Source: Quote from source ... Split whale baleen is monofilament and rectangular in cross-section with dimensions 4 mm x 1.5mm. Knots tied in flat material, like baleen, behave differently from those tied in a cross-sectionally round medium in which there are no edges. The surface smoothness of baleen is high. In many ways, this material can be compared to long thin flexible strips of hard PVC. Knotting thus requires structures with a high resistance to slippage.(p.115)(...)The Fisherman's Bend structure, based on two symmetrically positioned Single Overhand Knots, occurs as a bend on the baleen fishing lines. Baleen is a tough smooth material, which is very resistant to a transverse load. The edges of the flat monofilament may be deflected under a reasonably strong perpendicularly applied load, such as those obtained with a pair of narrow beaked pliers. However, to achieve this via Single Overhand Knots, requires quite a strong pull, which will cause the composing Overhand Knots to pull through under tensioning. Hence to ensure knot stability, care in knotting is plainly insufficient. It follows that one needs a more secure structure with better friction-amplification properties. Without sacrificing the symmetry aspects, one may try using Double Overhand Knots instead of single ones.(...)This is not surprising as there is more surface on which friction can become operative in the composing Double Overhand Knots to yield a greater gripping effect. This feature is typically exploited in the knotting of smooth material. In knotting modern monofilament synthetics, structures based on Multiple Overhand Knots are quite common. The underlying principle is one of which the Inuits would have needed to be aware in knotting their slippery materials.(...)The bulkiness can also be counteracted by giving the knots a barrel shape. More wrapping turns form a cylinder to stabilize the knot. This already occurs on the Triple Fisherman's Bend from 1700 Nuuk (See Fig. 5). An artefact (Lb.23) from Disko Bay, donated to Denmark's National Museum in 1854, also incorporates Fisherman's Bends based on Triple Overhand Knots. Nowadays the symmetric barrel idea is also to be found in bends used by anglers for the synthetic supersmooth monofilaments. In rupture tests these bends often reach breaking strengths of close to 100%, i.e. they are about as strong as the medium in which they are realised. (pp. 123-124)
Turner, John Christopher; Van de Griend, Pieter (1996). History and science of knots. Series on knots and everything. Singapore New Jersey London [etc.]: World Scientific. pp. 107–134. ISBN 978-981-02-2469-1.
ALT2: ... that the fisherman's knot has important uses in climbing and surgery? Source: The uses section of the article has a few sources on this, for example sources [9], [13], & [14].
Reviewed:
Improved to Good Article status by ScrubbedFalcon(talk).
Number of QPQs required: 0. Nominator has fewer than 5 past nominations.
ScrubbedFalcon I'll review this (full review later today). Looking it over, seems like a fascinating article on a worthy subject. I lean toward ALT1 and ALT2—ALT0 is interesting, but imo requires an extra step. Two things from first impression: the pictures could do with (short) captions. While WP: Caption leaves room for captionless photos, generally it wants them. Second is the prose, which is a little stilted at times. It might just be an after-effect of major GA edits, but if you could go through and try to iron some out, that would improve the article. Either way, I can provide specifics or take a look myself later on. Great work so far! Dizzycheekchewer (talk) 15:05, 20 May 2026 (UTC)
The images have captions (and alt texts), but you can only see them when you click on them because they're using the frameless param instead of thumbnails. Because the images (at least the diagrams) are black and white and have fairly fine line work, the thumbnails make the images look pretty terrible. I could use the frame param instead, but then I think I would have to include a scale param that would force a certain image size and override reader preferences on image size (if I understand the image syntax correctly). Any ideas? Regarding the prose, I don't have much time today but if you have areas where you think it needs a polish I could take a look tomorrow or Friday. Thanks for picking up the review! ScrubbedFalcon (talk) 16:10, 20 May 2026 (UTC)
In that case, I think it's just up to personal preference. It struck me as a little off, but I get the tradeoff. I made some changes to the prose. I tried not to change any meaning/usage and only focused on wording (making more concise and straightforward (trying to reduce passive voice especially). I centralized in one edit. There are a couple places where the article strays toward WP:NOR(footnote B for example) or toward WP:NOTHOWTO (specifically the climbing references seem a little more instructive than descriptive). I don't think they do so too problematically for DYK, but I would fix. On the DYK in general:
No issues with sourcing I found (I checked the van de Griende book and the links), earwig is 9 percent with no standout copyright issues. ALT1 and ALT2 approved (ALT0 issue with DYKINT), but leaving at? until you get a chance to respond. Dizzycheekchewer (talk) 06:17, 21 May 2026 (UTC)
Ack, sorry I forgot to respond to this, thanks for the ping. I personally like the history facts more, but I think ALT2 is probably more interesting as a hook. Regarding the NOR concerns, I think the sources on footnote B back up the claim (its not synth). In solidarity, ScrubbedFalcon (talk) 09:08, 30 May 2026 (UTC)
