How to tie a noose

How to Tie a Hangman’s Noose Knot

For years I have been fascinated with hanging. Yes I realize how morbid that sounds and no I never tortured animals or smaller children in my youth or any other time for that matter. I am talking about the hanging you see in old western movies where bad guys are dealt with at the end of a trial. The act of hanging is both brutal and efficient. The quickness of someone simply taking a short fall into oblivion almost makes the act itself a little less horrific – that is if you can discount the cause of their actual demise and overlook the sound that must accompany their bodies reaching the end of the rope as it were.

I may get some push back on this post, but there are times when I feel our justice system is too complicated, corrupt and doesn’t do one thing that it was designed to do and that is act as a deterrent. Trials go on for years, appeals spawn other appeals and the whole time we are paying for criminals to get an education, to have access to internet, to workout and learn other crimes. In some cases, a simple length of rope would be faster, more efficient, infinitely cheaper and would bring back the public execution that surely would act as a deterrent again. Nothing like watching some bad men hung in the public square to make you think twice about killing someone.

Before I get the angry emails about how many people have been found innocent and are exonerated by DNA evidence let me clarify what I am referring to. I realize that the death sentence isn’t applicable for every crime and I am not suggesting otherwise. I am not advocating we round up some people we think are guilty and find a tall oak tree. I am also not advocating any violence against any person for any reasons other than the proper (community agreed) dispensation of justice after a fair, open and legitimate trial by elected representatives. I am not advocating lynching or terrorizing anyone with this post.

On the other hand in a TEOTWAWKI world which is one we frequently hypothesize about on Final Prepper and other survival blogs – if we are to have some semblance of order we will have to have justice. If society and our framework of government is destroyed, who will dispense with justice? Will we have jails for someone to serve life in prison? Who would pay for that to happen in the first place if we are all scratching to survive? If the grid ever collapses, one way to prevent violence or brutality is to punish those who visit violence upon our community. Hanging might make a comeback.
This is all a theoretical exercise I know but for anyone who was curious like me of how to tie a hangman’s noose, I found the following video. If nothing else, you can learn how to tie this famous knot. You never know if you will need to use it one day.

How To Tie a Hangman’s Noose Knot

Updated by Editorial Staff

Do you want to know how to tie a hangman’s noose knot?

This knot can be useful for more than the way everything thinks. It’s used often by fishermen to wrap the noose around the dock. It can be even be used for general purposes around the homestead.

I’ve even heard people make the argument that the justice system is too complicated and too expensive. That we should just tie a hangman’s noose knot and use that as punishment. Well, it would definitely make things faster and less expensive.

Instructions

It’s easy to make, easy to secure, and easy to adjust. Here’s how you do it.

Hangman’s Noose Knot Instructions

Total Time: 5 minutes

Make a Bite With Long End

Make sure to have your long working end to be at least 12 inches long. Take the long end and make a bite, then another bite in the opposite direction.

Wrap Rope Around

Wrap the rope around away from the first bite you made.

Continue Wrapping

You’re going to repeat step 2 until you wrap it around at least 7 times. Only a short portion of your long working end should be left.

Pull To Tighten Knot

Only a short portion of your long working end should be left. Take the remaining couple of inches and feed it through the second bite. Then pull your loop to tighten the wraps.

After completing those steps, you now have a slip knot. You can pull one side of your loop to increase the radius of the loop. If you want less radius, just pull the rope on the opposite side of the noose.

Here’s the video tutorial.

Conclusion

This loop is easy to make and works well specifically for sailors and fishermen.

We hope this article helped you learn how to tie a hangman’s noose knot. You may also want to see our guide on how to make a paracord snake knot.

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About Editorial Staff

Editorial Staff at The Survival Journal is a team of survival experts in a range of survival expertise from wilderness survival, disaster preparedness, to preparing for the next financial collapse.

How to Tie a Hangman’s Noose Knot

Last Updated on January 6, 2021

For years I have been fascinated with hanging. Yes, I realize how morbid that sounds, and no I never tortured animals or smaller children in my youth or any other time for that matter. I am talking about the hanging you see in old western movies where bad guys are dealt with at the end of a trial. The act of hanging is both brutal and efficient. The quickness of someone simply taking a short fall into oblivion almost makes the act itself a little less horrific – that is if you can discount the cause of their actual demise and overlook the sound that must accompany their bodies reaching the end of the rope as it were.

I may get some push back on this post, but there are times when I feel our justice system is too complicated, corrupt, and doesn’t do one thing that it was designed to do and that acts as a deterrent. Trials go on for years, appeals spawn other appeals, and the whole time we are paying for criminals to get an education, to have access to the internet, to workout, and learn other crimes. In some cases, a simple length of rope would be faster, more efficient, infinitely cheaper, and would bring back the public execution that surely would act as a deterrent again. Nothing like watching some bad men hung in the public square to make you think twice about killing someone.

Before I get the angry emails about how many people have been found innocent and are exonerated by DNA evidence let me clarify what I am referring to. I realize that the death sentence isn’t applicable for every crime and I am not suggesting otherwise. I am not advocating we round up some people we think are guilty and find a tall oak tree. I am also not advocating any violence against any person for any reasons other than the proper (community agreed) dispensation of justice after a fair, open, and legitimate trial by elected representatives. I am not advocating lynching or terrorizing anyone with this post.

On the other hand in a TEOTWAWKI world which is one we frequently hypothesize about on The Prepper Journal and other survival blogs – if we are to have some semblance of order we will have to have justice. If society and our framework of government are destroyed, who will dispense with justice? Will we have jails for someone to serve life in prison? Who would pay for that to happen in the first place if we are all scratching to survive? If the grid ever collapses, one way to prevent violence or brutality is to punish those who visit violence upon our community. Hanging might make a comeback.

This is all a theoretical exercise I know but for anyone who was curious like me of how to tie a hangman’s noose, I found the following video. If nothing else, you can learn how to tie this famous knot. You never know if you will need to use it one day.

How to tie a noose

1 Place the rope on a flat surface in the shape of the letter «C.» Find a durable rope that is at least three feet long.

2 Form an «S» shape with the rope. Leave the lead of the rope (the bottom part of the «S») long so that you can tie it to something when you’ve made the noose.

3 Form an «S» shape with the rope. Leave the lead of the rope (the bottom part of the «S») long so that you can tie it to something when you’ve made the noose.

4 Pinch the three lines of rope together in the middle. Pinch them tightly until the ends fan out to create a bow-tie effect.

5 Take the top of the original «C» and wrap it around the pinched space. Wrap it from the right side to the left, leaving about three to four inches of the rope unwrapped. You should be left with a loop and a string on the left end, and just a loop on the right end of the «bow tie.»

6 Poke the end of the rope through the top of the loop left by the «S».

7 Pinch the coiled part of the rope. Use your thumb to hold down the short piece of rope that you just worked through the loop on the left-hand side so it bends over the loop.

8 Pull the loop on the right-hand side of the bow until it closes the loop on the left. If this part of the loop begins to pull on the free rope instead of the loop, pull on the other side of the bow.

9 Adjust the noose. Adjust the noose until the coils look nice and tight and the loop is the size you wanted.

10 Use the noose wisely. Don’t use it on yourself or others—not even as a joke. Use the noose for a Halloween decoration, or when you’re fishing or boating.

1 Place the rope on a flat surface in the shape of the letter «C.» Find a durable rope that is at least three feet long.

2 Form an «S» shape with the rope. Leave the lead of the rope (the bottom part of the «S») long so that you can tie it to something when you’ve made the noose.

3 Form an «S» shape with the rope. Leave the lead of the rope (the bottom part of the «S») long so that you can tie it to something when you’ve made the noose.

4 Pinch the three lines of rope together in the middle. Pinch them tightly until the ends fan out to create a bow-tie effect.

5 Take the top of the original «C» and wrap it around the pinched space. Wrap it from the right side to the left, leaving about three to four inches of the rope unwrapped. You should be left with a loop and a string on the left end, and just a loop on the right end of the «bow tie.»

6 Poke the end of the rope through the top of the loop left by the «S».

7 Pinch the coiled part of the rope. Use your thumb to hold down the short piece of rope that you just worked through the loop on the left-hand side so it bends over the loop.

8 Pull the loop on the right-hand side of the bow until it closes the loop on the left. If this part of the loop begins to pull on the free rope instead of the loop, pull on the other side of the bow.

9 Adjust the noose. Adjust the noose until the coils look nice and tight and the loop is the size you wanted.

10 Use the noose wisely. Don’t use it on yourself or others—not even as a joke. Use the noose for a Halloween decoration, or when you’re fishing or boating.

Shoelace Knots

Want to learn how to tie your shoes? Whether you’re after shoelace tying speed, simplicity, security or style, here’s twenty-five different shoelace knots to choose from – including several that I’ve created.

NOTE: Don’t be put off by this daunting collection – most people only need to learn one “regular” knot and perhaps one “secure” knot. Other choices can also help when teaching children, particularly if the child is frustrated by the “regular” shoelace knot technique.

25 Different Ways To Tie Shoes

SECTION 1 – Regular Shoelace Knots

Also known as the “Bunny Rabbit” or the “Loop, Swoop and Pull” knot, this is probably the most common method for tying shoes. Make a loop with one end, wrap the other end around and pull a loop through the “hole” in the middle.

Also known as the “Bunny Ears” shoelace knot (due to its two loops) or as the “Bowknot”. Make a loop with both ends, then simply tie a knot with them. It’s often tied incorrectly, resulting in an un-balanced Granny Knot.

My own Ian Knot (yes – I’m the inventor) is the World’s Fastest Shoelace Knot. Make a loop with both ends and simultaneously pull them through each other to form an almost instant knot. Recommended!

SECTION 2 – Secure Shoelace Knots

Also known as the “Double Slip Knot”, this is a secure shoelace knot with a simple, symmetrical method of tying. Cross two loops and pass them both through the “hole” in the middle. Recommended!

Also known as the “Tibetan Trekking Knot” or “Sherpa Knot”, this is the most common secure shoelace knot. Make a Standard Shoelace Knot, but before pulling tight, run the loop around and through the middle for a second time.

Also known as the “Shoemaker’s Knot”, this is a lesser known secure shoelace knot. Make a Two Loop Shoelace Knot, but before pulling tight, pass the loop and adjacent loose end through the middle for a second time.

Another secure knot variation, again based on looping around more than once. Begin as for the Standard Shoelace Knot, only loop around twice before pulling through the loops thus made.

This is yet another of the secure knots on which my own Ian’s Secure Shoelace Knot is based. Make an “O” and pass a loop through it from both the front and the back.

Also known as the “Double Shoestring Knot”, this is a secure knot popularized by Olga Berluti. Begin as per the Standard Shoelace Knot and finish by feeding the opposite loop through the middle before tightening.

Also known as the “Shoe Clerk’s Knot”, this is a crude method of making a knot “permanent” or for consuming excess lace to keep the ends from dragging. Tie a Standard Shoelace Knot, then tie a half knot with the finished loops.

By hanging onto the loops and repeating the Ian Knot technique, the result is the more secure Double Ian Shoelace Knot. This is also handy for consuming excess lace to keep the ends from dragging.

This is a more secure variation of my Ian Knot. Make a double-loop with both ends and simultaneously pull them through each other. The result is super-secure, though nowhere near as fast as the regular Ian Knot.

This knot is made in two distinct stages. Make and secure one loop, then make and secure the other loop. The result is slightly more secure because it’s less likely for both stages to come undone.

Also known as the “Klets Knot”, this method makes any regular shoelace knot more secure. Tie a Standard Shoelace Knot (or even an Ian Knot), then feed one loop through the other loop and pull it tight like a noose.

SECTION 3 – Starting Knots

Most of the shoelace knots shown on this website begin with the same “Left-over-Right Starting Knot”. Here’s how to tie this basic knot, known as a “Half Knot”.

The Double Starting Knot holds tighter, which is great when tying slippery shoelaces or when learning new knots – especially for kids. Begin as for a regular Starting Knot, then wrap around for a second time.

Ian’s fast way to tie the foundation of most shoelace knots, using a mirrored “Ian Knot” technique with the ends then pulled all the way through. Recommended!

SECTION 4 – Special Purpose Shoelace Knots

Commonly used on moccasins and slippers, this knot is decorative only and does not hold tight. Two loops are crossed at the middle, then secured with a simple half knot.

Ian’s faster technique for tying the decorative shoelace bow commonly used on moccasins and slippers. A “loop” and a “noose” are simultaneously formed and pushed through each other.

Often used on boat shoes (deck shoes) or moccasins with leather laces, the “Heaving Line Knot” creates decorative coils instead of knots. Each end is simply coiled around itself until all remaining lace is consumed.

A decorative knot that makes the perfect finishing touch for a Halloween outfit or for other “creepy” occasions. Tie your shoelaces with these miniature “Hangman’s Nooses”.

Here’s a simple knot for tying shoes with one hand. Lace the shoe with the bottom end permanently tied off, then secure the top end with a simple loop knot.

The Reef Knot is basically a Standard Shoelace Knot minus the loops. This is useful when the ends are not long enough to tie a regular bow, such as when a shoelace has broken. Also known as a “Square Knot”.

Created in conjunction with PUMA in Sep-2017 in support of marriage equality in Australia. Consists of my Ian’s Secure Shoelace Knot (with its central “Equality” symbol “=”) symbolically tied at the side of the shoe.

SECTION 5 – Other Knots

This knot is a curiosity that often results from tying the Ian Knot incorrectly. Twisting the loops in the wrong direction results in a knot with the ends crossed within the knot. It seems more secure – but can easily fall apart.

Related Links

Check that you’re not tying a “Granny Knot”, which sits crooked and comes undone.

Helpful tips for teaching children how to tie their shoelaces.