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.
