Shorten or Bypass a Damaged Section of Rope with the Sheepshank - ITS Knot of the Week HD 

For simplicity and maintaining life safety application temporarily, why not just use the alpine butterfly?

For isolation I prefer the Alpine butterfly,but the sheep shank is great for taking up excess cordage.

I learned this 30 years ago and thought it to be useless until today where it saved the day as my topping lift was giving me a headache. Thanks for teaching me the English name for this knot! In Return; In Dutch it’s called the ‘Trompet steek’. Ta!

I cannot comment on the usefulness of these knots for climbing but as a fisherman we use this knot a lot, me specifically for buoy lines. The only exception is the way that you tied both, they will not hold unless consistent pressure is applied. This does not work on the water with the tides moving and waves. When we tie them we use the variation you showed first but add an extra hitch on each end. You can easily shank up 10 fathom or more and have it hold on a buoy line without becoming a mess using that method. try it out!

I created a way to enforce the quick and hasty version of the sheepshank that will not allow the loops to fall out from the knots that are constricting down on them...even when you shake the knot around trying to unravel it....and even when you try to manually back the loops out they cant be backed out. Making a knot that has a tendency to collapse....pretty damn strong and secure. I call it the "Zeppelin Sheepshank." You can also run a stick/spike through the "rabbit ears" of the finished sheep shank and make a kind of "Marlin sheep shank" ...that isnt going anywhere...but I'd never trust a sheep shank with the heaviest or most crucial of loads.

....I literally only learned this knot because of Jaws. When I was younger I thought, "If a man like Quint thinks a man ought to know how to tie a sheep shank, then I am going to learn how to tie a sheepshank"

What you have done in the second method is pass two bights through two marlinespike hitches .

Dear Sir, I thought you were going to demonstrate the sheep shank man-o-war. I'm a little rusty, but I think that is done with 4 overhand loops...some honorable mention on that might be worth making. Thanks for what you guys do. -Mike

the knot made famous in JAWS....LOL

If you actually have a damaged section of rope, you should probably just cut out the damaged bit and tie the ends together. Solves the issue of the knot requiring constant tension, as well. This method looks like it would easily fall apart if it doesn't have constant tension applied.

Im a new subscriber: i was wondering how does the sheep shank performs under tension? I'm a groundsman for a tree service, so damaged ropes are always on role call. Can I implement this knot and use it as a tag line? Or can I throw a truck on one end(with the knot tied somewhere in the midsection) and tension it down without calapsing? Very interested in this knot and channel.

Very useful knot :) thanks

Take the running end of the rope, pass it through the loop. Each side. It won't come apart, you can pull like hell, and it will come undone easily. If you have to tow some thing it is a good way to shorten the rope.

Thanks

You didn't finish it. The 2 ends need to pass through the 2 loops you created. Then it is very secure! You can pass the ends thru or make bites that you can hook onto. Every book I have on knots shows this final step you haven't shown.

How about the 4-loop alternative?

It would make it remarkably more clear from a user's standpoint if the video was done with a piece of electrical tape wrapped around the section of the rope that is meant to be represented as damaged. Still, great instruction.

The starting knot in the second method is a marlinespike knot .

Were you a Boatswain's mate?

sheepshake win

Why can't you just tie a loop knot and have the damaged part in the loop??

You failed to mention that the simple sheepshank only holds under tension. It's too important a detail for some one to find out the hard way. Thumbs down.

First! And awesome video

I rlly don’t like this knot, it needs to stay under constant tension

Stop smacking your tounge ! Thats just sooooo irrrrrritating.

Let's get right into it....intro plays... that's not getting right into it.

What you have done in the second method is pass two bights through two marlinespike hitches .