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How to Tie a Figure-8 Follow-Through Knot

By Stewart Green, About.com

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Step 3: How to Tie a Figure-8 Follow-Through Knot

Next completely retrace the original Figure-8 knot, carefully following the rope strands to make an exact clone of the original knot.

Stewart M. Green

Retrace the original Figure-8 with the loose end of the rope, carefully following each part of the original knot. Afterwards tighten and dress the knot by neatening the separate parallel strands and making sure they don’t cross over each other.

You should have a leftover tail of about 18 inches for tying a backup knot. If you don’t tie a backup knot, make sure you have a floppy tail of at least 12 inches so the knot will not undo under load.

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