Sheet bend
Joins two ropes, even ropes of different thickness. It's the bowline's cousin, and it unties easily.
Scouts BSA, Venturing · 3 min
What it's for
Use a sheet bend to make a rope longer by tying on a second one, or to join a thin cord to a thick rope. It holds better than a square knot for joining ropes and still comes apart when you're done.
How to tie it
New to rope words like working end and bight? See rope words.
In the drawings the thicker rope is plain and the thinner rope is striped.
Step 1: Make a bight and go up through it
Bend the end of the thicker rope into a U (a bight) and hold it. Push the end of the thinner rope up through the bight from underneath.
Step 2: Around behind both sides
Take the thinner end around behind both sides of the bight.
Step 3: Tuck it under itself
Tuck the end under its own standing part — between itself and the bight, not through the bight. Hold the bight and pull the thinner rope's standing part to tighten.
Check your knot
- Both short ends come out on the same side of the knot.
- If the ropes are very different sizes or slippery, take the thin end around the bight a second time before tucking it (a double sheet bend).
Where you'll use it
Requirements that call for this skill in 3 ranks, badges, and awards.
Keep learning
- Bowline, A fixed loop at the end of a rope that won't slip tighter or come undone under load, and still unties easily afterward., 4 min
- Square knot, Ties two ends of the same rope together around something — a bandage, a bundle, a bag. Flat, neat, and easy to untie., 3 min
- Figure eight, A chunky stopper knot that keeps a rope from sliding through a hole or pulley — and the starting point for climbing knots., 3 min
Explanations here are ours, written to help you learn. Your unit leader or counselor decides when a requirement is complete.