Cowboy bowline Various tests of the different versions' strengths show little difference; conjecture about either knot's vulnerability to some failure remain pretty much only that – conjectures. As for the tail of a regular bowline finishing "inside the loop [ eye]", that is more a formal-image state than one of an actual knot, as the draw of the standing part will pull the tail around so that it actually points away from the eye, but there are various ways the knot can be dressed to affect this aspect. There is a rule of thumb which states that the loose end should be
The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie described in the book, in order of size, are as follows. Terminal sequences (the final three moves that end in the tying of the knot) are in bold. The knots are sometimes designated by their number alone (e.g., FM2 for the four-in-hand, with "FM" standing for Fink-Mao). A knot is self-releasing if, when the thin end is pulled out through the knot, no knot is left; as all knots start on the left, a knot is self-releasing if the terminal sequence is Ro Li Co; it is "not" self-releasing if the terminal sequence is Lo Ri Co. Symmetry and self-releasing