How to Tie a Long 4 Bight Turk's Head Knot

More knotty stuff on my blog:  http://stormdrane.blogspot.com

*Note that long Turk's head knots can take a lot of time, sometimes hours to complete, in gradually tightening up the knot and keeping it neat as you work, so anyone looking for a quick and easy project should look for smaller knots to tie.

The video shows the process of tying a single pass of a 21 lead 4 bight Turk's head knot, using a length of paracord.  A 2 bight Turk's head knot is tied first, then the knot is 'raised' to a 4 bight knot.  The example shown was tied with about 8 feet of paracord around a 1/2" diameter sized length of PVC pipe.  More cord would be needed to double or triple the knot or tie it around a larger diameter object like a walking cane, hiking staff/stave, support pole, stair railing, etc..  The knot can be tied shorter or longer by the number of initial turns made around your object/mandrel.  The ends are usually trimmed and tucked to finish, but finishing methods can include sewing, melting, or gluing depending on the project and materials used.

The video was made to help those that had asked me for assistance when they couldn't quite complete the knot when following a Bud Brewer tutorial, shown on the KHWW.net website.  So between the two, the video may offer enough info to better get the hang of tying the knot, straighten out the crossings neatly, before tightening it down over whatever object it's tied over.

The knot can be both decorative and useful, being tied around flashlights, knife handles, sheaths, and other gadgets and gear, or used as lanyards/fobs, even bracelets.  Some examples I've tied are shown towards the end of the video.

Make use of the 'Pause' button if necessary and you can always go forward and back using the video play bar.  I do not speak out loud during video tutorials, informational text annotations are added in, so you can mute the sound, listen to the ambient background noise, or listen to music, TV, news, etc.. while you watch the video.  Constructive criticism is always welcomed, but some folks will always find something to complain about, so for those that send me hate mail, the challenge is for YOU to make a better instructable the way YOU want it made...

Knot Responsibly  ;)