4 bight turk’s heads

Tying 4 bight turk’s heads is really not that hard!

I decided to show you the two processes that you can use to tie any 4 bight turk’s head that is possible to tie. There are quite a few tutorials out there on the 4 bight TH’s, but there are actually two distinct enlargement processes that you can use. These have been neatly described by Tom Hall in his book.

The 4 bight TH’s are all tied out of a 2 bight turk’s head. The number of parts or the length of the 4 bight version is determined by the number of wraps around the mandrel we make when tying the 2 bight TH.

The processes below can expand a 2 bight TH into a 4 bight TH. Repeating the process using the same principles will create a 6 bight TH and so on.

Tying the 2 bight turk’s head

So, firstly we need a 2 bight turk’s head to expand.

I demonstrate how to tie a 2 bight turk’s head in this tutorial:

The number of wraps around your mandrel will make the knot longer.

Enlargement process number 1

Probably the most common way to enlarge a 2 bight turk’s head is to “lay the tracks” on the right side of the standing end. This produces among others the versatile and popular 5 Lead 4 bight turk’s head. We basically start on the right side of the standing end and expand as shown in the video.

See how enlargement process 1 is done:

Enlargement process number 2

The other way to enlarge a turk’s head knot into a larger one is by starting the process on the left side of the standing end. This will again result in a 4 bight turk’s head, but one of a different number of parts than if you expanded it on the right of the standing end as in enlargement process 1.

So, I hope this helps you tie these useful knots, which serve as an excellent base for many a project.