"The finished "Ian Knot" is identical to either the Standard Shoelace Knot or the Two Loop Shoelace Knot. Because it was tied much more quickly and symmetrically, the laces suffer less wear and tear and thus last longer."
(The plastic bits at the end can also get frayed and fall off, which happens more quickly, but I'm not sure knot style has much to do with that.)
Some eyelets are basically razor blades, they have very sharp edges, and tight tugging can cause wear in a very narrow spot.
Anyway it was embarrassing but it taught me a valuable lesson - shoe laces can wear out and break.
However, I remain unconvinced that the wear pattern matters this much. It seems to me that an alternative would be to re-lace your shoes every year, flipping sides. Then the pattern would be more even, too. And probably still a waste of time and effort.
1. Regular (tied in the fast way): http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/ianknot.htm
2. Secure: http://www.fieggen.com/shoelace/secureknot.htm
Try the secure knot. It's basically like the bunny-ears way of tying a regular knot (where you hold both bunny-ears and slip one under the other), but you leave the hole open and slip the second back under the first as well.
It's much more secure than a double-knot, in my experience, and looks a lot nicer. But I still can't instinctually do it -- it takes me an extra couple of seconds each time.
