the real benefit is how fast it unties. Just pull the tail out of the last bight, then pull, and the whole knot unfolds. When combined with a marl (half hitch), it does not jam up too tight even with heavy wood and can always be untied quickly once the rigged piece is on the ground, a big timesaver for a job with lots of rigging. It is perfect for cold conditions because the guys on the ground don't even have to take off their gloves to untie it, that's how easily it comes apart.
The knot is simply a bight in the working end that is passed around the standing end, twisted, and then the working end is fed through with the standard Daisy Chain and the tail is put through the last bight to lock it off. As long as you leave at least 6" or more for a tail and you use at least 3 or more bights in the Daisy Chain, this knot cannot come undone, period. The addition of a marl makes it even more secure.
In the same way that the Reef knot has a whole family of knots (Reef, Grief, Granny and Thief), the Daisy Chain knot has multiple forms, some of which work better than others. Below I show the 4 forms that work best, in my opinion. The others will actually work as long as you use at least 3 bights, but they capsize a bit more than i like to see, so I don't use them. This means that you can tie this knot in a bunch of different ways (some of which are technically "wrong") and the knot will still hold. This comes in handy when you're hanging and tying it upside down for instance, or at a weird angle. As long as you follow the basic structure outlined above, the knot will hold. I think we've all seen beginning climbers who struggle to tie a Running Bowline quickly because they're trying to figure out which way it goes, like it seems backwards to them or something. What I like about the Daisy Chain knot is that once you get the basic concept it is pretty much impossible to tie it wrong! If you're unsure about yourself, just put more bights into the chain for added protection against capsizing.
Another cool thing about the knot is that it can be tied at a distance and run up to a crotch which is great for tip-tying smaller pieces. Also, with a little practice, it's pretty easy to tie with one hand, which is great when you're trying hard to balance on the end of a limb and need to hold onto a branch with the other hand. In situations where your rigged piece is going to take a big swing once cut, it is easy to tie this knot with an extra long tail that can be held onto as you break your snap cut, and then slowly let run through the hands to cut down on swing.
This knot is really very fluid and quick to tie once you get used to it. I started by practicing it at home before trying it at work, since I had never seen it in any book or course. I suspect that this is probably an old knot that has been overlooked for years by most, but I would love to know if anyone else out there uses this knot. I can honestly say that this is the single best cinching knot I know and I use it for all sorts of things, not just at work. I would love to know what other arborists think of this knot, because I haven't met any others who have even seen it before.
The first picture shows the form of the knot that I usually use, and the last frame shows it with the marl. The next 3 pictures show the other 3 common forms of the knot - without the finished daisy chain. They differ both in how the working end wraps around the standing end, and how the bight is twisted.
The Daisy Chain Knot is simple, quick and easy to tie in any position, and easy to inspect, but the real benefit is how fast it unties. Just pull the tail out of the last bight, then pull, and the whole knot unfolds. When combined with a marl (half hitch), it does not jam up too tight even with heavy wood and can always be untied quickly once the rigged piece is on the ground, a big timesaver for a job with lots of rigging. It is perfect for cold conditions because the guys on the ground don't even have to take off their gloves to untie it, that's how easily it comes apart.
The knot is simply a bight in the working end that is passed around the standing end, twisted, and then the working end is fed through with the standard Daisy Chain and the tail is put through the last bight to lock it off. As long as you leave at least 6" or more for a tail and you use at least 3 or more bights in the Daisy Chain, this knot cannot come undone, period. The addition of a marl makes it even more secure.
In the same way that the Reef knot has a whole family of knots (Reef, Grief, Granny and Thief), the Daisy Chain knot has multiple forms, some of which work better than others. Below I show the 4 forms that work best, in my opinion. The others will actually work as long as you use at least 3 bights, but they capsize a bit more than i like to see, so I don't use them. This means that you can tie this knot in a bunch of different ways (some of which are technically "wrong") and the knot will still hold. This comes in handy when you're hanging and tying it upside down for instance, or at a weird angle. As long as you follow the basic structure outlined above, the knot will hold. I think we've all seen beginning climbers who struggle to tie a Running Bowline quickly because they're trying to figure out which way it goes, like it seems backwards to them or something. What I like about the Daisy Chain knot is that once you get the basic concept it is pretty much impossible to tie it wrong! If you're unsure about yourself, just put more bights into the chain for added protection against capsizing.
Another cool thing about the knot is that it can be tied at a distance and run up to a crotch which is great for tip-tying smaller pieces. Also, with a little practice, it's pretty easy to tie with one hand, which is great when you're trying hard to balance on the end of a limb and need to hold onto a branch with the other hand. In situations where your rigged piece is going to take a big swing once cut, it is easy to tie this knot with an extra long tail that can be held onto as you break your snap cut, and then slowly let run through the hands to cut down on swing.
This knot is really very fluid and quick to tie once you get used to it. I started by practicing it at home before trying it at work, since I had never seen it in any book or course. I suspect that this is probably an old knot that has been overlooked for years by most, but I would love to know if anyone else out there uses this knot. I can honestly say that this is the single best cinching knot I know and I use it for all sorts of things, not just at work. I would love to know what other arborists think of this knot, because I haven't met any others who have even seen it before.
The first picture shows the form of the knot that I usually use, and the last frame shows it with the marl. The next 3 pictures show the other 3 common forms of the knot - without the finished daisy chain. They differ both in how the working end wraps around the standing end, and how the bight is twisted.
Gonna have to try that ... Thanks Muggs 
