How to Tie a Whipping Knot

Put this on the list of things you didn’t know but need to learn; How to Tie a Whipping Knot. My son was taught this very useful knot at his last scout meeting. The whipping knot is used on ropes you want to keep from fraying.

He was taught the BSA method so it may differ from other methods you find, but with the same results. The Whipping Knot keeps the ends of a rope from becoming undone and fraying on the ends. This can be very useful when trying to make an emergency shelter or to keep your ropes in good condition. This is not a permanent solution to a fraying rope, but will work temporarily.

Materials

• Rope
• String or Twine
• Scissors/Utility Knife

How to Tie a Whipping Knot

Step One

Cut a piece of string to about 15-16 inches in length. Make a loop with the string like the picture above.

Step 2

Next, place the string on the rope with the ends of the string laying on top of the rope in opposite directions.

Step 3

Then take the loop of the string and encircle the end of the rope that you do not want to fray.

A few helpful hints on this step. Make sure to have one hand holding tightly to the center the strings where the loop begins and the rope. Your other hand is encircling the rope with the loop of the string. Do this at least 6 times. If you do more, that is alright. Also make sure to pull tightly as you go or all your work will come undone.

And finally make sure the loop of the string goes around the string laying on top of the rope. The loop should go on top of it so that it is covered up as you go. It took me 5 tries to figure out why my knot kept coming undone.

Step 4

This is the tricky step. Take the end of the string on your right and thread it through the loop that is remaining from encircling the end of the rope. Then take the end of the string from the left and the one from the right and pull them tightly.

This will complete the knot if done correctly.

Finish it by cutting off the ends of the string.

Below is a video of How to Tie a Whipping Knot that will help impress any scout with your knot tying skills. Good luck!