The Knot Bible

The Complete Guide to Knots and Their Uses

Author:	Nic Compton
Published:	2025
Format:	Hardback, 320 pages
Size:	246 × 189 × 24 mm

£25⁰⁰

Tax included

Delivery Information

We dispatch most orders within one working day.

Admiralty charts are printed to order. During the busy season from April to August dispatch may take three to five working days due to print queues. If you'd like to know our current dispatch time or if you're up against a deadline please get in touch and we will do our best to help.

Shipping is free on orders over £50.

We ship to the UK. If you're ordering from outside the UK, get in touch and we'll see what we can do.

Friendly Advice

Got a question or need help finding something? We're a seafarer-run business and we're happy to help.

Fill in the contact form or use the chat button.

We're available seven days a week.

Returns

Not what you were looking for? No problem. We accept returns of items in as-sold condition within 30 days. Just let us know and we'll sort everything out, including the cost of return shipping.

Please note that Admiralty charts are not returnable as they are printed to order. See our returns policy for more information.

If anything arrives faulty or damaged, get in touch and we'll sort it out.

The Complete Guide to Knots and Their Uses

A comprehensive and beautifully illustrated guide to over 200 essential knots for sailors, climbers, and outdoor enthusiasts.

The definitive bible of every knot seafarers need to know, packed with step-by-step diagrams and photography.

Featuring all the knots, hitches, bends, splices, whipping, and decorative knotwork that you would find on a boat, this comprehensive guide will help sailors, climbers, anglers, and all those who regularly use knotwork master essential skills.

Over 200 knots are scored for strength, reliability, ease of tying (and untying), and usefulness. Step-by-step photographs show how to make each knot and demonstrate how they can be used, such as in the rigging or for mooring boats. Interesting knot know-how sections provide extra information about the knot's history, plus helpful tips and techniques, including choosing the right rope for the right task and using the right knot. As well as all the old standards, the book also features quirky new knots like the Apple Pie knot.

With a beautiful modern design and highly illustrated with full-colour photographs and instructive diagrams throughout, The Knot Bible remains accessible to sailors of all experience levels whilst still being the king of knot books. This second edition has been updated and improved throughout and now also features extra sections showing photographs of each knot category used in a practical nautical setting as well as new material on splicing double braid rope.

About the Author

Nic Compton was deputy editor and then editor of Classic Boat from 1996 to 2000. Since then, he has travelled the world as a freelance writer and photographer, specialising in maritime topics.