Single Strand Star Knot Tutorial

Part 1


This single strand sar knot is based on the instructions in the "Harrison Book of Knots". I corrrected one misleading drawing and now show how to finish the knot.
The star knot is a series of cow hitches tied first around a starting rod and then around previously tied cow hitches. Each cow hitch forms one point to the star
Step 1 Tie cowhitch around starting rod (dowel, pencil, etc.) leaving 4" tail on right.


Step 2 Make small loop and bring Working End Over 1 strand, Under 1, Across, up Under 1, Over 1, Under 1 and through the small loop. This completes the second cow hitch.


Step 3 Bring tail over to left.


Step 4 Make small loop and bring the WE up through small loop of previous cow hitch. Tie third cow hitch just as you did in step 2 this time you will be going around 2 strands


Step 5 repeat Step 4 - this completes the 4th cow hitch.


Step 6 Closing the knot adds 2 cow hitches (points) to the knot - make at as large as you want.
Bring WE from left top right adjacent to starting rod and up through last small loop. Remove rod.

 

Part 2
Tie fifth cow hitch exactly as before. When you do the last 2 Under 2 sequence go under the small loop as well.


Bring WE parallel to adjacent strand fron meft to right through 2 loops.


Continue adjacent up through small loop.


Over 2, Under 2 and across through 2 loops.


Continue up Under 2, Over 2 and under 3 (the 2 stands of the cow hitch and the small loop).


Bring tail through the jnot adjacebnt to the WE


Tighten knot.

 

Here is a multi point single strand star knot I made to frame a small photograph

 

The cord was 4' long

 

there was a lot of cord left over even before the knot was tightened. I think it is beter to ask how much cord do I need to tie a certain size star rather than the other way around.

To answer your question

I can't tell from here. There are too many variables
Diameter of cord
Stiffness of cord
How tight you dress (tighten) the knot
How many points you want on the star
The best thing to do is to experiment. Take a length of scrap cord and tie a 5 or 6 point star and before tightening measure how much cord you used.
The single strand star knot can be tied around a cylinder. Here is one tied around the exiting strands of a 6 strand star knot

 

Here is the tutorial as it appeared in the now defunct KHWW website. * *It disappeared when the KHWW site stopped functioning. *I had to convert a pdf document to jpeg. * Please excuse the split images. *