Calf Binder

The left leg of a person wearing a white bodysuit enters the image from below and makes a ninety degree bend at the knee, with the lower leg pointing to the left. The foot and toes are pointed. A doubled blue rope is tied around the ankle and spirals up the lower leg and back down again, making X’s where it crosses itself.

We love the calf binder: it’s quick and easy to tie and can produce anything from mild discomfort to excruciating pain.

For safety, make sure you stay above the ankle bone and below the knee. Be particularly careful about the common peroneal nerve, which is vulnerable right below the bony protuberance just below the knee on the outside of the leg.

If you feel your calf muscle while you bend your knee and raise your foot, you’ll notice that it’s smallest when your foot is pointed down. If you tie the calf binder in that position, it’ll become more intense if your partner moves their leg. That’s particularly fun for people who need to straighten their legs to have an orgasm.

This is a great tie for adding intensity.

There are many ways to make the calf binder more intense:

Tie it tighter
Add more wraps
Use the “rigger punch” technique to add intensity when wrapping
Press on the flesh that bulges out around the rope, or on the rope itself
Use a carabiner or small rod to twist the rope and make it tighter

Step by step

A person in a white bodysuit is lying on their back, with their feet toward the left of the image. Their left thigh is vertical to the ground with the knee bent, so the calf is horizontal. The foot and toes are pointed.

1Tie the calf binder with the toes pointed down, since the calf muscle is smallest in that position.

A doubled blue rope has been tied around the ankle in a snug single column tie. The tail of the rope exits to the upper right of the image.

2Tie a snug column tie at least one inch above the ankle bone.

A column tie with a usable bight will make the final knot easier (we like the Somerville Bowline).

The tail of the rope makes two counter-clockwise spirals as it ascends the leg, ending up about three inches below the knee.

3Wrap up the calf in a spiral pattern.

Tighter wraps make the tie more painful.

The rope continues to go counter-clockwise around the calf, but is now working its way back down the leg. It has made two spiral wraps and is almost back to the single column tie around the ankle. It makes two X shapes where it crosses the rope that ascends the calf.

4Double back and wrap down the calf.

Avoid the knee joint and the common peroneal nerve, which is vulnerable just below the knee on the outside of the leg.

The rope has been tied to the single column tie with a half hitch. It goes under the single column tie and comes back up in between the two strands of rope that make up the single column tie before making a half hitch around itself.

OPTION5aIf your column tie doesn’t have a usable bight, go through the column tie and secure the calf binder with a half hitch.

This calf binder started with a Somerville Bowline single column tie, with a usable two inch long bight coming out of the knot. The end of the rope goes through that bight and makes a half hitch around itself.

OPTION5bIf you have a usable bight, go through the bight and finish with a half hitch.

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