Diamondback Knot

Started by GClev, March 04, 2019, 10:12:52 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

GClev



This isn't a claim that this knot is better than any other puzzle knot, as this one uses a doubled leader, but it's so rare to come across another high-testing knot that can be tied on a windy deck and even finished without reading glasses.  Knots that pull 100% are few and far between.  How many do you get in a lifetime?  This knot needs a few good knot heads to check it out, bust my bubble, and tell me it breaks at 33% or something. Don't cut yourself.

Ashley's Book commits an entire chapter to Turk's head windings.

This is a moderately difficult knot to tie, from the complex "under-and-over" pattern of Turk's head winding in its center section, a cross-hatch pattern that bites mono.  Another newer knot, the FG uses Ashley's Turk's head knot, but the diamondback knot is far easier to start, hold, and tighten, thanks to the constrictor at the very beginning and a goof-proof finish that requires zero small whippings.  It tightens without slipping off of anything ever?  It tightens every time?  It never slips off?  Both tag ends are buried deep in the knot?  It does not come untied?  It needs critical peer review by you, fellow knot heads, because it doesn't break easy in almost any braid/mono combo.

Try this knot in leaders from 12-200#.  Today, a fresh one, tying a short piece of Ande 12# mono at both ends with diamondback knots to 30# Line One braid, then stretching it with a 14# dumbbell (two 5s and the handle) swinging from a stairway.  The the 12# lifted the weight off the ground while making high-pitched "tink, tink" sounds.  I could see the line stretching now at 110% of rated strength.  Finally it broke.  The Line One parted, cut by mono?, near the knot after lifting 14# for more than 4 seconds.  I learned a lesson.  Never set the drag at 14#  for 12# line.

I'm not going to swing 50# test and a 60# weight under the stairs today.  Well, maybe not.

The constrictor knot is self-centering and ties easily right in the middle of a Bimini for a symmetrical double line big rig.  The knot can be finished without taking the lure off the other end of the leader, if desired, thanks to the user defined loop size.  Part package knot, part turk's head, and the simple snake-eats-its-tail finish, an old-guy trick borrowed with glee from another common heaving bend, tied on a bight, this is a combo knot that came directly from concatenating Ashley's work and applying it to the braid revolution of the 1990s.  And the knot, it was good.

There are at least six ways to tie a constrictor, but here's a fave for a fast sure tie on a single line or a crossed loop double that should get anyone to step 2 quickly.





boon

For most intents and purposes this is an FG knot except it starts with the constrictor knot. Try tieing it without doubleing the mono and let me know how it goes  ???
I dare say it's trading off the "clunk" of doubled mono going through the guides against reducing the chances of it sliding off the end of the mono.

Decker

#2
GClev, thanks for posting these.  The drawings are very nice, but came up very light for me.  I downloaded them and darkened them.