Important Shit is a new series of posts highlighting seemingly unimportant shit that I think is interesting. First up, how to tie a Monkey’s Fist. You never know when you need to add some weight to a line to deploy it as a weapon a la Steven Seagal Out For Justice. Or maybe you want to learn this just to kill some time. Either way, this is some pretty important shit. Enjoy.
Oh, one last thing, you might want to mute the video – music is terrible.
Top Marks. I saw some old sea dog make one of these ona boat once when i was growing up. He used a walnut inside.
My brother used to make these growing up—and then whack me with them.
Awesome.
Makes a great pull for a drawstring / zipper / etc.
Without the weight of course.
You would more than likely not lose any readers if you did not use profanity. But those of us who would rather read someone who can express themselves without resorting to p[profanity will move on.
Honestly if the word shit offends you, I would prefer you not drag your delicate sensibilities across my corner of the internet. This is me waving goodbye!
@ Nick S. – thanks for the mention of the walnut. That seems to be an easier-to-find piece than a solid brass (?) sphere.
Bring on the genius shit! Love this michael!
Could you make cufflink knots this way? It looks like a similar knot on a larger scale.
Shit.
This is like, ultra-secret CIA shit. Whoever made/leaked this video is worse than wikileaks.
Good shit. Gives me hope that people still want to make and learn things that don’t always require a computer. With the lessons on Youtube, it’s kind of go online, to get back offline?
I have a better shot at preforming brain surgery than trying to do that on my own.
Reminds me of those door weights / stoppers they sell at Labor and Wait…I’m trying this out I have a great spool of thick black nylon cord I could use.
Kenyan
I love this, but if you’ve even tried tying this once, I’ll eat my hat.
;)
@russell: I’ve made cufflinks this way, but it’s hard. Hemostats are essential.
Did I just see knotted cufflinks at Brooks Brothers? Elastic and silk If I remember correctly. It was the first time Id ever seen anything like that and thought it was quite clever.
Unfortunately BBs version kinda looked like some cheap point of purchase shit. Either way, love the idea @russell and @art.
my first tattoo was of a monkey’s fist knot. fun fact: they used to be outlawed for landlubbers because of the of great potential for melee weaponry. on the other hand: they were the first and only the thing thrown to men-over-board as a means of rescue.
patgig:
ever read Shakespeare? he used profanity all the time in his writing. profanity has power and thus it’s sacredness and impact. words on their own do not impart illicitness, but rather the reaction of the reader to such words begets grudges.
Dude. Love your shit always. This video sucked. Sorry.
There are precious few hand-made tools with the mad brawling history of the monkeys fist.
Fabulous feces, indeed.
For the core- try the lead from a wheel weight, beaten to a sphere. On the ship we used lead slugs from the anchor chain swivel.
There is something satisfying about the heft of a Monkey’s Fist vice the soft plastic ball’s that have replaced them.
More important fecal matter please, Michael.
DB
@DY: Brooks even has multi-colored knots. I can’t quite get my head around that one. Anyway, knot links are not that uncommon. The last shirt I got from Land’s End included a pair. I find them to be a subtle statement of rebellion against garish novelty cufflinks.
i really appreciate that he left enough rope to hang himself
Well I know what I’ll be doing this afternoon
Dude, that’s my favorite song! Good poop…err, shit!
I love nots. Such an amazing old-world craft.
I kind of liked the music.
animatedknots.com
a pretty good resource, beats playing a youtube video over and over since you can arrow back and forward between steps.
Just in time for holiday shopping. That’s definitely some important shit.
Looking forward to the Important Shit series. Not only does the name not offend my sensibilities, the name makes me want to click on all your advertiser links and buy stuff from them. :)
Paul Smith for the knot cufflinks. Always.
Knots are important. I have tried and tried to stop using
Profanity and it’s too fucking hard. And I like it!
George Carlin covered this. As always, Thanks.
Haha so now I know how to tie my Japanese girlfriend up
Great stuff any more techniques !
I had no idea Monkey Fists were used for weapons, I just thought they were used to deploy my canopy. Thanks for the education.
…fucking awesome. I could watch knot videos for a while.
Clove hitch is my favorite: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=na-8lj26mCs
and indispensable for climbing anchors
Just tied my first Fist yesterday. It is really pretty simple. You can pretty much follow the video at the same speed and not screw up. Crucial caca for sure.