Seize three strands, turn down the ends for a good working length, and stop them. (A stop is less permanent, but it serves the same purse as a seizing.) Hold the structure in the left hand, take any strand and pass it to the right over the adjacent strand and up under the second strand. Allow the end to hang down away from you over the back of the hand. Take the next strand to the right, and pass it right over the next adjacent strand and under the second strand. Repeat with the third strand. If there are more than three strands, continue until all have been passed in the same manner. Next, remove the stop and work the knot down hard against the seizing, at the time working it taut by hauling up on each strand a little at a time and in regular order. The ends are finally laid up and whipped. This knot was first used on jib-boom footropes and later on side, yokes, and bell ropes.
When tied in a footrope, the strands were whipped and the rope was opened to balf lengib and knots tied at the distance of a yard apart, to one end. Then the second end of the rope was opened and treated likewise. At first Seize or stop the rope at the point where the knot is to be tied. But when the knot has become familiar, the strands need not be stopped before tying.
If a Constrictor Knot (#1249 in Ashley Book of Knots) is put around the ends of a Diamond Knot after it is tied, close to the knot, and the ends pulled and tightened through the Constrictor, the ends of the knot will have a much better lead.
