The shoelace knot, or bow knot, is commonly used for tying

shoelaces Shoelaces, also called shoestrings (US English) or bootlaces (UK English), are a system commonly used to secure shoes, boots, and other footwear. They typically consist of a pair of strings or cords, one for each shoe, finished off at both end ...

and

bow tie The bow tie is a type of necktie. A modern bow tie is tied using a common shoelace knot, which is also called the bow knot for that reason. It consists of a ribbon of fabric tied around the collar of a shirt in a symmetrical manner so that th ...

s. The shoelace knot is a doubly slipped

reef knot The reef knot, or square knot, is an ancient and simple binding knot used to secure a rope or line around an object. It is sometimes also referred to as a Hercules knot. The knot is formed by tying a left-handed overhand knot between two ends, ...

formed by joining the ends of whatever is being tied with a

half hitch The half hitch is a simple overhand knot, where the working end of a line is brought over and under the standing part. Insecure on its own, it is a valuable component of a wide variety of useful and reliable hitches, bends, and knots. Two ...

, folding each of the exposed ends into a loop (

bight The word is derived from Old English ''byht'' (“bend, angle, corner; bay, bight”). In modern English, bight may refer to: * Bight (geography), recess of a coast, bay, or other curved feature * Bight (knot), a curved section, slack part, or loo ...

) and joining the loops with a second half hitch. The size of the loops and the length of the exposed ends are adjusted when the knot is tied. It has the stability of the reef knot but is significantly easier to untie, simply by pulling the ends away from the center of the knot. The loops are sometimes referred to as "bunny ears", especially when the knot is taught to children.

Techniques

There are several ways to tie a shoelace knot; each starts with the tying of a half hitch, and requires attention or some habitual mechanism for arriving at a knot that is an elaboration of the reef (or square) knot rather than of the granny (or lubber's) knot. If the bow is horizontal across the opening the bow is correctly and securely tied, but if vertical is likely to slip. One approach is to start by taking, in each hand, the end of the lace that emerges from the uppermost eyelet on that hand's side of the shoe; then passing the ''dominant'' hand's end ''under'' the other end, from front toward back, and dropping each lace on the opposite side from where it started; and in the finishing step again grasping the lace on each side with the hand on that side (perhaps taking time to note that because each end crossed over the shoe before, the laces have switched handsor vice versa, the hands have switched laces) and again passing the ''dominant'' hand's end ''under'' the other end, from front toward back. * The simplest approach to describe is to also form a loop by bending each lace end back toward the closest part of the same lace, then join the two loops in another half hitch, in the second passing-back-under described before these bullet points. * Another common procedure (especially for bow ties) is to form a loop at one of the ends of the initial half-hitch, and circle it with the other end, which is simultaneously folded into a second loop that is then pushed through the knot. * The quickest approach is said to be one involving making one loop between the thumb and forefinger of each hand, and pulling each loop through the other; speed probably requires acquisition of

muscle memory Muscle memory is a form of procedural memory that involves consolidating a specific motor task into memory through repetition, which has been used synonymously with motor learning. When a movement is repeated over time, the brain creates a long-t ...

via repetition that is guided by a sequence of images.

More secure shoe-tying knots

A variation of the procedure involves looping the top part of the knot twice instead of once, resulting in a finished bow of almost identical appearance but with the laces wrapped twice around the middle. This Double Slip Knot holds the shoelaces more securely tied while still allowing them to be untied with a (slightly firmer) pull on the loose end(s). One variation, the subject of a U.S. patent, begins with a

surgeon knot The surgeon's knot is a surgical knot and is a simple modification to the reef knot. It adds an extra twist when tying the first throw, forming a double overhand knot. The additional turn provides more friction and can reduce loosening while th ...

and has an upper double slip knot on top of that. Lace locking can be added for additional security.

A less secure shoe-tying knot

Tying two consecutive right-over-left half knots (or two consecutive left-over-right half knots) produces, instead of a square-knot-like bow-knot, a much less secure version corresponding to the

granny knot The granny knot is a binding knot, used to secure a rope or line around an object. It is considered inferior to the reef knot (square knot), which it superficially resembles. Neither of these knots should be used as a bend knot for attaching tw ...

. This version will also produce asymmetrical slips; one pointing down, the other up.

The corset bow

Just as it is possible to stack a number of half hitches to create a longer knotremembering the reverse direction each timewhich is equivalent to tying one reef knot on top of another, so bows which need to reduce ling lengths, such as corset tapes, can be tied on top of each other, slipping every other layer.

References

External links

How to tie a shoelace bow
at Animated Knots. {{Knots Binding knots