A few things I am working on, and learning to do include:
Long Turks Head
Pineapple Knot
Water Bottle Cover (the local store has aluminum water bottles on sale for $2, so I guess I could turn a little profit with them covered...)
Bell Rope
I'm also planning (for about the third year in a row now) to make a knot board to enter in the local community fair in August.
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Friday, June 27, 2014
Pliers lock
Thursday, June 26, 2014
Pliers
A good way to begin practicing fancy knot work is to customize the tools you use.
Here is my pair of pliers - like I said previously, an inexpensive pair of Kobalt needle nose with SMOOTH jaws.
Since they are spring loaded, I first had to find a way to keep them closed for storage. My solution was to tie a jug sling knot in a piece of net twine. These directions for the jug sling knot are about the best I've seen. Once you learn it this way you will do it this way every time.
Then to finish it off I tied a two strand lanyard knot.
Over the last couple of days I added the turks heads on the handles.
Here is my pair of pliers - like I said previously, an inexpensive pair of Kobalt needle nose with SMOOTH jaws.
Since they are spring loaded, I first had to find a way to keep them closed for storage. My solution was to tie a jug sling knot in a piece of net twine. These directions for the jug sling knot are about the best I've seen. Once you learn it this way you will do it this way every time.
Then to finish it off I tied a two strand lanyard knot.
Over the last couple of days I added the turks heads on the handles.
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
A few thoughts on knottying
A kid with a violin walked up to an old man with a violin, in Times Square, and the young lad asked "Can you tell me the way to Carnegie Hall?"
"Practice, practice, practice," replied the old timer.
You hear the words "muscle memory" now and then and in knot tying that's what it is all about, especially in small stuff.
I don't know how many turks heads I tied, looking at a book, before I got the crossing bights down.
The first time I learned the bowline was in a Sunday School deal where the Reverend (M. Sargent Desmond) showed us the tree, the hole in the tree, the bunny coming out the hole, around the tree and back down the hole.
Splicing is the same way, practice, practice until passing the strands over and under become second nature.
Knottying is very relaxing, even when its frustrating. The beauty of it is, with a piece of line in your hand you can screw up over and over again, undoing and re-doing until finally you get it right and say to yourself, "I sure hope I can do THAT again!"
As you get older they say you need brain exercise, and joint exercise...and knottying gives you both!
The thing is, you start off simple, learn the basics, and pretty soon you amazing yourself at what you can do, and you find it is not difficult to master what appear to be VERY complex knots, just by following the directions that now make sense yo your eyes and your fingers.
"Practice, practice, practice," replied the old timer.
You hear the words "muscle memory" now and then and in knot tying that's what it is all about, especially in small stuff.
I don't know how many turks heads I tied, looking at a book, before I got the crossing bights down.
The first time I learned the bowline was in a Sunday School deal where the Reverend (M. Sargent Desmond) showed us the tree, the hole in the tree, the bunny coming out the hole, around the tree and back down the hole.
Splicing is the same way, practice, practice until passing the strands over and under become second nature.
Knottying is very relaxing, even when its frustrating. The beauty of it is, with a piece of line in your hand you can screw up over and over again, undoing and re-doing until finally you get it right and say to yourself, "I sure hope I can do THAT again!"
As you get older they say you need brain exercise, and joint exercise...and knottying gives you both!
The thing is, you start off simple, learn the basics, and pretty soon you amazing yourself at what you can do, and you find it is not difficult to master what appear to be VERY complex knots, just by following the directions that now make sense yo your eyes and your fingers.
A Dancing Jig
I thought about it a little, and realized I could save a substantial amount in electrical tape and pvc by making a much simpler jig, so I made this little dancer:
You just split the pins open and stick them on the little plastic deals inside the bottle cap, and run your sinnet overboard.
I made a nice binocular neck strap with this one. Yeah, the pins pop off now and then, but that just helps you develop your finesse!
I made a nice binocular neck strap with this one. Yeah, the pins pop off now and then, but that just helps you develop your finesse!
A Sinnet Jig
Stormdrane has had a lot of information and his usual good YouTube content on sinnet making using a jig made of a PVC coupling and a few cotter pins.
I decided to try and off I went to Swansons Hardware and bought all the ingredients.
Here's what I came up with:
I decided to try and off I went to Swansons Hardware and bought all the ingredients.
Here's what I came up with:
I tied a few paracord sinnets just using two pins, then I got brave and looked in the Ashley Book of Knots and found ABOK 2881, Three-Loop (six sided) Sinnet. It is very pretty and uses a LOT of cordage, so I cut off the feed and left it on the spool to admire:
 |
| How admirable! |
Monday, June 23, 2014
A couple of my tools
The first one is a Craftsman Scratch Awl I picked up at a garage sale for a couple of bucks, with the immediate intention of using for a marlinspike. It was the first victim of my fancywork in many a year, and I followed Vince Brennans'Over Two Covering for an Awl or Spike Shaft. I added the turks head around the handle to make it look pretty (and to practice tying one around something besides my fingers, and just the other day finished it all up with a shave, a haircut and two bits worth of superglue after I tied the other TH.
I found a set of sailmakers tools offered on The Ebay one time and lucky me, not only did I have the winning bid, but I had the money to pay for them, too. Maybe, just maybe, if I am feeling particularly generous sometime I will disclose my seller's name, because he has some dynamite stuff at firecracker prices!
Anyway, item number two this evening is a cute little "pricker" that I worked a covering on although I am yet to clap the end of the line onto it (i'll probably just seize it on like the awl above.
Cute, isn't it? It's marked Made in USA, but has no makers name on it. This tool undoubtedly spent years on a sailmakers's bench
Here is my Japanese Marlinspike bought from Brion Toss Yacht Riggers. The covering is kinda cheap so one of these days I'l redo it. The turks head is made from tarred marline.
Some guys say they wouldn't use a Japanese Marlinspike to clean their dogs teeth, but I like it.
And finally, this delightful summer evening here in Western Alaska, another pricker- this one a long 5 inches, from that set of sailmakers tools (I'll lay all of them out one day to show you).
The covering came out good, I will finish it off with one or two turksheads and tie off one of the strands to the handle.
And here they are, all dressed up with no place to go...
 |
| Superglue is a cotton lines best friend. |
I found a set of sailmakers tools offered on The Ebay one time and lucky me, not only did I have the winning bid, but I had the money to pay for them, too. Maybe, just maybe, if I am feeling particularly generous sometime I will disclose my seller's name, because he has some dynamite stuff at firecracker prices!
Anyway, item number two this evening is a cute little "pricker" that I worked a covering on although I am yet to clap the end of the line onto it (i'll probably just seize it on like the awl above.
Cute, isn't it? It's marked Made in USA, but has no makers name on it. This tool undoubtedly spent years on a sailmakers's bench
Here is my Japanese Marlinspike bought from Brion Toss Yacht Riggers. The covering is kinda cheap so one of these days I'l redo it. The turks head is made from tarred marline.
Some guys say they wouldn't use a Japanese Marlinspike to clean their dogs teeth, but I like it.
And finally, this delightful summer evening here in Western Alaska, another pricker- this one a long 5 inches, from that set of sailmakers tools (I'll lay all of them out one day to show you).
 |
| This one is marked GILCHRIST |
And here they are, all dressed up with no place to go...
Sunday, June 22, 2014
About the Links
Over to the right, yeah, right over there, is a little section I'm calling "Bent On." No, it doesn't mean the links are bent. I COULD have called it "Clapped On," couldn't I?
You will find a growing list of some blogs and websites I follow, and some businesses I do business with.
Follow them and see what you like.
You will find a growing list of some blogs and websites I follow, and some businesses I do business with.
Follow them and see what you like.
Books
Now, the Internet is a wonderful thing, at least if you are making money off it, but what do you do when the lights go out? Why, light the oil lamp and head for the bookshelf, of course!
The Rigging Loft library includes a few classics, some of which I've carried around since my days on the Chase.
My first couple of reference books included Hervey Garret Smith's The Arts of the Sailor, and that seabag standard, Knight's Modern Seamanship.
As a core of your own bookshelf, I can't recommend The Arts of the Sailor highly enough.
The Rigging Loft library includes a few classics, some of which I've carried around since my days on the Chase.
My first couple of reference books included Hervey Garret Smith's The Arts of the Sailor, and that seabag standard, Knight's Modern Seamanship.
As a core of your own bookshelf, I can't recommend The Arts of the Sailor highly enough.
Tools
Tools, tools, tools (kinda rhymes with Girls, girls, girls). I'm the first to admit it, I LOVE tools, and have been fortunate to accumulate a few of various types over the years.
I do rather wishfully miss a classic gasoline blowtorch i owned many years ago (never did fire it up), a beauty of brass and steel that I know would just polish up like a gem... Then there was my German-made Stihl 031 chainsaw I used and abused and, like a loyal dog it would sleep under the house all winter and still come when I called it, tail wagging and ready to do what I needed. Heck, I even offered it as collateral for a bank loan once to get grubstaked to go to UAF. And believe me, in the Yup'ik Eskimo village of Hooper Bay, Alaska, which I called home for over 20 years (my wife's hometown, of course) that saw saw a lot of duty cutting firewood. It got replaced by a Stihl 037, which was quite a saw in its own right, a Fathers Day or birthday present from my wife, as I recall. I even used it to cut the head off a beached, rather dead, walrus one time.
But lets talk about tools of the trade, shall we? If you enjoy having a piece of cordage in your hands, you either have, or know you need, a tool or two to, if nothing else, save your fingernails.
I'll talk about a number of items that every practitioner of the marlinspike arts should have, and show you mine.
KNIVES- No pun intended, but I do have a soft spot in my heart for a well made, functional knife. When I went to join my first duty station in the US Coast Guard, the USCGC Chase (WHEC-718), a 378' High Endurance Cutter in September of 1974, I stopped at a knife shop on my way to Base Boston and picked up a rigging knife. Later on, we were issued Camillus pocket knives, folders with a regular clip blade, can opener, screwdriver and an awl, kind of like a Boy Scout knife. It was marked U.S,. and had a bail on it.
Over the years I have had, used, and lost many a knife, but still have a pretty choice collection which I'll share with you as time goes along.
PLIERS- Really, what you need, is a decent pair of needle nose. That's all. Well, maybe a FEW others. Like wire cutters. And linemans. And water pumps. And whatever other kind you think you need. But really, to get started, all you need is a pair of needlenose. I have a small pair of Kobalt pliers I use for pulling things tight. My pair have smooth jaws, which doesn't seem to cause much of a problem.
SCISSORS: Get your own, don't steal the wifes' good ones! A pair of Klien scissors works well; these days I'm using a pair Mini Utiltiy Scissors from CountyComm that work just fine.
HEMOSTATS- Can take the place of pliers.
MARLINSPIKES- Kind of a contradiction in terms, since marline is "small stuff" and spike brings visions of railroad track nails, but you can't do much without some kind of a spike, even in small stuff. I have a couple of Myerchin spikes and a number of other "spike-like" tools that I'll be showing off as time goes by. No big spikes for wire here...yet.
I do rather wishfully miss a classic gasoline blowtorch i owned many years ago (never did fire it up), a beauty of brass and steel that I know would just polish up like a gem... Then there was my German-made Stihl 031 chainsaw I used and abused and, like a loyal dog it would sleep under the house all winter and still come when I called it, tail wagging and ready to do what I needed. Heck, I even offered it as collateral for a bank loan once to get grubstaked to go to UAF. And believe me, in the Yup'ik Eskimo village of Hooper Bay, Alaska, which I called home for over 20 years (my wife's hometown, of course) that saw saw a lot of duty cutting firewood. It got replaced by a Stihl 037, which was quite a saw in its own right, a Fathers Day or birthday present from my wife, as I recall. I even used it to cut the head off a beached, rather dead, walrus one time.
But lets talk about tools of the trade, shall we? If you enjoy having a piece of cordage in your hands, you either have, or know you need, a tool or two to, if nothing else, save your fingernails.
I'll talk about a number of items that every practitioner of the marlinspike arts should have, and show you mine.
KNIVES- No pun intended, but I do have a soft spot in my heart for a well made, functional knife. When I went to join my first duty station in the US Coast Guard, the USCGC Chase (WHEC-718), a 378' High Endurance Cutter in September of 1974, I stopped at a knife shop on my way to Base Boston and picked up a rigging knife. Later on, we were issued Camillus pocket knives, folders with a regular clip blade, can opener, screwdriver and an awl, kind of like a Boy Scout knife. It was marked U.S,. and had a bail on it.
Over the years I have had, used, and lost many a knife, but still have a pretty choice collection which I'll share with you as time goes along.
PLIERS- Really, what you need, is a decent pair of needle nose. That's all. Well, maybe a FEW others. Like wire cutters. And linemans. And water pumps. And whatever other kind you think you need. But really, to get started, all you need is a pair of needlenose. I have a small pair of Kobalt pliers I use for pulling things tight. My pair have smooth jaws, which doesn't seem to cause much of a problem.
SCISSORS: Get your own, don't steal the wifes' good ones! A pair of Klien scissors works well; these days I'm using a pair Mini Utiltiy Scissors from CountyComm that work just fine.
HEMOSTATS- Can take the place of pliers.
MARLINSPIKES- Kind of a contradiction in terms, since marline is "small stuff" and spike brings visions of railroad track nails, but you can't do much without some kind of a spike, even in small stuff. I have a couple of Myerchin spikes and a number of other "spike-like" tools that I'll be showing off as time goes by. No big spikes for wire here...yet.
Welcome to the Rigging Loft!
To all the professional riggers out there, I ain't one, but anyways....
The purpose of this blog is, of course, to join the paracord and knot tying craze that seems to be sweeping the nation and the world. Everyone knows that if you carry 50 feet of paracord on you at all times, you are perfectly capable of not only saving yourself from ANY dangerous situation, but you might also be able to circumvent a global catastrophe of any kind up to and including thermonuclear war and rogue asteroids!
Soooo, with that in mind, I plan to toss out an idea or two now and then, show off a little of my work, and generally have some fun.
The purpose of this blog is, of course, to join the paracord and knot tying craze that seems to be sweeping the nation and the world. Everyone knows that if you carry 50 feet of paracord on you at all times, you are perfectly capable of not only saving yourself from ANY dangerous situation, but you might also be able to circumvent a global catastrophe of any kind up to and including thermonuclear war and rogue asteroids!
Soooo, with that in mind, I plan to toss out an idea or two now and then, show off a little of my work, and generally have some fun.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)