Does it really matter?

Sheet bends have no place near anything life-supporting. No matter how you tie them, they slip. Thanks to Knotopedia for the thumbnail image. Check 'em out on Facebook, IG, or at https://knotspedia.com/ 4 years ago we made a video testing 13 knots that someone sent us. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dagg2-If4h8 According to over a hundred comments, they had tied the sheet bend “Wrong”. Apparently, both tails are supposed to be on the same side. Looking into it, the knot we tested was indeed a sheep bend, but the left-handed version. ABOK 1432. Old Cliff says it is less reliable than the right-handed sheep bend (ABOK 1431) that has the tails on the right side. The sheet bend is super similar to the Bowline. Ashley is partially responsible for spreading the myth that a bowline with the tail on the inside is stronger than one with the tail on the outside. With modern ropes, no one, including us, has been able to show that having the tail on one side or the other makes any difference to the strength of the bowline. So we figured that the sheet bend would give us similar results. And we were right with similar diameters of modern rope. Both the left and right-handed sheet bend slip at really low forces. A double fisherman’s is up to 75% stronger in our tests. Find the cords we tested with here. https://hownot2.com/collections/accessory-cord But with a larger difference in diameter, we did see a difference. The right-handed sheet bend held on much better than the left-handed version. This is starting to make sense where the myth came from. Sheet is an old word referring to rigging sails. The sheet bend is a pretty useful knot for attaching a cord to a tarp and is often used to tarp loads or make shelters. What about a double or triple sheet bend? They are stronger but they still slip. And they aren’t as strong as a double fisherman. In cords of similar diameter, right didn’t appear to be any stronger. We thought that, like a bowline, the Sheet bend might be easier to untie. Nope. At the forces the knots slip they are extremely difficult to untie. It does appear that really setting the sheet bends does make them more likely to slip than break, vs just slip out. But in the same force range. All the rope and cord we tested is available at https://hownot2.com 👉 Learn and SHOP at https://www.hownot2.com/ 👉 Best EMAILS on Earth: https://www.hownot2.com/signup 👉 10% off ROCKY TALKIE by clicking https://www.hownot2.com/rocky 👉 Learn and SHOP at https://www.hownot2.com/ 👉 Best EMAILS on Earth: https://www.hownot2.com/signup 👉 10% off ROCKY TALKIE by clicking https://www.hownot2.com/rocky