Some knots are useful, others are decorative. The Turk's head and monkey's fist are both.

The Turk's head is a decorative wrap, used on the helm and elsewhere. The monkey's fist is a throwing line, which helps when mooring. They may look complicated, but both knots are not difficult to tie with a little patience, and a long piece of cord. They also add a salty look to the boat – and reward you with a healthy dose of satisfaction.

The Turk's head is unusual because the working part of the rope (the part that's manipulated) is longer than the standing part of the rope (the rest of the line). While the Turk's head is primarily thought of as a decorative knot, Clifford Ashley, author of The Ashley Book of Knots, classifies it as a binding knot. The term typically describes adding decorative or "fancy" work to a rigging line to keep hands or feet from slipping.

GENE BJERKETurk's Head

The knot's name is thought to come from the extensive interweaving that, when finished, resembles a turban. The work on this knot is endless in nature therefore you can't go wrong if you follow a consistent over one and under one pattern. Some sailors wear Turks as bracelets. I personally use a small one as a slider on the chinstrap of a straw hat. But it is most commonly used for decoration (the Turk's head goes all the way back to Leonardo da Vinci, who depicted them in his work). Traditionally, the "king spoke" of the helm, the uppermost spoke on a vessel's wheel when the rudder is centered, was marked with a Turk's head.

LEADS AND BIGHTS

You will hear Turk's heads described as a series of leads and bights. "Leads" refers to the number of times the cord goes completely around the object you are decorating. Leads can be identified by counting the number of side-by-side strands. The most commonly seen Turk's heads have three leads. "Bights" refers to the number of loops or scallops along one edge of the knot. Five is a common number.

The knot in the illustration accompanying this article is a three-lead, five-bight Turk's head. It is often tied in hand and then slipped over the object it will be applied to before being tightened.

To begin tying the knot, wrap the line around an object and across the standing part (passing it from right to left). Loop around the object again and back under the standing, to the right side. Now tuck the running part back to the left under the first wrap. You will see two wraps, side-by-side, ahead of the part you just tucked; take a bight of the left part and cross it over the right part, while pushing a bight from the right part under it.

Continue over and under at each bight.

After a few tucks you will reach the point where you began. Continue by following the original line all the way around the knot to double–and eventually triple–the leads.

For a neat knot, keep the leads from crossing. They should all lie next to each other. You can continue for as much of line – or as much of the time – that you have. If you plan to make a lot of leads, start with a very loose knot. It will tighten as you continue tucking.

When you get back to the beginning, on your last trip around the knot, it is almost finished. The hard part is tightening it. Starting at one end and carefully and patiently pull a little bit through the succeeding bights. If you rush and pull too much at once, you will distort the knot. As it tightens, using a marlinespike will save your fingernails. For a story on using and choosing a marlinespike, see link below). Once you have it as tight as you can, trim the ends off closely so that they are not visible. It should hold itself.

MONKEY'S FIST

This is mostly used to form a heavy end to a heaving line, a light line that can be easily thrown to the pier so that someone else can haul a heavier mooring line ashore. But smaller versions of the knot are sometimes used as a nautical decoration on key rings or to form a knob at the end of a pull cord. We will tie our monkey's fist with four turns in each layer and place a marble in the center.

And yes, the end result really resembles a fist.

GENE BJERKEMonkey's Fist

While this knot may enclose an object, it is tied in hand. Assuming you tie this knot right-handed, leave a long running section and lay the standing part across your left hand, holding it with your thumb. You will wrap it around two to four fingers, depending on the size of the line.

Keep your fingers separated because you will need to make several wraps between them. Now make four even wraps completely around your fingers. When you have four parts at either end, take the running part to your separated fingers, push it into the center of the wraps, and make four horizontal wraps around the vertical wraps. When you have four parts at either side of the vertical wraps, push the running part through the center of the horizontal wraps. Now you will take four wraps around the horizontal ones inside the first vertical wraps.

You can wait until you finish all four of the last wraps to insert an object into the middle, but doing it after the first two wraps is easier. For a decorative monkey's fist, any light, spherical object will do; for a heaving line, you may want a little weight. Still, even for a heaving line, don't add anything too heavy or it will be a lethal projectile when tossed to the dock. You need those folks.

After inserting the marble, complete the final wraps, then move on to gradually tightening it up. You can bury the end by tying a stopper knot in the end of the line and placing it in the middle (in place of the marble). In that case, you will work the knot tight back to the beginning. Alternately, if you place a spherical object inside and leave the end long, you may want to tighten the knot starting from the standing part. Either way, a marlinespike will prove useful as the knot gets tight. The long end can be spliced or seized to the standing part.

HEAVING THE LINE

In use, the end of the heaving line that doesn't have the monkey's fist (called the bitter ­end) is tied to the mooring line. The rest of the line is coiled loosely but smoothly in the left hand (if you are right-handed). Several of the last coils are taken into the right hand, with the monkey's fist next to the hand. Using a smooth, underhand motion, throw the rope in your right hand toward the pier (alternately, you can simply throw the monkey's fist like a ball), immediately followed by throwing the rope in your left hand after it. Or you can simply open your hand flat so that the line can run off. Aim to lay the rope across the pier near your helper (do not aim for your helper–you are not playing catch). The person on the pier then uses the heaving line to pull the mooring line ashore.

When tying complicated knots, it doesn't hurt to consult one or more reference books. There are many available, but I use The Ashley Book of Knots, by Clifford Ashley; The Marlinspike Sailor, by Hervey Garrett Smith; and Knots, by Gordon Perry. Put a Turk's Head on your king spoke and have a heaving line with a monkey's fist available for your mooring lines and you will be recognized as a knowledgeable old salt.