However, this website is really cool, and it does do a much better job of explaining than my frustrated attempts of "you just pull one loop through the other!"
I do it slightly differently, and a decent amount faster. I don't pinch and grab after the spin, but rather hook the opposite lace during the spin with the front crease in my index finger.
It takes about 10 minutes to learn, and 20 minutes of practice for the muscle memory to get it right.
> NOTE: For normal activities, the Ian Knot or other standard knots should be quite secure. I believe that many people seek more secure knots because they are, without realizing, tying their shoelaces with an un-balanced "Granny Knot". Please see my Granny Knot page that discusses this in detail.
I don't think he gives the correct knot for the surgeon's knot.
First IMO you should cross the two ends, push under the upper end, and then repeat. Then form bights and do the same action again (I use this for laces when I need them to stay fastened or when they're long and I don't want dangling aglets). However, it seems I also have been doing the surgeon's knot wrong - I make it balanced (a reef knot with an extra cross in each direction) but in every other image it's finished with a single cross of the two bights.
Knot related: Patrick Novotny[1] has a youtube channel with 100+ ways to tie your tie. A fun intersection between knot enthusiasm and attractive attire.
There are only The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_85_Ways_to_Tie_a_Tie?wprov...
Actually I love this site! Does one thing, and does it well.
The reef knot (square knot) with both ends slipped is called a bow knot (shoelace knot).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reef_knot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoelace_knot
> I tie my shoelaces with my own "Ian Knot", the World's Fastest Shoelace Knot (yes – I am the inventor):
It says so in the first line. How can you be the inventor of an existing knot?
The gif of the knot does not show the set up, which is kind of unfair to the standard knot since that part is fundamentally baked-in to the standard knot. I'd love to see a video of the creator doing this from the start, because he probably is pretty good at the set-up which is just as important.
I think part of the reason why I don't find this faster is because I use the more modern style of flat/ovaloid shoelaces. Round shoelaces don't really get "twisted", and linen shoelaces are pliable enough for it to not matter, which means you could roll the laces around in your hand to get them to the starting position for Ian's knot. With the laces in basketball/running shoes, I think you need a bit more dexterity to manipulate the laces to get them to the point where they are 'flat' than could be managed with Ian's knot.
I don't think switching to Ian's knot and round laces would save me much time overall; the reason I like flat athletic laces is because I never have issues with the knot coming undone, loosening, or stretching/tightening. I use round laces on my work boots because flat laces are hard to untie if they get gritty, and I always have to double-knot them or they come undone. Since this is identical to the standard knot, I'm sure that would continue to be a problem, and I think the set-up for the standard knot makes double-knotting easier as well.
As a final note, my best friend ties his dress shoes this way (with the really narrow laces), and it is definitely faster all things equal. I think those narrow laces are probably the best use for this method.
All that being said, I originally found this site while looking for lacing methods, and it's one of my favorite sites on the internet. It's basically everything of what I loved about the "geocities" era of the internet (without the stuff I hated).
I've switched to using Ian's knot, and have found it to be both faster to tie and easier to set up. I think once you work out how to 'pick up' the laces in the right way, so that they are already in the correct starting position, it gets a lot faster/simpler to think about.
Of course, I haven't been in your shoes - my laces are all the round type and I haven't tried it with flat ones.
To each their own!
The oval style with the sharp edges has a lot of the benefits of the flat style, but is more universally compatible. The flat ones don't always move well in round eyelets, they work better with loops in my experience.
The completely flat style doesn't tie well if one of the laces is twisted though. I think it's a great option for athletic shoes though, where you are more likely to care about a particular level of give, etc, and when you don't want your shoes to become untied. The round style is cheaper, and if you don't notice the difference it's probably a more versatile shoelace.
Plus you can do fancy knots with the round style.
I feel it's a bit faster to do than my previous knot, however the real benefits are (for me) this knot stays tight all day long, and the tension is symmetrical (the knot doesn't slide on the side during the day, you never end up with one end longer than the other, etc)
An interesting memory anecdote: within two weeks of switching I had forgotten the method I'd used for the previous 20 years.
Taking name suggestions...
We would use a knot similar to this when furling the foresail on schooners, as it easily untied under sail.
If the author wanted a slight improvement in the explanation, mine would make the finger diagrams use a transparency for the thumb and index finger so that the reader could interpret the location of the laces behind the fingers.
Practically impossible for the knot to come undone and after 5 minutes of practice you can do it in literally 1-2 seconds.
However, totally absurd—Donald Trump levels of absurd—to say you invented a knot. Not only have mathematicians categorized every possible way to make a knot, but before that hundreds if not thousands of generations of sailors and knitters certainly discovered every kind of knot that could be made. Very strange to think you could have “invented” a knot... borderline disturbing to be honest.
