Barrel knots made simple

Some people struggle with correctly tying barrel knots, aka stopper knots or fisherman’s knots. Here’s how I do it to create the perfect barrel with ease.

Start by tying an overhand knot. Yes, the same one you use on your shoes everyday. Instead of cinching it down right away, make another pass through the body of the knot. Tighten by pulling the tail and the standing end. Voila, you made a barrel knot!

Truth be told, lots of knots will work to prevent you from rappelling off the ends of your rope or dropping your partner while lowering. Why bother tying a proper barrel knot if just about anything will do? I believe it comes down to intention and commitment. If you’re tying to do something and don’t get it quite right, should you let it be or should you learn how to do it properly? Maybe it’s super good enough for the application, but what about next time? Will it still work? Are you even aware you messed up? By being intentional and committing to learning the correct ways to do things we establish a solid foundation of skills that can serve us well into the future.