The bowline is fairly difficult to learn, but easy once mastered. One begins a bowline by making a loop near the end of the line in which the bowline is desired. Then the other end of the rope is passed up through the center of the loop. The end of the rope that just passed through the loop is then brought around the back of the standing part of the rope. It is then brought down back through the loop it came out of and tightened. To make absolutely sure the knot won't slip, many sources suggest to tie a stopper knot at the end.
Note: Info. on tying bowline came from most sources in bibliography.
A story has evolved that explains how to tie the bowline. The loop is referred to as a rabbit's hole, and the standing rope above it is called the tree. The story goes: "The rabbit goes up the hole, around the tree, and back down into the hole." (http://tqd...& Dr. William Doyle & www.netg... & //infosec...)
Mariners all over the world are well acquainted with the bowline. On board ships it is used in running rigging as well as for actions such as hoisting, joining, and salvage work (//k12.colostate...). Indeed, the bowline has been used since the days of full-rigged sailing ships. There was once a saying the went: "...the devil himself would make a good sailor, if he could only tie a bowline and look aloft."(Ashley Book of Knots and Klutz Book of Knots) Fishers also use the king of knots to tie their fishing lines. On board whaling ships, a bowline is tied around a man's waist to form something called a "monkey rope" if he is going to be lowered over the side of the boat (Ashley Book of Knots). Not only mariners use the bowline, however. Climbers and lifesavers also use this knot because it is very strong and dependable(www.netg.. & www.nottingham...).
While the commonly accepted name for this knot is the bowline, it can also be called the bowling, bolin knot, or bowling's knot. All of the names come from bow line, a rope that holds a square sail forward (Ashley Book of Knots).
There are many variations of the bowline that are tied differently, look slightly different, and are used for different purposes. Some of these are the French bowline, which can be used as a sling, the Portuguese bowline, which can be used in the same way the French bowline can, the slip bowline, which can be easily released, the double bowline, which combines two knots, the Spanish bowline, which can make a chair to sit in, the fool's bowline, which can be used as a sling but is liable to slip and let the person fall, and many other types(Encyclopedia of Knots & Ashley Book of Knots & Dr. William Doyle).
One variation of the bowline in which I am particularly interested is the left-handed bowline. This is the same knot as the normal, or right-handed, bowline except that where, in the right-handed bowline, "the rabbit goes around the tree" from right to left , the rabbit in the left-handed bowline goes from left to right(Ashley Book of Knots & Encyclopedia of Knots & Dr. Peter Doyle)
Many sources say that the left-handed bowline is much more prone to slip and highly inferior to the right-handed bowline (The Ashley Book of Knots and http://k12...). According to these sources, it would break under less pressure than the normal bowline. Yet why do all these respected books think so? Is it really true? No one provides a reason that it will slip or not hold as much weight. It is really the same knot, so why do they say this? Two words may explain this: "tradition" and "superstition." It is easy to have a predjudice against one thing simply because it is not the same as the normal thing. There is no scientific evidence that the left-handed bowline slips under less weight or is worse in any way than the right-handed bowline. However, because the bowline works so well, people naturally think that switching the way the rabbit goes around the tree will make the bowline less strong. There are no grounds for such statements.
When tied correctly, the bowline will most likely not slip until the rope has reached its breaking point (Klutz Book of Knots). The breaking point of a rope is the maximum amount of weight it can hold with any knot without breaking. It is very hard to find many knots that will hold a rope until its breaking point. That is why the bowline is so widely used.
For example, if a bowline was used to tie a boat to a pole at a dock, it would take a very long time for the knot to slip. It would take a lot of jostling and pulling because of heavy winds to make the bowline slip or break. That is why it is so commonly used. If a boat is tied by a bowline, the owner of the boat can feel pretty secure about the boat staying tied to the dock.
Why does the bowline stay so well? The answer is simple: friction. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, friction is "a force tangential to the common boundary of two bodies in contact that resists the motion or tendency to motion of one relative to the other." Basically, when the ropes touch each other, they are two bodies and therefore create friction which keeps the knot from slipping. If there is too much weight, the bowline may break, but it should not slip.
The left-handed bowline actually has more friction than the normal bowline. When the line crosses over to go around the standing line in the opposite direction, it comes in contact with the standing line an extra time. However, this may also work against it. If there is too much pressure on it, it may snap and break the knot.
It is easy for one to see why the bowline is referred to as the "king of knots." It is very strong and rarely slips if tied correctly. It is so useful, there are dozens of variations on it so it can have multiple uses. No wonder there's even a story to teach the youngest child how to tie it!