Knots and Lashings covers the following topics:
| Buttons and Globes | Misc | ||
| Chinese knots | Monkey Fists | ||
| Coxcombing | Rope Tools | ||
Fiador knot | Splicing | ||
| Grommets | Star knots | ||
| Hitches nd Hitching | Whipping | ||
| Knots | |||
Jug Sling knot | |||
| Lanyards |
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Fiador Knots
The knot shown in the figure below is a traditionally tied Fiador Knot.
The topology for tying a traditional Fiador is shown in the figure below.
Using the photo and the description should allow you to tie the classic Fiador knot.
Begin with a length of cordage at least six feet in length and locate the center of the cordage which is the location shown as the number (2) in the photo. Make a half turn with the leads which places lead 2L on top of lead 2R at location (3). forn the two bights to the left with leads 2L and 2R and bring the 2L lead down to the position identified by (4). Similarily bring lead 2R down to the position denoted by (5). The bights formed at locations(4) and (5) will be the double loops on one end of the Fiador knot and the bight denoted by (2) will be the loop that exits the Fiador along with the two free working ends shown as 4 and 5 inthe photo. Both leads 4 and 5 now are carried up and behind the standing parts of 2L and 2R. Lead 4 is taken right over leads 2L and 2R then back to the left under 2Rup through the (2) bight and over 2L. Continue left and take lead 4 through the left bight formed with lead 2R. Lead 5 is then taken right and passes over lead 4 through bight (2) and then turn left and under lead 2L and over lead 4 then under the entire left bight 2R and then up through the center of the left bight 2L. To finish grasp bight (2) and the two working leads 4 and 5 in one hand and grasp the bights (4) and (5) in the other had and pull the slack out of the knot.
There are other ways to tie a fiador and some of them will be shown in photos below, however the bulk of this presentation will be to demonstrate the
Matthew Walker Knot Fiador
First I will clear up what the fiador is, and present a brief description of how it is applied followed by how to tie several versions of the Fiador knot.
The Fiador knot is a knot which originally was used in the production of horse gear. More specifically is was used to make the throat latch which is the safety gear used on a hackamore
The hackamore consists of a bosal nose piece, a headstall, the mecate (reins) and the fiador. The fiador is attached is to the bosal just above the bosal heel knot using a doubled jug knot . The fiadors loop end and the 2 free ends are run under the jaw to a location near the neck and that is where the FIADOR KNOT is positioned. After the fiador knot is tied the two free ends of the fiador knot are run up around the neck and through a loop in the headstall then taken over the top and behind the ears and then back down through the other loop in the headstall, then on down to the loop end of the fiador knot where the free ends are fed througn the loop and tied as a sheet bend with the loop.
A very good description of the fiador and all of the knots used to tie it can be found on pages 53-57 of Bruce Grants book How to Make Cowboy Horse Gear
ISBN 0-87033-034-9.
In early 2006 I put together a tutorial about the MWK_Fiador for KHWW. Since then I have integrated new information and photos into the presentation.
The following sketches, photos and text will describe a method for tying the Matthew Walker Knot (MWK) style Fiador Knot.
Starting with about six feet of cordage, fold the cordage in half and tie an Overhand knot in the strand on the right. Then take the left strand and feed it through the Overhand knot then under and to the right of the righthand working end (WE) , continue on around and up behind the standing part of the lefthand strand and finally down through the Overhand knot again and place the lefthand strand to the left of the right hand strand . This process is shown in the figure below.
Next, take the (WE) of the lefthand strand and form a loop at the bottom and then feed the (WE) back up through the Overhand knot. The (WE) is then taken around to the left and down then behind the standing parts of the lefthand and righthand strands. The lefthand (WE) is finally brought up through the Overhand knots formed previously. This process is shown in the drawing and figure below.
Following the same procedure as above using the righthand strand will bring the (WE) of the righthand strand up and out towards the left. All of the cordage paths are are visible in either the drawing or photo below. 
Now the knot must be tightened and formed. The simplest method is to make sure that the leads all stay in same orientation as the slack is removed. Start by removing most of the slack from the rightmost strand. Pull and gently tighten up the overhand knot whose bight is interior most of the knots. Sequentially move from rightmost to left most strand as shown above removing most of the slack in each as you proceed. The leads will move in a clockwise direction as the tightening progresses. Below is a photo of the finished MWK Fiador knot. 
The photo below is an example of a Diamond Fiador . There are other knots that lend themselves to this kind of work like the Headhunter knot , the Spanish ring knot and others. At the moment I do not have any photos of these to add in here.
This is an example of a fiador constructed with a Diamond then a MWK followed by four more Diamonds. Only one of the knots are necessary when making the horse gear but for a knottyer with time on his hands and a desire to see what might be possible , well this kinda stuff happens sometimes.
Here is an example of a fiador knot that is made up of a diamond knot followed by a Matthew Walker knot and finished off with another Diamond knot. Clearly this is not necessary for the horse gear but esthetically it is very pleasing.
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I observed this first form of the jugknot in a video clip by a Japanese Scout and realized that its form was different than the traditional form.
Since I have not seen this form of the Jug Sling Knot clearly documented or demonstrated elsewhere I present it here.
The picture below shows the JS_jugknot in its completed form and below that is a pictorial tutorial of the tying process.
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Button knots, Monkey Fists and Globe knots make up a group of knots that have a spherical profile. Button knots are generally small in size and do not require a core and many Monkey Fists are commonly tied without a core, but the larger spherical covering knots commonly called Globe Knots are tied over a core to support the spherical shape.
There are many spherical Knots in the literature like the PLANET EARTH, URANUS, SATURN and JUPITER knots that are shown on pages 70 thru 74 of "The Complete Book of Decorative Knots” by Geoffrey Budworth. Ashley’s Book of Knots discusses this topic on pages 353 thru 360 and in particular knots #2216,#2217 and #2218. Ashley also discussed the use of Turkshead Knots as spherical covering knots in knots #2212, #2213 and #2215.
Two problems that Globe Knot tyers wrestle with are:
(1) What is the proper CORE size required for the knot.
(2) What is the length of cordage required to tie the knot.
The Spherical Knot Calculator was developed to assist Globe knot tyers with these issues and consists of three basic areas.
1. A calculator that requires entry of the number of facets, number of passes and the cordage diameter and then computes the appropriate CORE DIAMETER and Required Cordage Length.
2. A section which computes the Facets for a given Turkshead Expansion.
3. A linear convertor section.
Since the number of facets is not given for most of the knots discussed in the literature, one must count or compute them in order to have the appropriate number of facets. If Turkhead knots are to be expanded into spherical knots, the number of facets must be determined for the given expansion.
What is the process of expanding the Turkshead knot (THK) into a Spherical knot?
The process begins by tying a Turkshead Knot (typically a SQUARE THK) and then paralleling the knot through ALL or a portion of the weave cycles. Once the Working End (WE) intersects the Standing Part (SP) then the WE is brought in between the parallels and interwoven as show in the figures below.
The WE should pass OVER2 or UNDER2 ALL parallels the WE intersects and pass OVER1-UNDER1-OVER1 or UNDER1-OVER1-UNDER1 as determined by the previous weave.
Continue interweaving until the WE returns back to and intersects the SP.
The knot is then be paralleled to produce desired number of PASSES.
IF the globe knot is to have multiple PASSES, I generally add two passes before I mount the knot over the CORE and then add the additional passes.
Now all that remains is to dressed up and tighten the knot on the core. 
A difficulty that a tyer may encounter when trying to weave into the center of the parallels at the start of the knot is to make a 5 sided opening. If you encounter that problem simply follow along the parallels until you reach two adjacent 3 sided openings and use them as the path into the center of the parallels and then withdraw the SP back to the point where you cross into the center of the parallels .
As an example, a 3p4b THK that is expanded by one weave, will become an 18 Facet globe knot. The figure below shows that expansion as a shadow diagram where the bold black lines show the original 3p4b THK , the red solid line is the path of the parallels and the dashed blue line is the interweave between the parallels.
As the WE intersects the SP it is turned parallel to SP (SP shown as the narrow dash- dot- dot –dash line) is withdrawn back to the intersection point with the WE. Now just take the WE and parallel the knot as many times as required to obtain the number of passes you desire.
The Spherical Knot Calculator takes the work out of determining the number of facets, the size of the core required and the length of cordage needed to tie the knot.
The figure below shows that the 3p4b Base TH is selected and the Compute FACETS button has been pressed which enters the appropriate number of facets into the Number of Facets entry box at the top left side of the calculator. The number of passes is set to 3 and a cordage diameter of 0.12 inches (3mm) is entered. Safety Factor and Ends are self-populated but they may be changed if you desire. Pressing the CALCULATE button completes the process and the results for the CORE DIAMETER and TOTAL CORDAGE LENGTH are displayed below for different systems of units.
The results:
Required CORE DIAMETER is 0.76 inches and the TOTAL LENGTH of 0.12 inch cordage required is 65.62 inches.
If you already know the number of facets your knot will have, that value can be entered directly in to the Number of Facets entry box. Enter the other required data and press the CALCULATE button
The calculator may be borrowed for evaluation
(like checking a book out of the library).
Simply click Spherical Knot Calculator
To purchase your own registered calculator visit Knotworkn Market
After the file downloads to your computer press RUN then RUN again and when the registration page comes up then press the START button.
This calculator was developed as a tool for the many folks wanting to tie Globe knots. I put it on the website for people to use and to evaluate it. I have a feedback form on my home page and would appreciate any comments that you are willing to provide especially if they could be used to improve the calculator.
The figure below shows how to tie a 5p4b expanded to generate a 24 facet globe knot.
Luc Prouveur has written about spherical and semi spherical knots tied in hand.
Variations that Luc has written about that I am aware of are:
5p3b expanded to generate 18 facets
5p4b expanded to generate 24 facets
7p3b expanded to generate 36 facets
7p4b expanded to generate 48 facets
10p3b expanded to generate 63 facets
11 p 4b expanded to generate 96 facets
There are other spherical and semi spherical covering knot that do not have an over1 under 1 weave topology throughout the entire weave, such as Symmetrical Nested Grids but these will not be addressed at this time .
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