Some of you might wonder about that "swirly knot" as my wife calls it well here is some back story....
Matthew Walker is supposed to have been either a Master Rigger in a Royal Navy dockyard or,a sailor who found himself in prison...who knows he might have been both,..and this is the only knot I know of to have a person named for it
Since being a rigger back in Nelson's day is rather boring I prefer the story here below....
A sailor, having been sentenced to death by a judge who in earlier life had been a sailor himself, was reprieved by the judge because of their common fellowship of the sea. The judge offered the sailor a full pardon if he could show him a knot that he, the judge, could neither tie nor untie. The sailor called for ten fathoms of rope (60 ft.) and, having retired to the privacy of his cell, unlaid the rope halfway, put in a MATTHEW WALKER KNOT, and then laid up the rope again to the end. So Matthew Walker secured his pardon, and the world gained an excellent knot.
In these lanyards I have tied a 4 strand 6 strand 8 strand and in "Snow Camo" a 12 strand. I have seen pictures of a 40+ strand but I won't be trying that anytime soon
8 strands with 4 being "walled off" after exiting the knot to the right the other 4 becoming drops for calls
6 strands then crown knotted and then tied reverse as a test piece.
12 strand almost a golf ball size knot,.the largest I have ever attempted to tie..
Hope you enjoyed some history,
John
