As we've already seen, the method for learning a chair knot is often taught on the basis of a story about a well and a snake circling a tree. For our readers who don't suffer from ophiophobia (the fear of snakes), we suggest you refer to the article we dedicated to it: The chair knot, the king of all knots.
Note that this knot has one major drawback: it can only be tied or untied on tension-free rope.
There are many ways to tie a chair knot. Here's a quick and easy way to tie a chair knot in under 5 seconds, even for beginners!
This method is based on a wrist rotation gesture that you'll practice reproducing. By repeating the gesture several times, it will become mechanical and you'll be able to do it with your eyes closed.
A chair knot is tied differently depending on whether the loop is towards you or away from you. For this method, the loop will be directed towards you. In this explanation, we'll use the terms dormant and current.
- The running part of the rope is the one that will be movable (right hand in the photos)
- Dormant part (left hand in the photos) will be the part around which we'll create the knot using the current.
As a reminder, a knot is always the end of a rope that goes under, over and under.
1 - String presentation
For this exercise, performed by a right-handed person, you will use your left hand to hold the sleeper and your right hand to hold the current. The distance between the two hands will determine the size of the bowline. The tip should protrude about twenty centimetres from your right hand.
2 - Making the loop
With the right initial positioning of your fingers, you can create the loop through which your current will flow in a single gesture.
Cross the current over the frame and hold the crossing with your right hand: above, your index finger; below, your thumb.
3 - Forming the knot
You're going to rotate your wrist forward, which in a single movement will produce the famous "snake" that emerges from the "well". The secret of success is to rotate your wrist forward and slightly to the right, so as to send the running rope to the right side of the standing rope.
4 - The well
With your left hand, grasp the frame at the intersection of the loop you've created, thumb on top, index finger underneath.
5 - Close your node
It's your left hand that holds the crossing of ends that forms the "shaft". With your right hand, you grasp the current to make it pass under the "tree" and in the same gesture, make it enter the "well".
6 - Tie your knot
Take the sleeper in your left hand and the current in your right, and weld. Your chair knot is done!
