Do you test your knots?

[mac]

Here's something to do now during the "silly" season.
When I first started fishing salmon in Lake Michigan in the mid 80's, I had a lot of breakoffs at the knot from these new fish that had more power than any fish I had ever met before. I knew there had to be knot problems, but didn't know whether it was the knot, the line, or me.
I devised a system of knot testing that didn't require a lot of money or equipment and seemed to give consistant results and will share it with you.
I put a screweye in the ceiling of the basement, got a plastic laundry bucket, took some lead chunks that I had to the local hardware store and weighed them (taped the actual weight to them), and got some huge swivel and clip systems(50 lbs+).
To test, you tie one of your favorite knots on each end of about 6' of line to the swivels, hook one clip in the ceiling and the other to the handle of the bucket. Then you keep adding weights until something breaks. IF YOU DON'T WEAR GLASSES, PUT ON SAFETY GLASSES!!

1. If it is the line, did it break at or above the advertized strength? If so, you have great knots.
2. If the line broke before the test weight for that line, then you have bad line.
3. If a knot broke, which one? did you snug it correctly? wet it when you snugged it? etc. (this is where you get to test without loosing a record fish)
4. Keep trying until you have a knot that is stronger than the line and also this is a great method of testing used line to see if it has one more season in it.
5. If you want to test a knot for tying Fireline to mono, just use 3' of each and tie them together.

What works best for me is the Palomar.

After you have all tested your knots someone can run another poll to see which one is the best.

Enjoy.... mac

[KP]

I would like to try and test my knots around my ex-wifes neck but the flames she shoots out of her eyes and mouth would burn through the strongest line, or rope, or chain. Sorry, having a bad EX week.

But a palomar is my choice too.

[Jim Carroll]

I've been thinking about a different way to test knots. I'm really interested in testing one knot vis a`vis another. I'm probably like a lot of people here on WC in that I use 7 different knots for fishing, and I use some of those interchangeably to do the same thing. For example, of the two common Snell style knots used to tie multiple hook harnesses, which is actually stronger? Or, for the other end of the harness, is a Surgeon's knot looped over a barrel swivel stronger than say simply tying to the barrel swivel with a Trilene knot? Another example might be which knot, Palomar, Trilene, or Snell knot, is better for tying a hook on a Lindy rig? I think Gary Roach has said the Snell knot is best for Lindy rigs as it adds an element of cushion; although published knot strength data would indicate otherwise.

I guess what I'm really interested in is how the knots actually perform vs. each other.

One means of testing knots I've considered would be to take two pulleys mounted on a bench say 4' apart. Then take a light cable or a rope heavier than the rated fishing line strength being tested and form loops on either end. This cable should be long enough to form a equilateral triangle with two of the axis being the pulleys and the other axis being your hand or a scale. The loops of the cable should end a few inches past the pulleys leaving an open side to the triangle: so in my example above the cable would be approximately 9' in length. Envision? :) In this "open" side of the triangle is where the knots will be tested.

For example, take two hooks tied to a piece of fishing line with the two common Snell knots and place the hooks in the loops of the cable and pull. Which knot breaks first? Even more scientific would be to tie up 10 of these rigs, soak them in water for a couple of hours, and then run the tests. I think this will give a reasonable, real world test of which knot actually performs better under simulated fishing conditions.

In theory- if I remember my physics correctly (and PLEASE correct me if I'm mistaken) the pulleys will equalize the force being applied to each knot thereby giving the results desired i.e. which knot is actually stronger?

This sounds to me like a job for somebody like REW...but he is too busy building my rods; or better be...:+ JC

[mac]

You can test snells by tying a Palomar knot to the top swivel and hooking the snelled hook around the wire on the bucket handle AND clipping a hemostat across the hook above the handle so it doesn't go flying around the room.

[GROUSER68]

Fella's, I saw a few tie palomars in my time so i thought it was time i tried it,put new line on my reel last sunday,12lb florocarbon(spelling?) tied the knot twice, wet it down good too,broke both times!I keep trying to think,did I rub the sharp end of the hook? Was it too cold Sunday? Gotta go home and practice my knot tying! Thanks for the topic,makes you think about the small things! the things that count when it comes to fishin'. good luck to all!

[marcbodi]

Hi,
I tested my knots with Stren 18lb.The knot that worked the best was a double Improved Cinch where you make abig loop and double the line through the eye and cinch knot. The Line was breaking before the knot.The knot was stronger than the line