The Cat's paw is a

knot A knot is an intentional complication in Rope, cordage which may be practical or decorative, or both. Practical knots are classified by function, including List of hitch knots, hitches, List of bend knots, bends, List of loop knots, loop knots, ...

used for connecting a rope to an object. It is very similar to the

cow hitch The cow hitch, also called the lark's head, is a hitch knot used to attach a rope to an object. The cow hitch comprises a pair of single hitches tied in opposing directions, as compared to the clove hitch in which the single hitches are tied i ...

except there is an additional twist on each side of the bight, making it less prone to slipping.

Uses

* Attaching a sling (a rope that has been formed into a continuous loop) to a hook

Comments

The knot balances the load between the two halves of the hitch, and is used in wharfs and docks. If one half fails, the other should hold until the load can be safely and swiftly lowered to the ground. When the sling is long the knot can be pre-formed in anywhere in it, then slid over the end of a hook or post.

Structure

Formed from a bight turned up over itself (like a girth hitch) but with extra twists on each side to achieve the desired friction.

Tying

Method 1

Form a bight in the middle of the line, and pull it back over itself like a girth hitch. This forms two loops, turned in opposite directions. Convert each loop into an

elbow The elbow is the region between the upper arm and the forearm that surrounds the elbow joint. The elbow includes prominent landmarks such as the olecranon, the cubital fossa (also called the chelidon, or the elbow pit), and the lateral and t ...

by adding a twist in the direction that will tend to tighten them (the wrong direction will undo the loop completely). Pass both

over the hook, rail or post and pull tight, taking care to push the bight up snugly against the turns.

Method 2

If working end of the line has an eye in it, and the standing end is accessible, the knot can be tied to a closed ring, another eye, or a rail with inaccessible ends, as follows. Pass the eye around the ring or rail, then pass the standing end through its own eye (this effectively forms a girth hitch). Then pass the standing end through the eye again, and pull up tight, taking care to push the bight up snugly against the turns. When using the cat's paw to join two eyes, this process may be repeated several times to give several turns - as many as five in a fine fishing monofilament. Then when tightened, instead of pulling the bight up against the turns, both eyes are pulled equally, to make neat coils of turns in both eyes, meeting halfway between them.

References

External links

Beknotty - Cat's paw
{{Knots