Sounds about right.
Each knot creates a "blockage" in the burn rate of prima chord / det. chord, just for a millisecond, which then "blows" just as an explosive charge would, cutting through the structure.
If you want the tree / pole/ structure to drop in a certain direction, then the "knots" or wraps are placed accordingly.
It's an effective, quick and cheaper way of "cutting" such structures, and sometimes safer.
As an example, I was once involved in demonstrating how to drop a quite large tree, and got distracted by someone's questions when placing the PE4 "sausage". Consequently, I miscalculated the formula "P", where "P" = Plenty, and instead of dropping the tree in the desired direction, it was launched like a Saturn 5 !!
The next question was "What steps do we take now, Sarge !", to which I answered "F***ing big ones - RUN !!!".