Talk:Cowboy bowline

Tail rule of thumb
12 times longer? On a round loop that's a foot across, that would be something like 40 feet of loose rope! ("Good thing you followed that rule of thumb, sailor! The first 35 feet slipped through the knot, but there were still those magical five feet of rope left.")  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Xkcd (talk • contribs) 00:23, 8 September 2007 (UTC)


 * They don't say circumference of what. Maybe they mean 12x the circumference of the rope.  For a 10.5mm rope, that's about 3cm circumference, so 40cm of tail, which seems reasonable.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.231.59.254 (talk) 20:06, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Ok that makes more sense. Can someone change it to say circumference of the rope? I don't think it needs to be the circumference of the loop. That's ridiculous. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.46.70.94 (talk) 22:17, 26 March 2013 (UTC)

Merge from left-hand bowline
I think the article Left-hand bowline describes the same knot with a different slant on it's usefulness. We should make the Left-hand bowline point here and incorporate its text, but everything needs references first anyway to verify these really are the same knot. Rodfreier (talk) 08:17, 24 July 2008 (UTC)


 * I did the merge because I'm pretty sure myself that they're all the same knot, but emboldened especially by the fact that the same ABoK number is listed in both articles. Walrus heart (talk) 14:37, 8 September 2008 (UTC)

Rope strenght
According to my own experiments cowboy bowline weakens the rope more that the original bowline, but i'm not an authority... so if you find anything related to this issue from a trusted source please include it, because I saw this knot used more often, disregarding this.

Nodurosul (talk) 15:34, 31 January 2009 (UTC)
 * I think the jury will never decide on that issue without someone doing serious scientific research. Clifford Ashley, who is cited in the article, provides no reasons for his verdict. --Netizen (talk) 17:25, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

Left-Hand vs. Left-Handed
ABoK refers to the Cowboy Bowline as "Left-Hand Bowline". I think the change to "Left-Handed" (which I have now corrected) was an error that crept in during the merge with the article, correctly titled, "Left-Hand Bowline". Left or right-handed refers to handedness or chirality in my experience, especially as it pertains to geometric considerations. Thus, there are right and left-handed Bowlines, both of which are ABoK #1010 (and are mirror images of one another) as well as right and left-handed Cowboy Bowlines, both of which are ABoK #1034.5 (and are also mirror images of one another). It is unfortunate in my estimation that ABoK used the label "Left-Hand" for the Cowboy Bowline given that there are right and left-handed versions of most knots. Somewhat amusing is the fact that a left-handed person would not tie the knot as shown, but, instead tie its mirror image. Thus, the knot shown is the right-handed version of the "Left-Hand Bowline". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.235.213.241 (talk) 18:59, 2 October 2011 (UTC)