Five Knots to Know — Printable 18×24 Wall Chart, Step-by-Step Knot Diagrams

 Five knots, each shown in the steps it takes to tie it, large enough to follow from across a workshop with rope in your hands.

The figure eight, because it is the stopper that will not jam. The bowline, because it is the loop that will not slip and will not weld itself shut under load. The sheet bend, because it is the right way to join two ropes of different thickness, which is the situation you will actually be in. The clove hitch, because it is fast onto a post and adjusts after. And the round turn and two half hitches, because it is the one that holds under a steady pull and still unties afterwards.

No rope-work chart is any use if the diagrams are ambiguous, so these are the public-domain military engineering figures — drawn when people’s lives depended on them being unmistakable — cleaned up and set on the series layout.

A single sheet, 18 × 24 inches. Print it at any copy shop, office store or online print service — ask for 18 × 24 on matte or satin paper. You get a print-ready PDF and a PNG.

Adapted from public-domain US government field manuals, redrawn and set fresh. Not an official publication and not endorsed by any agency. Instant download — print it as many times as you like.