Knots and Lashings covers the following  topics:

	Bends		Lashings
	Buttons and Globes		Misc
	Chinese knots		Monkey Fists
	Coxcombing		Rope Tools
	Fiador knot		Splicing
	Grommets		Star knots
	Hitches nd Hitching		Whipping
	Knots
	Jug Sling knot
	Lanyards

Fiador Knots

The knot shown in the figure below is a traditionally tied Fiador Knot.


  

The topology for tying a traditional Fiador is shown in the figure below.



Using the photo and the description should allow you to tie the classic Fiador knot.

Begin with a length of cordage at least six feet in length and locate the center of the cordage which is the location shown as the number (2) in the photo.  Make a half turn with the leads which places lead 2L on top of lead 2R at location (3). forn the two bights to the left with leads 2L and 2R and bring the 2L lead down to the position identified by (4).  Similarily bring lead 2R down to the position denoted by (5).  The bights formed at locations(4) and (5) will be  the double loops on one end of the Fiador knot and the bight denoted by (2) will be the loop that exits the Fiador along with the two free working ends shown as 4 and 5 inthe photo.  Both leads 4 and 5 now are carried up and behind the standing parts of 2L and 2R.  Lead 4 is taken right  over leads 2L and 2R then back to the left under 2Rup through the (2) bight and over 2L.  Continue left and take lead 4 through the left bight formed with lead 2R.  Lead 5 is then taken right and passes over lead 4 through bight (2) and then turn left and under lead 2L and over lead 4 then under the entire left bight 2R and then up through the center of the left bight 2L. To finish grasp bight (2) and the two working leads 4 and 5 in one hand and grasp the bights (4) and (5) in the other had and pull the slack out of the knot.

There are other  ways to tie a fiador and some of them will be shown in photos below, however the bulk of this presentation will be to demonstrate the
Matthew Walker Knot Fiador

First I will  clear up what the fiador is, and present a brief description of how it is applied followed by how to tie several versions of the Fiador knot. 

The Fiador knot is a knot which originally was used in the production of horse  gear. More specifically is was used to make the throat latch which is the safety gear used  on  a hackamore
The hackamore consists of a bosal nose piece,  a headstall, the mecate (reins) and the fiador. The fiador is attached is to the bosal just above the bosal heel knot using a doubled jug knot .  The fiadors loop end  and the 2 free ends are run under the jaw to a location near the neck and that is where the FIADOR KNOT is positioned.  After the fiador knot is tied the  two free ends of the fiador knot are  run up around the neck and through a loop in the headstall then  taken over the top and behind the ears and then back down through the other loop in the headstall, then on down to the loop end of the fiador knot where the free ends are fed througn the loop and tied as a sheet bend with the loop. 

A very good description of the fiador and all of the knots used to tie it can be found on pages 53-57 of  Bruce Grants book  How to Make Cowboy Horse Gear  
ISBN 0-87033-034-9.

In early 2006 I put together a  tutorial about the MWK_Fiador for KHWW.  Since then I have integrated new information and photos into the presentation.
 
The following sketches, photos and text will describe a method for tying the Matthew Walker Knot (MWK) style Fiador Knot.

Starting with about six feet of cordage, fold the cordage in half and tie an Overhand knot in the strand on the right.  Then take the left strand and feed it through the Overhand knot then under and to the right of the righthand working end (WE) , continue  on around and up  behind the standing part of the lefthand strand and finally down through the Overhand knot again and place the lefthand strand to the left of the right hand strand . This process is shown in the figure below.



Next, take the (WE) of the lefthand strand and form a loop at the bottom and then feed the (WE) back up through the  Overhand knot. The (WE) is then taken  around to the left and down then behind the standing parts of the lefthand and righthand  strands.  The lefthand (WE) is finally brought up through the Overhand knots formed previously.  This process is shown in the drawing and figure below.



Following the same procedure as above using the righthand strand will bring the (WE) of the righthand strand up and out towards the left. All of the cordage paths are are visible in either the drawing or photo below.



Now the knot must be tightened and formed.  The simplest method is to make sure that the leads all stay in same orientation as the slack is removed.  Start by removing most of the slack from the rightmost strand. Pull and gently tighten up the  overhand knot whose bight is interior most of the knots.  Sequentially move from rightmost to left most strand as shown above removing most of the slack in each as you proceed.  The leads will move in a clockwise direction as the tightening progresses.  Below is a photo of the finished MWK Fiador knot. 



The photo below is an example of a  Diamond  Fiador .  There are other knots that lend themselves to this kind of work like the Headhunter knot , the Spanish ring knot and  others. At the moment I do not have any photos of these to add in here.



This is an example of a fiador constructed with a Diamond then a MWK followed by four more Diamonds. Only one of the knots are necessary when making the horse gear but for a knottyer with time on his hands and a desire to see what might be possible , well this kinda stuff happens sometimes.



Here is an example of a fiador knot that is made up of a diamond knot followed by a Matthew Walker knot and finished off with another Diamond knot.  Clearly this is not necessary for the horse gear but esthetically it is very pleasing.


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Jug Sling Knots

I observed this first form of the jugknot in a video clip by a Japanese Scout and realized that its form was different than the traditional form.
Since I have not seen this form of the Jug Sling Knot clearly documented or demonstrated elsewhere I  present it here.

The picture below shows the JS_jugknot in its completed form and below that is a pictorial tutorial of the tying process.

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