Talk:Half hitch

Merge with Single Hitch(?)
"Half hitch" is the most commonly used name. --Zumbo 23:07, 17 Mar 2005 (UTC)


 * Move &mdash; Half hitch is the more general name. Gareth Hughes 15:30, 21 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Support - violet/riga (t) 19:39, 21 Mar 2005 (UTC)
 * Support WikiTryHardDieHard (talk) 20:10, 7 February 2013 (UTC)

I'm inclined to say that half hitch is the most commonly used name as well--at least in the sailing world. Mattjm 02:52, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

By all means, combine the two. Half Hitch is the commonly used name in Scout Pioneering. Larry Green 04:28, 17 June, 2013 (UTC)


 * The merger proposal was based on the assumption that these two knots are the same. I corrected single hitch and removed the merger hints. I hope I didn't act too hastily.--Tminus7 (talk) 16:10, 3 August 2015 (UTC)

Half Hitch vs Marline Hitch graphic
The two graphics in this article appear contradictory. If the drawing is correct, then the photo is of a marline hitch, not a half-hitch. If the photo is correct, then the drawing must have the marline and half hitch labels the wrong way around. 210.15.222.202 (talk) 02:46, 17 April 2018 (UTC)


 * I added the drawing to the page; it's from a mid-20th-century U.S. Navy textbook.


 * I'm sort of new to knots, but the drawing and photo don't appear to be contradictory to me. If I'm using the vocabulary correctly, the difference is that in the photo, the standing part is held perpendicularly away from the object the knot is tied around, whereas in the drawing the standing part is running parallel to the object the knot is tied around. -- ▸₷ truthious Ⓑ andersnatch ◂ 11:20, 17 April 2018 (UTC)


 * I agree that the image is from a Navy textbook, but I think it's, well, wrong. The knot shown for a half hitch is only dimly a knot at all; the two ends of the rope have been twisted.  It holds together only because tension is held on one or both ends.  It appears to match ABOK 49, the SINGLE HITCH, also shown in compound form in ABOK 2074.  A half hitch, ABOK 50 (and others), has the working end looped around the standing part, and then passed under itself.  A half hitch collapses to an overhand knot, ABOK 46 (and others), and then if you continue manipulating it, to a MARLINE HITCH, shown in compound form in ABOK 2075.  (Unfortunately, ABOK does not seem to show a single MARLINE HITCH.  The other reference, ABOK 441, is an application and does not show details of the knot, and cross-references (apparently incorrectly) to ABOK 2030, the MARLINGSPIKE HITCH.)


 * Note that if you take the "half hitch" in this diagram and apply it twice, you do not get an ABOK 1710 TWO HALF HITCHES.


 * Also: Whether or not the diagram is appropriate, it doesn't seem necessary to repeat it on List of hitch knots.


 * Jordan Brown (talk) 01:15, 28 January 2020 (UTC)


 * If the drawing is wrong then I have no objection to it being removed. ▸₷ truthious Ⓑ andersnatch ◂ 04:39, 29 January 2020 (UTC)


 * I think it is, and I think I can back that up by reference to ABOK, but I'm far from a knot expert. Anybody else around who can say? Jordan Brown (talk) 18:02, 29 January 2020 (UTC)


 * I'm going to have to agree, the pictures are contradictory. These knots, their names, and their use in sailing predate convention and standards, I'm guessing what happened was that some people called it a marline hitch while most others called it a half hitch and the Navy just picked up the term that didn't come into standard use. Also, just judging by the book's drawing use of a drawing, rather than a photograph or vector image, I'm inclined to think the book was pretty old/outdated and potentially contains errors not fixed until later editions. Since everyone seems to be in agreement, I'm going to remove the image.AbyssopalegicIdeas (talk) 01:02, 15 August 2020 (UTC)

Half hitch and single hitch confusion, and the mention of the clove hitch
I've been working through articles trying to clear up the confusion between half hitches and single hitches. As described in this page by the Ashley Book of Knots, a half hitch consists of a turn around an object, followed by a single hitch tied to the rope's standing part – making the structure of an overhand knot (aka "half" knot, and hence the name.)

But the article then goes on to describe the Clove hitch and the knot Two half-hitches using confused terminology between half hitch and single hitch, taking the half hitch to just be the final turn of the knot rather than the whole thing.

I'll work out an amendment to the article to try and iron out the confusion. 2601:405:8400:68E:C4B7:4793:1665:8ED3 (talk) 10:19, 23 January 2023 (UTC)


 * Amendment finished. I ended up removing mention to the clove hitch, since the detail of the knot Two half-hitches being also made up of a clove hitch on its standing part isn't actually relevant to this article. 2601:405:8400:283:D49C:A020:7E81:50FA (talk) 11:55, 23 January 2023 (UTC)