How to Tie the Barrel Bend
Usage
The Barrel Bend is a fast, compact knot for joining two fishing lines of similar thickness — monofilament to monofilament, or mono to a fluorocarbon leader. It is the fewer-wrap sibling of the blood knot: the same structure, tied with around three to four turns per side instead of five to seven, which makes it quicker to tie at a small cost in grip.
Why Learn the Barrel Bend?
Ashley calls this knot "the best bend there is for small, stiff or slippery line" in The Ashley Book of Knots. A knot you can tie quickly on the water is often worth more than one that is a shade stronger but slower — and the trimmed ends sit close, so the finished knot slides cleanly through rod guides.
Common Uses
Fishing
- Joining two similar-diameter fishing lines, such as tippet to leader or mono to a fluorocarbon leader.
- A quicker alternative to the full blood knot when speed matters more than the last few percent of strength.
- Attaching a dropper fly through the eased-apart coils — Ashley ranked this knot the most secure of the dropper-attachment bends he compared.
Camping and Bushcraft
- Joining lightweight cordage where a neat, compact connection is wanted.
Other Names
Category
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Notable Features
- Fast: Fewer wraps than a traditional blood knot means less time tying and more time fishing.
- Compact and Smooth: The finished knot is two neat coils that pass easily through guides and rings.
- Snag-Free Ends: The tag ends trim close with minimal snagging.
- Grips Slippery Line: Built for exactly the thin, stiff, slippery line that defeats many other bends.
Similar Knots
Blood Knot vs. Barrel Bend
- Advantage: The Blood Knot uses more wraps (five to seven per side), giving a bigger grip margin on very thin or limp line.
- Disadvantage: Slower to tie — same underlying structure, so this is a tuning choice, not a rivalry.
Double Fisherman's Bend vs. Barrel Bend
- Advantage: The Double Fisherman's Bend is the general-purpose choice for joining actual rope and cordage, where the Barrel Bend is not recommended.
- Disadvantage: Bulkier, and it also jams hard; it is not a fishing-line knot.
Zeppelin Bend vs. Barrel Bend
- Advantage: The Zeppelin Bend comes apart easily even after heavy load — the honest pick when jamming would be a dealbreaker.
- Disadvantage: Far bulkier, and not suited to thin fishing line.
Security Level
Very secure in its home territory. In Ashley's comparative slip test the knot held with no slip in exceptionally slippery material, and in Field & Stream's machine test of line-joining knots, the fuller five-turn form of this family measured 83% of line strength joining fluorocarbon to mono — the strongest knot they tested for that job. Bear Essentials flags one caution here, unsettled rather than proven: in stiff fluorocarbon, this knot family seems to handle steady pulls better than sudden shock loads, so a hard strike may be its weaker moment.
Downsides
- Slightly Less Grip: Fewer wraps mean a little less security than a full blood knot on very thin or limp line.
- Jams: Once set under load, plan on cutting it off rather than untying it.
- Fishing Line Only: Not suitable for thick or stiff rope — use the Double Fisherman's Bend or Zeppelin Bend there.
- Fiddly to Learn: Matching turns on both sides and tucking both ends through one small gap takes practice.
Structure
Each tag end winds around the other line's standing part — the side under load — and both ends tuck back through the same central gap from opposite directions, so tightening gathers the turns into two neat coiled "barrels" flanking a central crossing. Bear Essentials' two-barrel rule: the knot holds with two independent coil clamps, one barrel gripping each line — which is why you can dial the wrap count down to three or four for speed without changing the knot itself.
History
Ashley catalogued this knot in 1944 as the Barrel Knot in The Ashley Book of Knots, crediting the "Blood Knot" name to angler Keith Rollo. Ashley returned to it repeatedly — as the leader-joining knot for gut, as his top-ranked dropper attachment, and even as a decorative fringe knot in coarse fishline.
How to Tie a Barrel Bend
Wrap counts and opposite-direction tucks are where this bend goes wrong — miscount one side and the two halves will not seat against each other. The Knot IQ app keeps the barrel-and-blood family together for checking your wrap counts against the correct form. It's also worth grooving the moves in ordinary cord from the Knot Tying Kit before trying it in slippery mono.
Step 1
Overlap the two line ends (or cross them to form an X), leaving several inches (around 10 cm) of tag end on each side.
Step 2
Wrap one tag end around the other line's standing part 3–4 times, working outward, away from the crossing point.
Step 3
Tuck that tag end back through the central gap the turns have formed.
Step 4
Repeat on the other side: wrap the second tag end around the first line's standing part the same number of turns (3–4), working in the opposite direction from the first side.
Step 5
Pass the second tag end through the same central gap, entering from the opposite direction to the first tag.
Step 6
Moisten the knot, then pull the two standing parts — not the tag ends — to gather and seat the turns into two neat coils flanking the crossing.
Step 7
Trim both tag ends close.
FAQ
What is the difference between the Barrel Bend and the Blood Knot?
They are the same underlying knot. The modern convention is that the Barrel Bend uses fewer wraps (about 3–4 per side) for speed, while the Blood Knot uses more (about 5–7 per side) for maximum grip. Count the coils per side and you know which one you are looking at.
Is this the same as the caving "barrel knot"?
No. Several unrelated knots share the "Barrel Knot" name, including a single-line stopper used in caving and rope access. This one is a bend — it joins two line ends with wound coils.
Can I use the Barrel Bend with braided line?
Avoid it. It is documented for monofilament and fluorocarbon; braid connections are better served by dedicated braid knots such as the Double Uni Knot.
Why do I have to moisten the knot before tightening?
Hunter's 1927 angling manual calls soaking the line essential before tightening, and modern guides repeat the same "moisten before cinching" step — it reduces friction and heat as the coils seat, and helps the knot cinch down clean and even.
Important Notes on Safety
This knot is not intended for life-support or critical load applications. It is a fishing-line specialist: keep it on mono, fluorocarbon, and similar thin cordage. One historical edge case from Ashley: tying it in piano wire requires shellacking and drying the wire first, and even then "the chances of success are relatively small" — not a use for core fishing situations. And one myth worth busting: the "Blood Knot" name does not come from anglers' bleeding fingers — see History above for the real story; the violent backstory belongs to a different whip knot that shares the name.
