Are you tying your boots wrong?

[Tom Rankin]

Interesting little video...

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/89813

 

[Stan]

I tie my laces with a surgical knot plus sometimes a double bow. Seems some of these new laces loose their adhesion and tend to come untied easier than I can ever remember.

Kind of amused by my new Sperry Topsiders which have eyelets but no laces, they just slip on like loafers (and very comfortable but not for hiking) ... they look like I lost my laces, not to mention my mind.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

I agree - interesting video.

Will try that shoe lace tying technique. A very simple change to make.

 

[bikehikeskifish]

I always tie the double bow. It will last all day, every time. Not an overhand knot on top of the standard knot, but put the loop through twice. Still unties by pulling on the loose end of either lace.

Tim

 

[DougPaul]

The videos talk about reversing the direction of tying the second half of the knot to convert from granny to reef. You can also do it by reversing the direction of the initial overhand (ie the direction that you twist the two lace halves).

BTW, a reef knot is more commonly known as a square knot and a granny knot is also known as a thief knot.

FWIW, a standard bow knot is a square knot with the second overhand tied with the bights of the free ends... (A square knot consists of two overhand knots--if their directions are correct you get a square knot, if not you get a granny knot.)

FWIW2, I use a double (square) bow as described by bikehikeskifish. If the laces are too long, I put a second half-bow on the long ends. These knots almost never come undone on their own.

Doug

 

[erugs]

I always tie the double bow. It will last all day, every time. Not an overhand knot on top of the standard knot, but put the loop through twice. Still unties by pulling on the loose end of either lace.

Tim

My dad taught me this and it works wonderfully. I don't bother, though, if I have laces that stay well tied.

 

[bignslow]

The videos talk about reversing the direction of tying the second half of the knot to convert from granny to reef. You can also do it by reversing the direction of the initial overhand (ie the direction that you twist the two lace halves).

This is exactly the way I started tying my shoes once I realized I was doing a granny instead of a square. I think I'd have a much harder time reversing the "finish" as opposed to the start.

A quick way of knowing if you have a granny or a square is that in a square knot, both ends come out over (or under) the other side, on a granny they come out on opposite sides.

One other technique I've used to make my boots fit better (allowing slelective tightening of the ankle/foot) is adding a surgeons (or blood) knot in the middle of the boot between 2 eyelets. This allows me to tension the foot how I want it to, then pulling the upper tight puts tension on the surgeons knot which prevents slack from traveling between the 2 isolated sections. I really like this because I have wide low-volume feet and by doing this I can lock down my heel while leaving a little more breathing room around my forefoot and toes.

 

[rhihn]

http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/

Technique I learned from an EMS employee:
http://www.hitthetrail.com/boot_lacing.php

 

[DougPaul]

One other technique I've used to make my boots fit better (allowing slelective tightening of the ankle/foot) is adding a surgeons (or blood) knot in the middle of the boot between 2 eyelets. This allows me to tension the foot how I want it to, then pulling the upper tight puts tension on the surgeons knot which prevents slack from traveling between the 2 isolated sections. I really like this because I have wide low-volume feet and by doing this I can lock down my heel while leaving a little more breathing room around my forefoot and toes.

I use the same technique in the speed-hook portion of the lacing, except that I use overhand knots rather than surgeon's knots. Perhaps a bit simpler and faster and they work well enough for me.

The extra overhands also give me a bit of leverage to help tighten the lower portion of the boot, as needed (or not).

Doug