The reef knot (square knot in Scouts lingo) is a good binding knot. It's a terrible bend. Scouts teach it as a bend, for some idiotic reason.
replyReefing a sail or tying a parcel, a reef knot the role will fulfill. But joining two ends one should only use bends, And a reef knot's a sure way to kill.
⸻Stuart Grainger, ex-Master Mariner, 1985. Referenced from "The Complete Book of Knots" by Geoffrey Budworth.
Oh good find. It's nice to know I'm not the only one who has had this thought.
replyBut since modern sailboats don't require knots for reefing, and modern parcels don't require tying, I think the use cases for a square knot are now pretty narrow.
Some times I use them to finish off some lashing because they can be easily tied while keeping tension, but that's about it. It's just not qualified for to be the first knot we teach a tenderfoot.
The double-slipped reef knot is a pretty nice shoelace knot. I prefer a more secure variant (a different tying method of the Ian's Secure Shoelace Knot/Turquoise Turtle that's a bit easier for me), but pretty much every kid should learn the double-slipped reef first. Scouts should already know it before they join!
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