The timber hitch is a knot used to attach a single length of rope to a cylindrical object. Secure while tension is maintained, it is easily untied even after heavy loading.
The timber hitch is a very old knot. It is first known to have been mentioned in a nautical source c. 1625 and illustrated in 1762. For stability when towing or lowering long items, the addition of a half-hitch in front of the timber hitch creates a timber hitch and a half hitch, or known as a killick hitch A killick is "a small anchor or weight for mooring a boat, sometimes consisting of a stone secured by pieces of wood". This can also prevent the timber hitch from rolling.
The hitch is also one of the methods used to connect ukulele and classical guitar strings to the bridge of the instruments.
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File:Zimmermannsknoten.jpg|Timber hitch on a tree trunk.
File:Classical_Guitar_Bridge_Bone.jpg|Timber hitches on the bridge of a classical guitar
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Tying
To make the knot, pass the rope completely around the object. Pass the running end around the standing part, then through the loop just formed. Make three or more turns (or twists) around the working part. Pull on the standing part to tighten around the object.
A common error in tying can be avoided by assuring that the turns are made in the working part around itself. When making the hitch in laid rope, the turns should be made with the lay of the rope, that is, in the same direction as the twist of the rope.
ABoK Context
alt=Comparison of 3 types of Half Hitches, and then Timber Hitches, including Killik conversion for errant angle of pull.|thumb|Comparison of 3 types of Half Hitches, and then Timber Hitches, including Killik conversion for errant angle of pull.
The Timber Hitches list almost immediately in "CHAPTER 21: HITCHES TO SPAR AND RAIL (RIGHT-ANGLE PULL)", only preceded there by 3 Half Hitch base forms. The context begins with typical Half Hitch#1662 as worst security/nip warnings warning with Skull/Crossbones, but a base structure to build on. Then shows the most security at top nip/opposing the linear load pull position as a safer Half Hitch form#1663 awarding Anchor icon if constant pull. Then introduces Timber Hitch #1665 concept from extension of worst nip Half Hitch tail#1662 . #1666 then shows Fig.8 concept as upgrade to Half Hitch#1662 and shows the nip position pushed to halfway between normal and top nip Half Hitch. Also adds a geometric consideration of:"particularly if the encompassed object is small." of even higher nip. #1668 then shows the Fig.8 Timber Hitch with nip more to side and not bottom as improvement.