Directions for Half Hitch Knots

Series Summary

Knot tying is an essential part of climbing and camping. Campers know that it is imperative to know how to tie knots around the campsite. There are many types of knots, including safety knots, and utility knots. Hitches are the quickest and easiest knots to tie and are very helpful utility knots around a campsite. These knots can be used for tying rope to secure tent poles, to secure tarps to trees, and to hang lanterns to tree limbs. Learn how to tie hitch knots in this free video series of knot tying instructions featuring Eagle Scout Derek Tarnow. Derek will demonstrate how to tie a half hitch knot, how to tie a double half hitch knot, how to untie a half hitch, how to tie a taut line hitch, how to use a taut line hitch, how to tie a round turn and double half hitch knot, how to tie a clove hitch knot, how to tie a rolling hitch knot, and how to tie a timber hitch.

Video Transcript

"Alright, the next knot we're going to learn is the half hitch. The half hitch is another like, knot, that is used when making many other different knots, similar to the over hand knot. Anyway, to start, you have the end of rope that you want to have in. Sometimes there's like, you know, this is like a weighted end, like if you had, maybe like your tent fly or you know, a bare bag or something on the other end, over a tree limb or whatever you might have. Anyway, you start, simply by going over this way, and just wrapping around and there you go. And that's a half hitch. It's obvious disadvantage is that, you know, that it's not real stable. So, you wouldn't want to use this knot when any significant load is used, and certainly not anything that someone might get hurt if you, you know, if you used that knot."