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The Friendship Knot: How to Secure Your Neckerchief Without a Slide

There’s a knot that comes in handy when you don’t have a woggle or slide around to fasten your neckerchief. It’s called the friendship knot (and there’s a really cool story behind it. More on that at the end of this post).

Here’s how to tie it on yourself:

Why Is It Called the Friendship Knot?

You may have heard it called the buckaroo knot, the British square knot, the rustler’s knot or the success knot. But we love the story behind the name Scouts all over the world use to identify this knot.

Here are a few explanations we’ve heard for why this knot means friendship:

  • After a Scout ties off a neckerchief with this knot, he or she often gives it to a friend. This is especially true at events like World Scout Jamboree, where Scouts from other countries will bring lots of extra neckerchiefs to share and trade with new friends.
  • The best way to teach more Scouts to tie this knot, is to demonstrate and teach it to a friend.
  • Like a friendship, this knot binds two separate pieces together.
  • Even if you speak different languages, Scouts recognize this knot a friendly, Scouting symbol.
  • Once it’s tied, you never need to undo it (kind of like a friendship). Simply slide the loosely-tied neckerchief over your head to remove.

Whether you’re using this knot to make friends with Scouts from all over the globe or to teach a new Scout in your troop to tie it, learning the friendship knot is a great way to gain a skill and share it with someone new.

Have you ever made a friend in Scouting by sharing a skill with them? What was it? Drop us a note in the comments.

5 Comments on The Friendship Knot: How to Secure Your Neckerchief Without a Slide

  1. Great! Easy and fun. My dad isn’t home 2 help make a slide and this is a pretty ez knot.

  2. billionare997 // July 12, 2019 at 4:35 pm // Reply

    I think I can remember to tie the friendship knot when I lose my slide

  3. Great post! I still have my neckerchief from years ago with a friendship knot in it where one of my friends tied it for me 🙂

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