Thief knot

The thieves node is a node, the node looks superficially like a cross and is therefore also called false square knot. But there is a crucial difference: whereas the square knot the two loose ends are on one side, they are diagonal in which thieves node against. This means that the thieves node can not be as easy as tying the square knot.

The thieves node belongs to the so-called noise nodes; those are kidding nodes ( fast or slow) yield under stress, ie " flap apart " and come off. He was therefore used as a rough joke for hanging the hammock young sailors.

Term origin

The thieves nodes to have been used to determine whether someone has tampered with a knotted goods. Since the node looks at first glance like a square knot, a careless thief will bind the goods with the simple square knot again.