how to tie your shoes - duh - been doing it wrong all along

Since redoing the wiring, I am heatshrinking everything. Locked nuts on bolts, fixed the wind indicator that kept coming loose and mended the kitchen scissors broken finger ring.

Usually with deck shoes I cut off the ends and secure with a tight reef knot - always slip them on and off .... but they still come undone now and then, heatshrink the knot could be the answer.
 
prv said:
However, if you've had these particular ones and know they're good, then that's worth knowing about, thanks.
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I've been wearing Dek shoes for sailing for about 40 years, the soles are designed to be non-slip: they have a honeycomb pattern, but circles, not hexagons.

They don't last as long as I would like, but I guess I don't treat them very well.

I found a place to buy outside of eBay, here
 
minsted said:
heatshrink the knot could be the answer.
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The knots on the safety lines on Stavros (the ones you clip onto while climbing out round the crosstrees, for example) are secured inside clear heatshrink to make sure they stay put. The safety lines are made of modern braided climbing rope, to distinguish them from the working lines of the rig, which would use a tarred marline seizing and plenty of black varnish to do the same job.

Pete
 
My shoe tieing tip for those laces that keep coming undone.

Start with the left over right and under.

Pull out one side of the bow as usual, but now go round 2 times before feeding the second loop through.

Ps just tried doing this the strong way but couldn't do it!:eek:
 
I'm delighted to find that I've been doing it right all these years even though I've not given the matter much thought.

We were taught to tie leather laces on boats shoes as per a section of a link above and found that it worked well, though we tied the sides with a reef knot. However, it looks a bit precious: http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/boatshoeknot.htm
 
I prefer to use a bowed version of the thief knot so that I know if anyone has been interfering with my feet if I fall asleep.
 
It works the same if you reverse how you tie the first half of the knot which since I have started doing this always feels odd! but either way you end up with a figure of 8 reef knot as opposed to a granny knot.Same as if you are doing two half hitches which is a reef knot set differently and I always have to remind myself the right way to run the second hitch to avoid a "granny"hitch.
 
Re the original post - I remember everyone in our cub pack had to know basic things - and tying shoelaces was one! Maybe the first inkling of parents being unable to make sure the kids were ready for the world and someone else had to do it. (in mitigation, there were a lot of parents who didn't make it back in 1945, so justified, unlike teachers being lumbered with "not-yet-readies" nowadays).
 
dylanwinter said:
this works - even on leather deck shoe laces

think of it it is a reef bow

http://blog.ted.com/2011/05/20/how-to-tie-your-shoes-terry-moore-on-ted-com/

Dylan
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I was told about this a few months ago and it has certainly transformed my life, in that I'm not tripping over my laces any more...:D

However, I simply could NOT get on with tying the bow the wrong way, so instead, I tie the initial overhand knot the other way, then the bow in the usual fashion. Hey presto!!:)

Thanks, Dylan, for bringing this little-known but vital gem of knowledge to the wider audience!
 
ffiill said:
You are not alone-realised after 58 years that I was tying a granny knot.
I think because my mum taught me and she was useless at tying anything properly.
My dad on the other hand had learned knots as a climber and as RAF ground crew.
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I could accept that he learnt knots as a climber , but as RAF ground crew - things must have been better in the previous millennium - now they can't tie their own shoelaces until taught of the Recruits' course.
Pongo
 
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