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In climbing, a double fisherman's knot is used to tie together two separate pieces of rope.

How would I tie such a knot?

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You're better off learning to tie a bowline, and using two of them as a bend. It's works about as well, and is useful in many other situations, too. – Jay Bazuzi Jan 26 '12 at 6:04
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@JayBazuzi You can just use a sheet bend, it's essentially the same as a bowline except what would be the loop is separate ends. – Kevin♦ Jan 26 '12 at 16:15

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Source: http://fliesbydon.freeservers.com/Html/Knots.htm

Double fisherman's knot

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The best answer to this might be - don't.

A double fishermans is very strong and secure, but it has serious downsides. The main being that the knot can become impossible to undo if the rope gets wet and strongly loaded, but also the knot can get caught over an edge.

At a course a few years ago (run by the MLTA) I was taught that a simple overhand can be used. It is simpler, easy to untie and less likely to jam when pulling over an edge.

See "Euro Death-Knot" Testing for the safety information about the flat overhand bend and related knots. Never use a flat figure-8 bend in a critical application.

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How would you use an overhand knot as a bend? – Jay Bazuzi Jan 26 '12 at 18:40
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I don't think it's fair to say "don't." In some situations it might not be the perfect knot, but that doesn't mean it's useless. – Greg.Ley Apr 1 '12 at 6:25
@Mr.Wizard - Thanks for the update, interesting reading. Its well worth mentioning that an overhand used this way needs to be properly tightened and tied with a long tail (half a meter). – Qwerky Apr 2 '12 at 10:14

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