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The Solomon bar is a versatile knot that has many uses in bondage. It is basically a series of square knots tied around a core. I first ran into it in a handout that Race Bannon of San Francisco published about 15 years ago on making rope wrist and ankle cuffs. The cuffs feel like they are padded and are quick to make. They are just the thing for when you are out of town and in the mood for bondage; a quick trip to the hardware store, and a few minutes assembling them, and you have a nice set of cuffs. And they always fit, too, because you can add or delete knots to adjust them. There is a tutorial on Race Bannon's way of making them on the Rope Fashions website.
The original way of making the cuffs used two lengths of rope per cuff; I modified them to use only one (longer) length. Here is a tutorial on the modified method.
Van Darkholme is a wonderful gay rope artist from San Francisco. On his website, he has pictures that show the Solomon bar used for CBT. He has several men tied to the bars of a cage this way. Here is a tutorial on how to use the Solomon bar for CBT.
By the way, if you are into CBT, or just nice ropework, it is worth going to Van Darkholme's website to see the original images. The are in the member's area, but it is worth joining, especially since 100% of the profits from this site go to Kiva, a micro-lending organization. Once you have joined, the images are in the "Travel Photos" section under "Folsom 2005", and are images 40 through 43.
(Van is now directing the Bound Gods website for Kink.com. That site has a lot of male sex and domination, as well as Van's ropework, so if you like that sort of thing, check it out.)
Recently I saw someone using the Solomon bar for a hair tie. (I think it was the Two Knotty boys; they do a lot of beautiful and innovative ropework. Check out their books, Showing you the ropes and Back on the ropes.) I really like it, and I have been using it for all my hair bondage lately. I plan to put a Solomon bar hair tie tutorial up on the Rope Fashions website soon.
You can even use a Solomon bar to make gauntlets, though they are not quite as pretty (or comfortable) as the usual style.
TyingItAllTogether has a video on YouTube that demonstrates how to tie a decorative, non-kinky, Solomon bar. If you prefer video tutorials, you might check it out. And here's another non-kinky use of the Solomon bar: survival bracelets that are decorative, but can be untied to yield 7 to 10 feet of parachute cord. Actually, that could be useful for going to parties where you don't want to carry a lot of equipment. If you and your partner both wore a couple of these bracelets, you would have enough cord for some interesting impromptu bondage.
—SexNRope
