Overhand Knot Anatomy
Even though the overhand is the simplest of knots, it has various parts that being able to separately identify and name can be beneficial. If expanding on, elaborating, manipulating, or interlinking an overhand, it is helpful to have the language to describe what and where the landmarks are so there would be fewer “do as illustrated” instructions.
Before tightening an overhand knot there are a few ways to look at it. The overhand heart, is how I think of the overhand laid flat. The overhand eye is the knot turned 90° such the the heart’s cross is facing upwards. To complete the set, the overhand circle is just a loose, relaxed, and unstaged overhand knot.
To the left are the externally visible landmarks of the tightened knot. I also think of the part with the cross as the front of the overhand.
Nomenclature with a Twist
The previous page already had a
nomenclature section, why is there another
one here? Well, on the previous page I was trying to deliver
information in a calm and semi-professional manner.
Here, though, the surface has been scratched to reveal
the knot nerd and now I'm going to rant for a bit. 😶🌫️🥸🤓 I'm
going to rant about how and why I don't like the name "overhand"!
(skip the unhinged rant)
If you recall from the cord
anatomy diagram, the term "overhand loop" refers to "a
closed loop where the working end passes
over the standing part" while
"underhand loop" refers to "a closed loop where the working end
passes under the standing part."
Therefore, in the images below, if you think of the black side as
the standing end and the white side as the working end, then the
name of the knot in question is more dependent on how the
tyer executed the knot and less the final resulting configuration.
Also, have you ever heard of an
Underhand Knot?
What does that mean? Consider if you were a lefthanded knot
tyer. Then, your standing end would likely be on the right side
of the knot rather than the left, like so:
A quick inspection shows that the underhand (right) is the same as
the overhand (left) and vice versa.
To continue to add to the confusion, what if instead of tying
your knot with the loop below the free ends you decided to tie
your knot with the loop above like so?
Tilting your head should show that right-handed up tyers get the
same result as left-handed down tyers.
The use of the term overhand which is related to the perspective of the tyer when they are tying the knot does not actually tell you the independent configuration of the knot! Additionally, the overhand/underhand distinction is important as anyone trying to teach you the difference between a reef knot and a granny knot will tell you.
There are other names. I listed a few for you before. "Simple" is too indistinct and more likely to be interpreted as a descriptor rather than a name. This leaves "thumb" which would work if not for "overhand" being overwhelmingly more common. I suppose I could get over the technicality that underhand knots are being called overhand knots although it is important to be able to distinguish "left handed" vs "right handed" knots.
A thought that I had to soften my issues with overhand and underhand was to abbreviate "overhand" to OH. Most people would look at "OH" and guess that I was probably thinking OverHand. Additionally, the first syllable of "knot" in Korean, 매듭, looks very much like "OH", which I find pleasing for what is probably very childish reasons? 😅 Thus, the change to "OH" while also thinking of 매 overwhelms the "underhand" niggles. 🤪
S and Z
Crosscultural visual puns to fix my terminology discomfort, though, do not help with our knot orientation issues. For that we turn to the S and Z of textile twists.
Looking at your subject vertically, the tilt of the twist that aligns with the slant of the middle of the appropriate letter gives you the label for your twist.
By definition, with your standing end below, loop your working end upwards, then back down to cross over your standing. Crossing over left to right results in a Z-Overhand and crossing over right to left results in a S-Overhand.
Notice that if we ignore the handedness, which is to say which end is the standing end, then the S knots and the Z knots are identical (which is what we were after, all along!). Saying that another way: S and Z knots are oriented independent of construction defined handedness.
The Half-Knot
The Trefoil Knot
Mathematicians require knots to be without loose ends. The “cord” ends must be joined. Thus the knot theory version of the overhand is the trefoil knot.
