Knot Description
The Figure-of-Eight knot is probably the most useful of all climbing knots. It is easy to tie, easy to check, fairly easy to undo after a loading and puts the least stress on the rope when tied properly. It can be tied anywhere in the rope, but if it's near the end, it should be secured with a stopper knot to prevent the knot from un-doing itself. Finally if you do mis-tie the knot you usually end up with a safe knot such as the overhand or figure-of-nine.
There are generally two methods used to tie a figure of eight knot.
The first method is used when a piece of equipment is clipped into the loop (Figure-of-Eight on the Bight), the second when the knot is used to tie into something, for example, a climbing harness (Re-threaded Figure-of-Eight).