Instructions for Tying the Brion Toss Button Knot & High Strength Soft Shackle

[Seaworthy Lass]

Step 11:

From left to right under your fingers you should have:
Red working end
Red standing end
Blue standing end (taped to the red standing end still)
Blue working end

TIP: Lock this configuration between your fingers until the knot had been tightened up the first time.
This helps to ensure the weave at the top of the Button will be correct.

If you instead grip the two working ends together when you tighten up, and you don't tape the standing ends together, it will be wrong 100% of the time (don't ask me how I know ).

[Seaworthy Lass]

Step 12:

Dressing the knot:

Very lightly pull on the two working ends from below and coax into a loose, neat shape in the centre. This will end up being the top of the Button so don't over tighten. Do NOT attempt to tighten up the two big loops on either side of the centre.

TIP: Don't just pull enthusiastically on the working ends initially to take up the slack. This will truly stuff it all up, as it draws what should be the top of the Button down towards the base (don't ask how I know that one either ). The result is very ugly if you do that.

This is how it looks after the working ends are very lightly tightened:

[Seaworthy Lass]

Step 13:

Dressing continued:

Continue gripping the working ends and taped standing ends in the correct configuration.
Starting from the top of the taped blue standing end, tighten up the blue line just enough to lightly snug it up. Make sure the first bit tightens BELOW the portion identified above as the 'top' of the Button. You need to try and leave this "top" portion as high as you can. Tighten all the the way around and take up the final slack in the line by giving it a LIGHT pull on the working end.

After the first line is tightened it looks a bit of a mess, but don't worry, as long as you didn't yank on the working ends initially, it will all come good:

[Seaworthy Lass]

Step 14:

Dressing continued:

Repeat with the red line.

If you give the knot a little wriggle between your fingers to even it out, you should now seemingly miraculously see a lovely symmetrical pattern:

If it looks right, it most likely is right .

[Seaworthy Lass]

Step 15:

Dressing continued:

It is now safe to release the grip on the standing and working ends. Go around once more, tightening up as firmly as you can (I find a marlin spike helps enormously).

To complete the hand tightening, slip on a big washer so that it sits right under the Button, pop the Button under the jaws of a vice (don't tighten the jaws, they should not grip the dyneema at all) and pull on the taped standing pair as hard as you can, then each working end in turn. Repeat. It should feel rock solid at this stage.

The Button will now be smaller and extremely hard:

This is the side view:

I have left the tape on just to show the relative alignment of the 4 bits of line.
If making a soft shackle, leave it on until you are ready to bury the working ends.

[Seaworthy Lass]

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE HIGH STRENGTH SOFT SHACKLE

This example was made up using 1.4 metres of 6mm Amsteel Blue unsheathed Dyneema.
Finished length of shackle from tip of loop to base of Button knot stopper = 280mm.
This will be used to connect the snubber to our 10mm chain.

This just fitted through the links when secured, but it needs to be longer if you want to avoid the thickened portion with the buried tails having to squeeze through the chain. I eventually allowed a generous amount and made soft shackles for the snubber significantly longer - around 450mm from tip of loop to base of stopper. If you are at ease with the Button stopper and can tie it with a short length, then 1.7m is sufficient, otherwise add a bit more and make it 1.8m (you will then have a bit of wastage when the stopper is tightened up).

STEP 1
- Tape the ends of the line to stop them unravelling while you work.
- Find the halfway mark and using a marlin spike or knitting needles or biro with ball point retracted (I find a fid too sharp for this), poke a hole cleanly through it a little below this point leaving 6 strands on each side and making sure none of the strands are snagged. The exact position is not critical, as the ends will be trimmed precisely later.

TIP: Hold the position between thumb and forefinger of each hand and bring your fingers together to squish the line and to increase the diameter. The gaps between the strands then stand out a little and it is easier to form the hole.

Poke the longer end of the line through the hole (a fid helps, but is not essential).

[Seaworthy Lass]

STEP 2

- Keep pulling until you have a loop at the end that holds roughly 4x 5x-6x 8x the diameter of the line (a bigger loop than 4x is needed under load, as the legs pass obliquely through the loop).

Edited to add: If you prefer to measure the size of the noose, its length is 12x line diameter, but I find the above method better).

I now also pass one leg once through the other again about 15 x rope diameter away from the base of the loop, creating a Brummel type lock when the loop is forced open to maximum size. I find this improves handling. I have marked this on the diagram.

- Lightly tape the two lines together near the loop to secure it while measuring
- Measure 300mm (450mm if making one for the snubber) from the tip and firmly tape the lines together (the outer covering on the bury will enlarge and end up shortening the final length to about 280mm). The top of the tape indicates the position of the base of the Button knot.
- If one working end is a little longer, cut it so that the two lengths match.
- Mark one working end and the corresponding part of the taped standing end with black texta, so that you can easily identify the "blue" line in the earlier instructions for the Button.

Changes have been marked on the diagram:

[Seaworthy Lass]

STEP 3

Tie the button positioning the base just above the taped standing ends.
See above for foolproof instructions .

[Seaworthy Lass]

STEP 4

This is how it looks side on after being tightened in a vice. I slipped on a big washer and pulled on the taped standing ends, then each working end and repeated.

The Button felt rock hard at this stage.

The advantage of having the working lengths the same length to start, is that you can clearly see if you have tightened both of them equally:

[JPA Cate]

SWL:

I just wanted to say thank you for this thread. It must have taken quite a lot of work, on top of the original learning, to put such a consice and clear presentation together. The button knot is a thing of beauty!

Ann

[Seaworthy Lass]

STEP 5

Decide on the length of bury you would like. Allen recommends 10-16 x line diameter on this website, but lock stitches it:
High Strength Soft Shackle

Evans has found 28 x is needed to maximise the strength.
I used 28 times, as Evans recommends, requiring a bury of 168mm for 6mm line.
I now make it 30 x so I don’t need to reach for a calculator

Tape the tail at the chosen length and cut at an angle, making sure the black is still marked on one end.

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by Ann T. Cate

SWL:

I just wanted to say thank you for this thread. It must have taken quite a lot of work, on top of the original learning, to put such a consice and clear presentation together. The button knot is a thing of beauty!

Ann

Thanks Ann .
Yes, I agree it is a thing of beauty . I take my hat off to Allen, Evans and Brion.

It did take a while to post this thread, but a huge amount of work has been put into this in the past by others.
I struggled quite a bit initially with the Button and I think the difficulties are putting people off. There is an easy way around this, which I hope I have made clear.

Soft shackles are a brilliant invention and racers have already embraced them. I think cruisers will follow if they acquire the skills.

SWL

[Stumble]

Seaworthy,

Thanks for all the work. I am sticking with the improved version just because I don't like the double legs coming down from a usage point. Though obviously these are stronger, to me they just look messy.

I am considering trying a button on a 'better' construction however. Do you know if any testing has been done with this configuration?

[weavis]

Originally Posted by Seaworthy Lass

Thanks Ann .
Yes, I agree it is a thing of beauty . I take my hat off to Allen, Evans and Brion.

It did take a while to post this thread, but a huge amount of work has been put into this in the past by others.
I struggled quite a bit initially with the Button and I think the difficulties are putting people off. There is an easy way around this, which I hope I have made clear.

Soft shackles are a brilliant invention and racers have already embraced them. I think cruisers will follow if they acquire the skills.

SWL

Video to follow?

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by Stumble

Seaworthy,

Thanks for all the work. I am sticking with the improved version just because I don't like the double legs coming down from a usage point. Though obviously these are stronger, to me they just look messy.

I am considering trying a button on a 'better' construction however. Do you know if any testing has been done with this configuration?

Not that I am aware of.

I have thought about this. You could have a bury which would encase a portion of the middle, but then you need two strands before the button for the bury of the working ends.

The working ends need a 170mm bury for 6mm line, so you would need a very long shackle to then have room for the central bury that the Better soft shackle has.

The one I just made which was 280mm long has zero room for a central bury. A shackle about 400mm long would probably only have room for about 120mm of central bury. I doubt this is worth the fuss. The weak point is the loop, so it would not increase the strength doing this.

SWL