Why Shoelaces Come Untied

Mine usually come undone when I step on the lace with the other foot...

Actually, I think it has something to do with String Theory...

My boot laces never come untied accidently, I double tie them.

A little gremlin, ironically named Gordy, is responsible for this....

When I started wearing these ...

... my shoes were fit to be tied.

Chinese foot-binding device, eh?

Yep. So they don't run away.

My shoelaces always come untied.

It would be more work for the manufacturer and more annoying to me if they did.

For my running shoes, I tuck the loops and the loose ends of the laces under the lattice of laces to prevent them from whipping around and coming untied while in use. Double knotting works too but can be a bit annoying to get undone.

Sorry, I meant to mark this as a good comment! Velcro is definitely the answer.

Shoes!! We don't need no stinkin shoes......this is the Beach....

Is that "Cacti" I see in the background? It sure doesn't look like an Ocean behind them

That's sooooo wrong.

I've seen worse.

Dated a few who rather went that way once the beauty of their youth burned out.

'23 and hot then 32 and not' if you know how that works. At least I got out before they hit 30.

Can you please post the un-edited picture, she's look'n pretty hot without Valdis on her body

Maybe you likey hees sister?

Does her strings come untied toooo?

What are you doing in Sierra Madre, California where the nearest beach is 15 miles away? I thought you were in Florida, at the beach.

Trying to pull fast one on us, ay? I knew it wasn't Florida because there aren't any pink flamingos with plastic Cubans in their front yards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAFcV7zuUDA

Marvelous, a new modern break-through for young people. Those of us who never have laces come undone must surely be from another dimension and planet.

One needs to understand how to tie knots and not make a science out of nothing. Curious though, what could this discovery lead to that you state could create better understanding in other structures?

Untied shoelaces is so yesterday...

There a protest because Technology will be putting moms out of work....

Who's your mommy? Who's your mommy? Speak infant! Who's your mommy?

I watched the video and apparently I have been using that method all my life. In the last few days I have actually paid attention to how I tie my shoelaces and sure enough I have tied them the right and more secure way every time. Tug test and re tieing the opposite of how I normally do confirmed it.

Still, it clearly doesn't keep certain footwear I have from coming untied on their own which to me pretty much says that the type and shape of the materials used in the laces has a huge amount to do with things staying put or not.

It interesting when discussing knots... coming off the farm,... the most imported knots

1. The Square Knot, you need to know this for tying the bales of twine together to ensure when your baler is baling hay... you will keep on baling when the new bale of twine is used
2. The Bow Line, aka, rescue knot and cowboy not. When used this quite extensively for animals young stock, but mostly when we're breaking horses. Where I work, we had to inspect storm drains, being in an enclosed space, we had to harness up with a safety line. No one knew what type of knot to tie,... when I saw the abortion of a knot they used, I 'untangled' it and tied a bowline to the harnesses.
3. And the half-hitch,... used mostly for rigging, whe used it when we're logging and hooking multiple logs.

Knowing to tie a few basic knots is actually a good thing to know. maybe a good workbench project here on CR4.

btw,... also knowing how to tie a tie is also good.... there are a number of ways to do that.

I worked with a guy who was a boy scout leader... and he'd bring in some knots he was going to teach his scouts that week.

one was a great looking knot... I could recall the name... turban knot or Persia knot,... but the knot itself was about 2-1/2" diameter with about 3/16" diameter rope... it looked similar to the knot on the lower right.

Turk's head?

Turk's head knot, That's it...

Arrrr that's some fancy knot makin there mate....Many an hour has been spent by myself a teachin young Master 'Awkins how to make fast the riggin', 'is favorite was always the Hangman's knot, the little darlin'....

Back-braiding a rope instead of using whipping to dress the rope end is a handy skill to have. You don't often see this technique taught, but it's pretty simple and very effective to keep a rope from fraying.

It seems that my shoelaces come untied more frequently now than used to. I don't know if that's due to a mis-perception on my part or not. If my perception is accurate then I'm curious as to why, increased entropy? I don't think I've changed the way I walk. Are shoe lace makers using different materials (less friction)?

possible synthetics fibers in them now, it may slip... also maybe with age... your not tying them tight enough.

I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now. (to quote Bob Dylan)

Actually, I may have aged since my youth, but still not too old to have enough strength to tie a tight knot. .

I'm a frayed he's just being knotty.

Good one.

I would have said that but my tongue was tied.

That press release failed to explain why they come untied 10 times as often when somebody is thinking about you.

Not all shoes and laces come untied. I have three levels of security to deal with the ones that do.

the easiest to tie and untie is also the least secure, but works a lot of the time.

I'll call this the double overhand loop. (very hard to find a picture!)

That's it. A simple extra wind in the beginning.

If that doesn't work, I'll upgrade to the harder to undo doubling of the loops.

Like this...

not like this..

If that is not good enough I'll combine both techniques

works every time.. or at least on the second or third time

Too close to 16:00, besides mine do not come untied since I don't go so far any more.

But once a month, I have to retie them at work due to one issue or another.

I have been thinking about retiring (them), the shoelaces, that is.

This morning I heard an interview on NPR Morning Edition with the folks who did the research. As I listened I was thinking Ha! Old news! The interview was interesting if any of you want to listen.

My parents taught me how to tie my shoes when I was about 2-1/2. They would have been teaching me Mozart, but we didn't harpsichord or piano (or piranha) at the time.

The only time I could count on my shoes coming untied, was when I was traversing a patch of grass burr or goat head weed. I would invariably take off my sneaker, and put my bare foot down on "stickers" while attempting to un-ravel the tangle of laces, and remove stickers from the laces. Balancing on one foot is a trait acquired by tribes of farmers living in West Texas. Sort of like the way Australian Aboriginal people can do.

These used to make excellent weapons to fling on the school bus.

goat head stickers are just even if you are bare footed. They look like weapons of area denial.

I've never heard of goat's head stickers and I sure as heck am glad I've never met one in person. I thought burdock burrs were bad. Those goat things are EVIL looking. You must have really tough feet!

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a2/Burdock.JPG/320px-Burdock.JPG

No, actually my feet have always been not as calloused as my personality.

Wearing shoes most of my life is a plus. Especially when living on a farm that was wilderness only a few years before my parents moved us there (1953-1964 or so).

One thing, no problem with Bigfoot (the over-sized hominid yet to actually be discovered, or the maintenance database).

My dad did have a photograph of an acquaintance of his that had size 53 feet, and I think he may have had a pair of shoes custom fit once. Those things sounded like hams bouncing off the floor when the man was dancing (according to my dad). Gynormous feet.

Now that brings back memories, although I didn't have to un-ravel tangled shoe laces. Most of the time I was bare foot. Even though the bottoms of my feet were hard, I would still end up with a foot full when running through the back yard.

I also remember the weaponized stickers. Most of the time my buddy and I were on the receiving end of them as there were two older boys in the neighborhood who took great pleasure in ambushing us with sand spurs, grapefruit, kumquats, other various naturally formed projectiles.