Pick and Awl

Next to perma-lock needles, I'd say the knot tying tool that I use the most is an ice pick. Picks are helpful in pulling out strands when tightening a knot like a turks heads. They are used to to work in some space between two strands to insert a needle for pulling an additional strand through a knot. I use the awl above less frequently than my ice pick, but I find that the tapered shaft can be useful for working in space between two strands. It's also a little more stout that the ice pick and can be useful if the cord is stiff or a knot is really tight. At the base of the shaft is tied 4 bight turks head. Over the balance of the handle and partially covering the turks head is a pineapple knot with a 6 bight turks head base.  Take your time if you try something like this. I was little rushed, and you can see some gaps in the knot at the widest part of the handle. I included a picture of my ice pick- Do note that only some of the knot work on that handle is mine. My father did the original covering. I put the two bight turks head and the 4 lead by 3 bight turks head on the base of the pick. The two bight turks head is especially helpful for gripping the pick.

Knife Lanyard

Summers are short here in Maine and there is a tendency to try to pack as much in as you can.  That hasn't left me with much time for knots.  In all the running around a managed to loose my pocket knife, so I took the opportunity to try out this Spyderco Persistence.  I have always been intrigued by the look of Spyderco knives.  I am on a budget, so I elected to go with the Persistence which is one of Spyderco's inexpensive, chinese made models. So far I am happy with it.

For the lanyard I purchased a pair of 72" boot laces from Kiwi. I made a loop using a double knife lanyard knot using one of the laces. This knot is also known as a double diamond knot, and makes a nice knob on a lanyard.  It works best if you have a relatively stiff cord.  JD of Tying It All Together did this recent video of the double diamond knot. Around the loop I tied a long 2 bight turks head. Stormdrane has a very good video for this turks head and as I've mentioned previously it is a great knot for tying around long, thin items such as lanyards.

Paracord Pineapple Knot Fob from a 2 Bight Turks Head

These are a couple fobs I made using pineapple knots. A pineapple knot is a turks head with another turks head interwoven within. Poking around the web it seems that when most folks tie pineapple knots they utilize a 4, 6 or 8 bight turks head as the base knot. I got to thinking that it would be easy to apply the same methodology to a 2 bight turks head. The first time I tried it I utilized some small polypro chord, but I had a tough time keeping it straight as I made the two bight turks head really long. After thinking about it I decided it would look much better if the knot was tied out of all paracord. You can see the two versions I made here, one in black/green, and the other in blue/orange. The knot at the base is a knife lanyard/lanyard knot. I also made a slide show video for the pineapple knot which is below. I am normally a proponent of making knots "snug", but if you attempt this I would suggest you make it "tight" so as to keep the ends tucked.

2 Bight Turks Head Key Fob

This is the key fob that I tied.  I started off with a knife lanyard knot to make a loop out of the black paracord.  The covering is a two bight turks head (two bight by eleven leads with three passes) tied using venetian blind cord which was good to work with and snugs up very well.  The two bight turks head is a handy knot for covering thin objects.  It is also versatile as it can be also cover relatively large diameter objects, and can easily be extended to about any length, as long as one is willing to pull all of the chord through.  There is a good tutorial for tying the two bight turks head on the KHWW website.  You can also follow the Ashley Book of Knots 1331-1335.