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ISSUE 66 MARCH 2000ISSN 0959-2881
Guild SuppliesPrice List 2000
Supplies Secretary:- Bruce Turley19 Windmill Avenue, Rubery, Birmingham B45 9SP
email [email protected]: 0121 453 4124
Cheques payable to IGKT, or simply send your credit card detailsPS Dont forget to allow for Postage
Item Price
Knot Charts Full Set of 100 charts £10.00 Individual Charts £0.20
Rubber Stamp IGKT - Member, with logo £4.00 (excludes stamp pad)
Guild Tye Long, dark blue polyester, with knot motif £8.95 Long, dark blue tie with Guild Logo in gold £8.95
Badges - all with Gold Logo Blazer Badge £1.00 Enamel brooch £2.00 Windscreen Sticker £1.00
Certificate of Membership £2.50 parchment scroll signed by President and Hon sec for mounting and hanging
'-, KnottingMattersNewsletter of theInternational Guild ofKnot Tyers A picture frame from ';1\ World Full of Knots"
Issue No. 66 IN THIS ISSUEPresident: Brian FieldSecretary: Nigel Harding 2K2 Update 7Editor: Colin Grundy
Knotting JournalWebsite: www.igkt.craft.org 8
Knot Slops 10
Submission dates for articles Knotmaster Series 14KM 67 07 APRIL 2000KM 68 07 JULY 2000 Word Game 17
John Hensel 18
The IGKT is a UK Registered AWorld Full of Knots 22Charity No. 802153
ABoatswain's Lanyard 28Except as otherwise indicated, copyright
Knotting at the Barbican 29in Knotting Matters is reserved to theInternational Guild of Knot Tyers IGKT
New Knots or What? 302000. Copyright of members articlespublished in Knotting Matters is reserved
Measuring Slippage 35to the authors and permission to reprintshould be sought from the author and
An Improved Square Lashingeditor. All sources of quotations printed 39in Knotting Matters are acknowledged.
Monkey Fist ToolCover design by Stuart Grainger
40
Internet Knot Museum 41
The Last EditorsBytes and Pieces
Lonnie and Margaret Boggs
MATTERS
Dave Williams for his 'Woody'sKnots' series and many letters andarticles. Also thank, Nigel Harding forpassing on 'stuff' to me for KM andworking so hard to keep me 'on time' .Thanks also to all those people wholet me talk them into writing so manyinteresting and well written articlesand letters. Also, thank you to all thepeople who wrote to me to say howmuch they enjoyed the 'somethingfor-everyone' format and made somany suggestions on how to improvethe next edition
KNOTTING
Thank you Colin Grundy fortaking up the slack so quickly.I must say thank you to a lot
of people for their help over the last,nearly, five years.
First, to Stuart Grainger, for hissupport and encouragement from myvery first meeting, thank you. Stuartencouraged me to join the committeeand he designed the acknowledgementcards that I sent to contributors. Hewas the first to see the financial senseof investing in a computer for theeditor. It had more than paid for itselfby the fifth edition by the way_
Next, to all the authors that made theeffort to keep feeding so much wellwritten and interestingarticles and letters. Imust especially thankGeoffrey Budworth, forhis interesting andfunny letters, quotes andcomments. Also thank,Charlie Smith for hisirresistible enthusiasmand infectious joy for allthings nodose. Alsothank, leff and LesleyWyatt for their indexesand Diaries. Also thank,
2
Greetings from theNew Editor
Here we are into a new millennium,and Knotting matters has a neweditor. Editing a newsletter likeKnotting matters is no easy task andwe should all be grateful for theefforts that both Lonnie and his wifeMargaret have put into bringing ournewsletter to its members. I ammindful that this magazine is forsome members the only contact theyhave with the Guild's activities andthey eagerly wait for the envelope toland on their mat. I shall do my bestget it out on time.
The first thing you will notice asyou thumb through it is the newformat, I hope you like it. I will tryto include something for everybody,b\lt please remember, it is yourmagazine and without yourcontributions it would not exist. Sokeep your articles, letters andphotographs coming in. You will findmy address on the back page.
For those members who have notmet me before, I was introduced toknotting at the age of ten by one ofmy school teachers. Scouting gaveme the opportunity to further myknotting and pioneering interests, andalso introduced me to rock climbing.My father encouraged me, by buyingC. L. Day's Handbook of Knots and
3
Splices and my first marlinespike.Later armed with my own copy ofAshley, I ventured into decorativeropework.
When I became a fire fighter, Ifound another outlet for knotting.There were some eighteen knots thata recruit had to learn and I was indemand for private tuition in returnfor pints of beer. I have also beeninvol ved in developing andinstructing rope rescue.
Frank Harris talked me intojoining the Guild at the 1986 GilwellReunion, where he was manning theIGKT stand. The rest as they say ishistory.Well until the next time, read on.
Notes from theSecretary's Blotter
L et me first start by sending youall my very best wishes for theNew Millennium, and by
thanking all of those who sent mecards at Christmas. They were muchappreciated.
I am sure that by now you will havegathered that 'Knotting Matters' hasa new editor, Colin Grundy. After fiveyears, and seventeen editions, Lonniefelt that it was time to retire, and givesomeone else the privilege ofpresenting the newsletter. On behalfof the n1embership I would like tothank Lonnie for the tren1endousamount of work he has put in on ourbehalf carrying out the full range oftasks involved in the production of themagazine, from reading your letters,writing replies, editing, laying out andtypesetting the pages, to beating aboutthe head me, and others like me, forthe articles we had promised but whichhad failed to materialise. Our thanksmust also go to Margaret, his wife,without whose support Lonnie wouldnot have been able to complete thistremendous undertaking.
What does a retired editor do nowyou may ask? - No doubt lots ofdecorating, and all those other littlejobs that have been building up over
4
the past five years - he might even tiesome knots! !
Speaking of retirement, at the 2000AGM, three members of the Councilwill be retiring, and whilst they mayput themselves forward for re-electionfor a further three year period, now isthe time for you to be thinking aboutstanding for election to the Council.We are a democratic organisation, butif there are no more candidates thanthere are posts, there can be noelection, hence no choice. Thishappened last year for the first timesince I have been Secretary; hopefullyit won't happen again this year. If youwish to stand, or know someone whowould like to, please let me know atleast two weeks before the AGM.Incidentally, if you are nominatingsomeone else, do make sure that theyknow about it, and are agreeable.
Whilst on the subject, I myself amdue to retire from the post of'Secretary' at the AGM in 2001. Bythen I shall have carried out theseduties for nine years and if I stood forre-election that would mean a furtherthree years in post. I believe that forthe long term good of the Guild,Council members need to be replacedmore frequently than this, in order to
stimulate fresh ideas and move theorganisation forwards. I therefore givenotice that I shall not stand for reelection, thus giving you. themembership, over a year to find awilling volunteer.
As I write this. Brian Field ourPresident is languishing in hospitalrecovering from invasive surgery. Bythe time you read this he will be home,and well on the mend, however I willtake this opportunity on your behalfto wish him a speedy and successfulrecovery.
If you were still awake as dawnbroke on the New Millennium, did youremember to 'Knot In' the New Year.If so, do fill in the Y2K postcard andreturn it to the address on the card please don't send it to me - I haveenough problems dealing with theroutine daily postbag as it is.
To mark the occasion, the ScoutAssociation is holding its MillenniumCamp over the Spring Bank Holiday,i.e. the last weekend in May, and theyare encouraging all Scouts in the UKto camp that weekend. As a result theorganisers of these various camps arejust starting to look for volunteers torun suitable scouting activities to'entertain the troops'. I suspect thatmany of us have already committedourselves, however I am still receivingrequests, hence I could well be on thelookout for some 'volunteers'. Onen1ember was telling me that he hadalready received 58 invitations to
5
different camps. I have also had aninvitation for someone to demonstrateKnot Tying at a Lacemakers Guildmeeting in Scarborough later in theyear - any takers?
Finally I must send a generalreminder about Subscriptions. Pleasebe prompt with your payments as itdoes save me a lot of work. I do makemistakes from time to time, for whichI apologise in advance, but I am quitehappy to have to error of my wayspointed out. As for methods ofpayment, I do have problems withPostal Orders, and, in particularInternational Money Orders, whichcost more than their face value to payinto the bank. We have an arrangementwith our bank to accept US cheques,in Dollars, for a modest handling fee,but that is the exception. For thoseliving outside the UK, or USA, ifsending a cheque, you need to ask forone in UK Pounds, 'drawn on a UKbranch of your own bank' . Almost allbanks have a branch tradingsomewhere in the UK, usuallyLondon; hence this is not a problem,although you may have to order thisin advance. Banks in the UK will notaccept a cheque in any other currency.(- Oh for the Euro!!)
This started out as just few notesfrom the Secretary's Blotter - itappears to be turning into a bit of anepic. I will finish now.
Nigel Harding
In Memory ofBarry Darkins1940 -1999
I am very sorry to tell you thatBarry Darkins died on the 16th ofOctober 1999. He had been amember from the early days of1986. A keen Scout, having oncebeen the leader of the 4th CheshamScouts, he went on to be the wardenof the Buckinghamshire Scouts'campsite, Braidwood, at Ashridge.
For many years he had sufferedwith a "dickey heart", so much sothat he was registered disabled. Thisdid not stop him being anenthusiastic member of the IGKTand working as a professional knottyer, showing and selling his workat scouting events and craft fairs.He was a strong supporter of theIGKT, promoting the Guildwherever he was.
Although his illness meant thathe was unable to travel far andcould only attend a few IGKTmeetings. He helped organize oneof out early "out of London"meetings at Chesham. His desire tohelp led him to act as the Guild'sSupplies Secretary for a couple ofyears, taking over from IvyBlandford.
The tying of knots meant a lotto him, he was at a craft fairdemonstrating ropeworkjust a fewdays before he died. He was tyingknots up to the last.
Des Pawson, Suffolk, UK
6
Rope Ends
Do you have a 'trick of the trade' oruseful little snippet of information topass on to other members of theGuild? Or do you know the origin ofa saying?
Send them in to 'Rope Ends'.Curious or useful definitions~ knotterms~ knot lore~ tools as well as itemsof a 'Did you know? And "Believe itor not' nature, (from odd uses forknots to famous knot tyers). You maybelieve your snippet of informationis well known, but to many membersit nlay be new. So get writing.
SITUATIONSVACANT
A Vacancy existsFor a
Guild Librarian
The work entails being custodianof the UK library of some 300books and publications, plus somearchive material. Undertakingresearch from Guild members onan occasional basis, and makingthe library available at the twomain UK Guild meetings.
Inquiries should be addressed tothe Hon. Secretary, Nigel Hardingor Colin Grundy.
2K2Update
W ell done and a big thankyou for the truly global andupbeat response to the
Millennium Knot. As to the start to2K2 you have got off to a good start.
With an imaginative array of knotsranging from a Monkeys Fist tied inedible string, to a medallion tied andworn all day, Stars, Guchos, plus thenotes how and why the knot was tied.You have all shown the breath andstrengths of an International Guild.Tom Reed on a New Year hike alongthe U.S. coastline of the Atlantic tieda knot and gave a wave with goodwishes, to those of us over on this side.(I hope you did not miss it?) With wellover a Hundred cards I shall not namenames, YET. I shall give one nameand that is Reg White of AberyswythWales, still part of the U.K. Reg isregistered blind, he tied some knotsand found the post box. Make sure youother Knot Tyers say Hi to Reg.
If you have not sent your card yet,do not feel embarrassed, just get it outof the drawer fill it in and post it. Otherwise you will miss out on thecertificate. I have had cards from wellknown names and one from a brandnew member, well done Ray Robin.A list of names, knots and thegeography will be published in
7
another edition of KM, its not too latejust blame the postman.
The bright ones will have noticedthe print errors on the post card, withthe 3LX4B Turks Head, and theincorrect spelling of my surname,don't worry I only had One Thousandprinted.
So far so good for 2K2, now startplanning your Knot Piece for display:It is your Guild and your chance to bepart of a global scale display, don'tforget to tell the media about what youare doing. 'Joe Schmidbauer ' I maytake you to your word and expect oneof each, after you have shown themto the public first, of course.
Ifyour display logos or 2K2 noticesuffered in the post, I have spare justdrop me a line, and if your dog haseat your postcard, then send me onefrom your hometown.
More reports on 2K2 later, thankyou again for the good start.Yours Aye
Ken Yalden.
Knotting Journalby Tony Doran
I n KM's 59, 60 and 61 a proposalfor a Guild Journal was debated.Since then there has been very
little opinion expressed for or againstsuch a publication. However, theIGKT Council at its last meetingagreed that, providing there issufficient support from the members,the Guild would publish a Journal ofmembers' articles on "the rut, craft andscience of knotting, past and present".
The Journal will in no way be acompetitor to Knotting Matters, whichas our in-house quarterly newsletterfulfils a vital function in maintainingcommunications between ourwidespread membership. A Journal isa record of more formal writings,intended for presentation to theexternal world as well as themembership so as to advance theGuild's aspirations to establish itselfas an authoritative body.
Contributions of previouslyunpublished material are invited. Atthis stage we are looking forcommitments rather thancontributions, because the project
8
depends on having sufficient materialfrom all sources.
If you have such a contribution, orhave a firm intention to complete onebefore June 2000, please write to theSecretary with the following details:
Author(s)Title of articleAbstract (about 150 words)Approxin1ate size of article(words/pages)Estimated completion date.[Please - don't send anymanuscripts yet - Nigel won'tbe able to store them.]
Prospective contributors willreceive an acknowledgement of theiroffer to contribute. If the responseindicates that we have sufficientmaterial, the Council will appoint anEditor and peer review panel andestablish publication deadlines.Contributors will be sent an authorpack defining the Journal house style.
A report on the response to this requestwill be made in Knotting Matters indue course.
Lots of KnotsA World of Knotting
~~tJ..ATIO
~" ~, - <@ Cl)."",... ~
~ '- $~ • I ~
o ~~ KNO"\
Fancy Knotwork, Rigging & Splicing
Long Beach, California
Saturday - June 24th
Sunday - June 25th
2000
Lindsay Philpott (562) 595 - 8854Joe Schmidbauer [email protected]
Web Site: http://home.fea.net/----igktpab
9
Knot Slops -AMillennial Offer of Purpose!
By Dan Lehman
T he Mission of the IGKT is: topromote the art, craft, andscience of knotting, its study
and practice; to undertake researchinto all aspects of knotting; and toestablish an authoritative body forconsulting purposes. We have madesome progress in promotion, andvarious individual efforts-such asGeoffrey Budworth's getting IGKTcited corrections into Ashley'sABOK-have brought some IGKTexpertise to a prominent place. But asto the general purpose of advancingthe state of the art and practice of knottying, I ask how the IGKT plans tomeet this purpose. Similarly, PercyBlandford asked [KM51: 50] "Are wethe authority on modern knotting?"Clearly, we aren't: firstly, we are no"we" in voice (the IGKT has noproduct other than Knotting Matters,which doesn't purport to be IGKTadvice on knotting-for goodreason!); secondly, the IGKT has notasks oriented towards gaining suchtechnical authority. But it certainlyseems that there is a void of soundadvice on knotting which the IGKTcould fill.
Of all the literature on knotting thatI've seen, there is little that does notraise questions concerning the basisfor its statements about knot tying.
10
And usually there are some surprisingmistakes. As Rob Chisnall observed[KM51: 40], "the literature is rife withcontradictions and fragmentaryresearch." Thus, I would like to seethe IGKT mop up the *slop* thatpermeates our field of interest.
In this article, I examine thetreatment of two knots in what istypical of our popular press (and thebetter half of that!), which I find wellshort of what the IGKT should be ableto give. I'll suggest a couple of goalsfor the IGKT to pursue that might meetadvance the state of the art/practice ofour common interest, knotting.
Recently, I came across a pair offairly new knot books by IGKT cofounders: Geoffrey Budworth's largepage "The Complete Book of Knots"(an ambitious title!) and Des Pawson'squite handsome "The Handbook ofKnots" (which, if counting is ourguide, seems as complete asGeoffrey's -"over 100" being eachbook's extent). I'll use these asexamples in presenting a tale ofconfusion, of citing two slops. (NB:surprisingly, both Des [op.cit. p.68,margin photo] & Geoffrey (The KnotBook, 1st ed., p.85#e) havemisrepresented-of all knots (!)-theGuild-precipitating, Hunter's Bend(GB in trying to show its loop form);
they both show instead what is similar.but decidedly inferior, to the Zeppelin!Rosendahl bend.)
A(Confused) Taleof Two Climbers' Knots-viz.. the Flemish (AKA "Fig.8")bend/loop & the Klemheist Hitch.
Consider the case of two knotsused by climbers & cavers: the fig.8loop (& bend), and the Klemheisthitch. Although both of these knotscan be found in Ashley's ABOK (moreor less, re the Klemheist), thedevelopment of caving & climbingtechniques and modern ropes hasbrought them a relatively recentpopularity.
The fig. 8 form is well known toknot tyers. But the construction of thebend or loop using this form-in akind of *trace* manner-is almostnowhere exactly, unambiguouslyillustrated. Most knot books show theknot as a nearly flat tracing of one fig.8forn1 by a second rope. This is easyon the illustrator, but unhelpful to theknot tyer, as the correspondingphysical entity is unstable-rope'sround cross-section ensures that thesetraced parts will shift, and theillustrated form evaporates in reality.(K. Walker's "Learn Rock Climbingin a Weekend" actually ADVISES oneto "flatten out the knot to check forunnecessary twists"!)
With a properly tied knot seldomillustrated (verbally or graphically),the knot is tied sloppily in practice.Climbing & caving periodicals &
11
books often show the loop in use, andone can usually see that it's irregularly,haphazardly tied. Ugh! Now, it's anice assurance that even so tied, inmodern ropes, there is little risk ofknot failure (& resultant injury), butis it quite pathetic that the literaturedoesn't provide adequate instruction.
Some books do attempt to illustratea particular form, but fail. A cavingbook, "On Rope", advises that thestanding part's initial bight should lieon the "outside"-as illustrated. Butgiven the misleading, flat illustration,such advice is ambiguous; and OnRope's illustrations of a drawn-upfig.8 is unclear as to the exact form.TCBKnots gives nominally the sameadvice-with a distinct form (thebend's)-; but this is renderedambiguous with conflictingillustrations: for the loop, "outside" isindicated in the flat illustrationambiguous-, and the illustrations ofthe tied knot show two ways (fig.#4shows the standing bight outside alonga perpendicular axis and #7 shows itoutside along a parallel axis); for thebend, the knot is clearly illustratedwith the standing bight taking the"outside" position along the parallelaxis. In sum, the reader has no firmbasis to know what is intended (orwhy!). Now, AHKnots's instructions[pp.108-9] use the flat form, andwithout indicating which parts are (tobe) loaded (which is the standing part,e.g.). Its photographed drawn-upknots show two forms: that on p.108is what I call the "perfect" form, butagain one cannot tell which is the how
standing part (if indeed only one partis to be); on p.l09, the drawn-up formis asymmetric. (In the field, the tiedknots assume bizarre forms. And TheKnot Book shows yet anothersymmetric form.)
(In my opinion, which of the two"regular" forms to use might dependon one's purpose: I think that the bendshown by TCBKnots & loop #7 arestronger (these are also illustrated wellby Rob Chisnall in KM51: 47 (fig. 14)& KM48: 33(fig.8 [how apt!])), butthe "outside along the perpendicularaxis" form might draw up moresecurely and be easier to untie, andsufficiently strong.)
Anecdote: Long ago I was struckby some breaking-strength data shownin a Chouinard catalogue (climbers'gear): that for the fig.8100p (or bend?)had a wider range of values than thatfor the bowline, and maybe anotherknot. (Alas, I no longer have thatcatalogue.)Given the sloppiness in tying the fig.8knots, I surmise that the test dataindicated just such variation in form,from careless tying.
-0-The Klemheist hitch is a somewhat
different case: it is a case of contraryadvice clearly given. This hitch is asliding, or friction hitch: i.e., it'spurpose it to grip a generallycylindrical object (i.e., rope) securelywhen loaded in a parallel or obliqueangle of incidence, but then to readilyslide along the object by manual forceon the knot body (as opposed to pullon its standing parts). Such knots are
12
used to ascend a rope: standing onrigging secured by one such hitch to avertical line, one manually slides acompanion hitch that supports similarrigging for the other foot or for one'sbody (sit-stand-sit-stand); each hitchmust alternately grip and slide to ahigher position.
The Klemheist is of a simpleconstruction: first, a sling is made inan appropriately sized (often short)length rope (perhaps with a sloppilytied fig.8 bend), and then that slingthe doubled bit of rope, i.e.-iswrapped around the object (usually athicker rope) in a spiral. Now, the*slop* re the Klemheist is how tofinish the knot, how to lock the spiralformed by the wrapped sling.Assuming a vertical orientation of theobject with a downwards load, somebooks show the upper bight runthrough the lower to be loaded (thusforce reaches the coils around theobject like those of a rolling/tautlinehitch, e.g.); but other books show theopposite-the lower bight is runthrough the upper (made long enoughto reach down to the lower) and loaded(the coils are thus most forcefullystressed from below/away). And, nottoo surprisingly, some books containthe confusion by showing both,apparently unaware of theinconsistency. TCBK, e.g., appears toillustrate the former graphically[p.l 07-fig.# 1], but the latter verbally.(THKnots shows only, clearly, thelatter fOffi1 (lower bight loaded).)
Incidentally, there is another, quitesimilar (or identical, depending on
the conflict above is resolved) knot:the Heddon hitch (alas, also named"Kreuzklem"). I've only seen itshowing pull on the coils *into* them,as in a rolling hitch. Indeed, inGeoffrey's earlier "The Knot Book"[pp.l03-4], the Heddon hitch isshown, with the advice that it "isinsecure" if loaded in the oppositedirection (which is tantamount tosaying that the Klemheist will notwork-though one can quibble aboutthe number of turns of each, as theHeddon is shown with few vs. many)!I've also seen it said of the Klemheistthat it wouldn't work if loaded in theopposite direction, tantamount todenying the Heddon hitch'seffectiveness.
Thus, one can say that "both"Klemheist hitches can work, given anadequate number of coils around theobject and of an appropriatematerial-which are general concernsof friction hitches in any case. But theliterature is on all sides of the fence(left/right/straddling) on these knots;it can certainly do a better job ofguidance here.
(I find the Heddon hitch to be moresecure. Now, for ascending purposes,security is needed in not necessarilythe greatest amount, so the choiceinvolves other considerations, such asease of release/sliding.)
-0-These are but some of many cases
of what I jocularly label "slops" ofwhich knotting literature is replete. Somuch said about knots without basis,or without explicit indication of any
13
basis; and so much is left unsaid thatought to be explicitly stated. (Oneoften reads "this is to be preferred..."but seldom is that complemented bythe supporting " ... because ...") Icannot help but get the sense thatmany authors base their text on whatthey've read, uncritically, passingalong unsound advice.
What I would like to see the IGKTdo, in advancing the state of the art/practice of knotting, is to study andissue technical reports on varioustopics, to redress the slops, to formbuilding blocks of understanding.Why DO (particular) knots break?And why do the breaking strengthsdiffer by so much (say, by 10percentage points -figures for that ofa bowline ranging from 55% to 75%or so, e.g.)? Why do anglers seemalmost apologetic about knots thatbreak at less than 85% of tensilestrength, when most test data for ropesgives figures much less than that?(And how can Percy claim test resultsfor a sheet bend of 75% or higherwhen elsewhere we've read that thisis really a pretty unreliable bend (andall other test results I've seen for it aremore nearly 55%!)?) What are thevarious characteristics of slidinghitches, in various circumstances?What works best in which materials?
Such reports could have either oftwo forms: compilations andcomparative assessments of extantliterature (to at least SHOW thevarious published opinions and topoint out the contradictions, withperhaps some accompanying advice);
and reports of testing & analysis doneby the IGKT.
These tasks demand rigorouscritical analysis best provided by afocused, iterative (& amicable) peerreview, which shakes each assertionuntil all the unsecured, ill-fitting falseparts fall off, and only solid stuffremains. We must eschew thecomplacency of only telling oldsailors' tales of how we each learnedto tie a bowline, and realize that, likeit or not, there are MANY alternativesto that tried-and-tested knot, and nowalso dramatically different materialsin which knots are tied. Can folksgrasp what it's like to deal withSpectra/Technora-i.e? for a knotstructure to sustain triple the forcesustainable by nylon and with oneseventh as much elastic deformationof its material?! We, the IGKT,should.Let's mop the slop!
Rope Ends
Early in the 17th century, guns aboard
warships were supported by heavy
planks fastened to the vessel's side.
Seamen harnessed with lines hung
from them to make hull repairs. It was
dangerous duty in rough weather. That
particular sort of plank was called a"devil". The sailor clinging to the
woodwork out there gave us the idiom
that survives "Between the devil and
the deep blue sea".
Bob Schwartz
14
KnotmasterSeries
No.4"Knotting ventured,knotting gained. "
JUG, JAR orBOTTLE SLING
This cunning knot tends
nowadays to be just atrick tied
to impress ... but it really will
carry aheavy jug, jar or bottle.
Cowboys might assemble
makeshift horse bridles with it;
given enough line it could be a
jury mast knot; and at least one
1st. Century A.D. Ancient Greek
physician recommended it as a
surgical sling.
15
Push the centre X (Fig. E) over the neckof your amphora, flagon orthermos flask,and tighten up the interwoven bracelet.The eight sliding knot parts exert aratchet-like grip on even the smoothestsurface.
Then tie the two working ends together,first taking one strand through the existingloop (Fig. F), to make two self-adjustinghandles. This neat arrangement - obviousonce you know how - was suggested byDr. Harry Asher in
........ ,\ I
~
]6
WordGame
H oW many of you attemptedthe Word Game in KM 65? Isuspect many of you did and
succeeded, some of you may evenhave managed to do it in less movesthan with the seven intervening wordsas suggested. Here are just a few ofthe contributions sent in to KnottingMatters.
I just received the latest KM and,as usual, I thoroughly enjoyedreading it. With regard to the Wordgame on page 14 (I haven't foundthe hidden solution yet - I must beblind!), I have several solutions (Icouldn't resist sending themalong.In six moves with five interveningwords:YARN, BARN, BORN, BORE,MORE, MOPE, ROPEIn five moves with fourintervening words:YARN, YARE, YORE, MORE,MOPE, ROPEIn four moves with threeintervening words (The minimum,one move per letter):YARN, YARE, RARE, RAPE,ROPE
Robert Chisnall, Toronto
17
How about:YARN, BARN, BARE, PARE,PORE, POPE, ROPEWhich are two steps less than youasked for.Do you want to see if anyone canget from "KNOT" to "TIED"quicker than I can? It's a pig.KNOT, KNOW, SNOW, STOW,STOP, STEP, STEM, SEEM,DEEM, DEED, DIED, TIED.Or "TIED" TO "FREE".TIED, DIED, DEED, FEED,FLED, SLED, SLEW, FLEW,FLEE, FREE.
Anne Dyer, Shropshire
An unattributed letter (?), WordGame [KM65: 14] challenges usto make "rope" from "yam" withjust seven intervening words, bychanging a single letter to deriveeach. (Methinks this was a CyCanute letter, judging by the '000-' signature.) Well, I'll leavethe seven series to others, forOccam's Razor cut mine to a meretrio:YARN->yarE->Rare->raPe [orrOre]->ROPE.("Archaic & Dial. Scot." maybe,but "yare" has nautical uses andsurely qualifies! -OED &Webster's 3rd (& predecessors))Cheers, Dan Lehman
For those of you who searched for thesolution in Knotting Matters 65 anddidn't find it, look again at the lastparagraph on page 3.
John Hensel:ATruly Notable Knot Tyer
Joseph Schmidbauer goes in search of the co-author of theEncyclopedia of Knots and Fancy Ropework
The most used book in my knottinglibrary, after the Ashley Book ofKnots,has to be The Encyclopedia of Knots
and Fancy Rope Work by RaoulGraumont and John Hensel. Althoughit is not as "user friendly" as theABOK, it is still quite a wealth ofinformation on knots and knottingdesign.
Some time ago I began to becurious about one of the authors, Mr.John Hensel. I was hoping it might bepossible to invite him to lecture at oneof our future AGMs. After somefruitless searching, I finally got intouch with a nice lady at CornellMaritime Press by the name ofCharlotte Kurst. She is the ManagingEditor there and remembered Mr.Hensel well. She had the sad duty topass on the news that he had passedaway some years ago. To help ushonor the memory of this worthygentleman, she sent along copies ofthe biographical information that Mr.Hensel provided when CornellMaritime Press reissued his The Book
18
ofOrnamental Knots in 1989. I reprintit here with their kind permission.
H aving tied more than a millionfeet of rope and cordage intoknots and ornamental designs
since I first began practicing the art, itgives me a great deal of satisfactionto find a resurgence of interest in theonce almost forgotten art ofseamanship and fancy ropework. Ifind the ladies are just as proficient asthe men in this work. It is apleasurable craft and everyone canlearn a few simple basic knots. To theyachtsman, they are indispensable,and if you add some fancy rope workto your vessel it will be a thing ofbeauty and pleasure.
Fancy rope work did not disappearentirely with the clipper ships andcertainly has not been relegated to themuseum world. It is still much indemand today and a yacht decoratedwith coxcombing, turk's heads,manrope knots etc. is the envy of thefleet.
1°.
The art has also moved ashore.Public places and homes are decoratedwith plant hangings, ornamentalhangings of oriental design, deadeyeblocks and tackle net~ and hawsers andsimilar articles made of rope. Therewould be more of this type of work inevidence afloat and ashore if peoplerealized how simple this work is to do.I frequently am told after one of myworkshops,
"I never tried to do fancy workbecause it looked so complicated andam pleasantly surprised to learn howsimple it is."
I first became interested in knottying and fancy rope work when I was
a young man in the merchant marineaboard a Canadian tramp ship. Adecorative bell rope on the bridgecaught my eye during my first trick atthe wheel. I became interested in theknot work and curious as to how it wasmade that the ship wandered far fromits course. A sharp nudge from themate quickly brought me back toreality and the ship back on course. Iwas determined to learn more abouthow this work was done as I found itfascinating. There were a few old saltsaboard whom I had been watching dodrawn thread and tassel work. Iselected them as the most likely onesto help me. After much persuasion on
my part, they told me with a twinklein their eyes, that it was made of athree strand running coxcomb, a fourstrand doubled reverse crown sennitand finished with a four stranddoubled footrope knot. Theycontinued on with something aboutthroat seizings and turk's heads,concluding with "that's all there is toit and any boy should be able to learnthis with a few years practice."
The effect of this was like honeyto a bee. I pestered those poor fellowsfor days until they finally agreed todemonstrate (not show me) how it wasdone. After about one our ofwatching,I had the technique pretty firmly fixedin my mind and proceededsurreptitiously to duplicate what I hadseen. The next day I asked them torepeat a few steps which had escapedme, which they did. You never saw ahappier lad than I, when that afternoonI held up my bellrope to twoastonished seaman.
To me ornamental knotting andfancy rope work was absolutelyfascinating and, contrary to myoriginal belief, found the work not toodifficult to master. From that timeforward anyone who I discovered hadany knowledge of knotting, splicingor fancy rope work became fair gameand found no peace until they revealedtheir secrets, such as a secret recipe.There are several families of rope
20
work; among them: splices,coxcombing, pointing, turk's heads,sennit braids, square knotting etc., andhundreds of variations within eachfamily. I had to learn the basic "keys"and intricacies associated with eachfamily in order to duplicate designswhich I had seen, and which some ofthe men in possession of suchknowledge were willing to reveal. Attimes we would trade knot for knot,or sometimes I would find it necessaryto trade as many as five knots to learnhow to make a newly discovered prize.
Needless to say, I was mostfortunate in going to sea at a timewhen sailing ships were rapidlydisappearing and the sailors whomanned them were moving to steamvessels leaving their art behind.However, even at this time there wereonly a few men left who had a goodgrasp of marlinespike seamanship.
With the passing of sailing ships,fancy rope work was left to those whowhere proficient at and appreciated theart. The new breed of steanlboatsailors were generally looked downupon by their Cape Horn counterpartsas being ignorant of all except the mostrudimentary basic knots and as forturning in a splice well -.
Eventually my travels brought mein contact with a French sailor, RaoulGraumont, who I soon discovered wasalso proficient in knot tying. We began
to pool our knowledge and write a
book. It was titled The Encyclopedia
of Knots and Fancy Rope Work;
without realizing it at the time, we had
undertaken a monumental task whichtook two and a half years before it was
completed. It was almost 600 pages
long and had over 300 illustrationscovering every branch of the art. It was
indeed gratifying to read reviews onpublication such as: "Nothing lessthan a Britanica of the subject, themost thrilling, fascinating andhypnotizing product of typewriter,
pen or pencil," in addition to winning
the highly coveted American Instituteof Graphic Arts award as one of thefifty books of the year. After theEncyclopedia, came Splicing Wire and
Fiber Rope; Square Knot, Tatting
Fringe and Needle lVork and later The
Book of Ornamental Knots.
During World War 11, having hadprior sea experience as an AbleSeaman, I was able to enter the OfficerTraining School in Fort Trumbull,Connecticut. Upon graduation, much
to my surprise, I received an award
for the highest standing in sean1anship
for the graduating classes. I thenshipped out as a mate aboard Liberty
ships in convoys on the North Atlanticand later in the North and South
Pacific, where we ran alone without
benefit of a convoy.
21
At the end of the war, I entered the
construction business where I
remained for the next 40 years and
retired as Vice president of the firm. I
am still actively engaged as a
consultant in this field.
I presently live in a waterfront
home with my wife, Dorothy, on the
eastern end of Long Island. I have
tlTIee daughters and one grandchild. Istill give knot tying demonstrationsat fairs and have the opportunity todemonstrate the art of practical andornamental rope work. The mothers
and fathers are delighted when I show
them how to tie their shoelaces by a
new method. Yachtsmen are amazedwhen they see how sin1ple it is to docoxcombing or turn in a splice, in
addition to see the practical use of a
stopper knot.
I have my own boat (in front of myhouse) still do some sailing, and love
to go to the ocean nearby and surf castfor fish."
This article is reprinted with the kind
permission of Joseph Schmidbauer
and Cornell Maritime Press. John
Hensel's books: Encyclopedia of
Knots and Fancy Ropework and Book
of Ornamental Knots are available
from Cornell Maritime Press, Box
456, Centreville, Maryland 21617USA.
Above: Knotboard by Commandant Hasselle, Belgium.Below: Key fobs by Daniel L. Calahan, Alaska, USA.
AWorld Full of KnotsAn Exhibition of Knots
by Geert "Willy" Willaert
I would like to welcome everyonewho is present today for theopening of the exhibition "A
World Full of Knots". This was theopening line from a speech given byBelgian Guild member "Willy"Willaert at the start of an exhibitionof knots last Easter.
The exhibition was held at themuseum "De Zilvereiger" (The SilverHeron) whose theme is about the lifeand work at the borders of the river"De Schelde". The idea for theexhibition began in the summer of1998 and took almost a year ofplanning. With the help of themuseum's staff and sponsors, the ideawas finally realized. Pieter van deGriend (Netherlands) and DanCalahan (Alaska) also providedInternet backup.
On display was over four hundreditems loaned by seventy-threecontributors from around the world.During its six month run, theexhibition attracted over 10,000visitors.
Willy wishes to express his thanksto all the Guild members from aroundthe world who contributed items fordisplay. Well done.
Right: Table lamp by Dave Barrow,Florida, USA.
23
Above: Breastplates by Brian Field, Essex, UK.Below: Fringework by Tony Doran, Surrey, UK
and needlehitching by Denis Murphy, Devon, UK.
Above: Turkshead knots by Dean C. Westervelt, Pennsylvania, USA.
Below: Bel/ropes by various contributors.
Above: A corner of the exhibition.
Below: Braiding by Tom Hall, Texas, USA.
Above: An intricate knotboard by Douwe Jan de Jong, Netherlands.
Below: Picture frame by Clifford J. Case, California, USA.
A Boatswain's LanyardBy James L. Doyle .
A few months ago, I met ayoung "Boatswain's Mate"serving aboard the V.S.S.
Constitution, in Charlestown NavyYard, Charlestown, Massachusetts. Heasked me if I would give him someinstructions on how to make a newlanyard. I agreed.
As time went by, I would ask himhow he was coming along with thenew lanyard. The answer was always;"I have been too busy". So when Ireceived my cord from "Oakhurst", Imade a new lanyard for him.
I presented this lanyard to him atthe Navy Yard. He was reallysurprised.
28
MethodTake eight 8-ft pieces of No. I whitecotton glace cord.Make up 45" of eight strand "French"sennit.Make up 8" of eight strand squaresennit from the "French" sennit.Join the ends of the French flat sennit,and then loop the 8" of the squaresennit into the flat "French" sennit.Whip all together and make a "mouse"around this joint.Cover this joint with an eight lead byseven bight Turk's Head knot withfour strands, which is required to coverthe "mouse".Repeat the Turk's Head to cover asecond mouse over the "French"sennit.
Knotting at theBarbican Glassworks
A Cornish net fisherman, fromNewquay, Bill Brain, whostarted making knots to
relieve the arthritis in his hands, wasamong other amateur artists andcraftspeople exhibiting at one ofPlymouth's top tourist attractions andretail giftware stores during thesummer holidays in August andSeptember.
Bill demonstrated the intricate art ofknot making to visitors to DartingtonCrystal's Barbican Glassworks. Amember of IGKT, Bill, aged 54,started tying decorative knots as ahobby five years ago to relieve thearthritis and says: "There are only
about four knot-board makers inCornwall.""There are over 3,000 different knots
and some of them can be very intricateand can take hours to do. But it's adying art because not very manyyoung people seem interested in itthese days."
Alison Barter, Retail Manager ofthe Barbican Glassworks, said: "Thisfestival of arts and crafts is our wayof putting back something into thelocal community and to encourage thewealth of talented artists andcraftspeople who live and work in theWest Country." Dartington CrystalLtd. operates the BarbicanGlassworks. The shop and studio hasattracted more than 500,000 visitorssince its opening in May 1997.Contact Alison on 01752-224777 forinformation about this festival.
29
NEW KNOTS OR WHAT???By Slen Johansson
I n 1997 a knot book by G. M.Sassu was published in Italy.The title is "11 Mondo dei Nodi"
(The World of Knots). In this bookMr. Sassu claims, that some of theknots are new knots.
I have had the text translated intoEnglish and copied together with thepictures. Can IGKT members tell meif they are really NEW knots?
And to my query in KM 62(1999) "Monkey's Fist or MonkeyFist", I still have not got any help tolighten my brain. Isn't there anyonewith any ideas?
Besides, the new knots,n1entioned and illustrated in the
previous chapter, I have in this lastchapter, put together some, that havebeen made during my time as ateacher in Technics and PracticalSeamanship. Many of these knotshave been worked out by my pupilsand my supervision, where I havetried to stimulate them to use newmethods, when they are workingwith ropes. I have also helped themto illustrate the book. The mosthardworking and most enthusiasticof my pupils was Paulo Frigau, whohas invented many knots of whichsome and as to my opinion all of mostinterest and originality, are shownbelow (Figs. 135, 136 and 137).
Fig. 135. Asola di Frigau.
30
Fig. 136. Asola di Pao/o
Fig. 137. Volta con doppio serraglio
31
All knots, that are introduced here as "NEW", must be considered as ""accepted"""even if some of them have been further developed by me in person so I haveobtained a decent result, which is shown by the illustrations belov; (figs. 138and 139).
Fig. 138. Gassa Roberta
Fig. 139. Intugliatura Anna Maria
32
Before going ahead with other joining knots, I want to present you an interestingknot created by WaIter Tross, a reader of the Italian magazine "Bolina". Theknot, first published in 1990 number 59 of the magazine, was so interesting thatafter some experimentation, I decided to recreate it here. (fig 64a)
Fig. 64. Nodo di WaIter Tross
In conclusion I want to suggest four knots of my invention, with the hope ofreceiving your opinion and suggestions.All four knots meet with the main requirements for being good knots: they canbe untied easily, also after high-tension work; they are easy to make and tolearn; they are safe and solid; they have a precise practical use.In order to give them a name, and because they were born during my seamanshiplessons I decided to name them Professor Bend (fig. 65), Buccari Bend (fig.66), Sassu Bend (fig. 67) and the last owes its name The Professor Error to abad execution of the Carrick Bend that give light to this knot.
Fig. 65 Professor Bend, does not turn ovel; is very solid under high tensionand easily untied after heavy duty. To be tested.
33
Fig. 66 Buccari Bend, shuts tightly, is good for high grip ropes.To be tested.
Fig. 67. Intugliatura Sassu
Fig. 68. L:errore del professore
34
Measuring Slippageby Frank Charles Brown
F or many years I have beenintrigued by Ashley's all toobrief description of his
experiments in measuring knotslippage. He used the term knotsecurity and defined this with thestatement "the security of a knot isdetermined by the stress it will endurebefore it slips". He then went on todescribe his apparatus for testingslippage. I do not think he actuallymeasured the endured stress, but hecertainly determined the relativesecurity of a range of knots (Bends).He also investigated the difference insecurity of the same bend tied withcord of left and right hand lay andshowed that this factor had a definiteinfluence.
The drawing of his test rig isreasonably clear but the actualworking method is not, at least to me.It would appear that the handle isturned back and forth so as to drawthe sandbag up to the stopper ring andso deliver a uniform thump (timed bythe conveniently dripping tap). As thebend slipped, the length of the swingwould increase and the speed of theswinging would have to be increasedto keep the beat! The important fact isthat he was able to run comparative
35
test in a uniform manner.Ashley's work was initiated by a
request to determine the best bend fortying slippery yarn (mohair). Myinterest in the subject arose initiallyfrom a concern over the security ofknots used in tying down tarpaulinson storm damaged roofs. This actionwas often carried out while the windwas still blowing and the forcegenerated by a flogging tarp in a stiffbreeze is quite considerable. Thelengthy and forceful jerking put anyknot used to a supreme security test.Adding to the problem was the use ofslippery plastic ropes, which were tooshort 90% of the time, and requiredbending on extra lengths. I must reportthat knot failure was a rare event, dueto good ropework by the teams, butthe concern remained.
Ashley carried out his test on theso-called Right Hand and Left HandSheet Bends. The curious thing is thatboth these knots incorporate a RightHand Half Hitch. I was interested tosee if there were any variations in thesecurity of the same knots, but usingLeft Hand Half Hitches.
MethodAfter a few trials I constructed the test
rig as shown in Fig 1. It is basically awooden frame with a I-kg drop armattached by a swivel to one pillar. Pegsin holes drilled in the other pillar areused as reference sites when loadingand testing. In a test run, 300mmlengths of the material underinvestigation were cut off the roll, andin the case of synthetics, heat-sealed.The lengths were tied together usingthe selected bend, leaving about50mm tails on the working ends. Thelengths were then anchored to theeyelets, using Round Turn and TwoHalf Hitches, while the Drop Arm washeld in a horizontal position by a peg.A Thumb Knot (Overhand Knot) wastied in the tail and dressed down asclose as practical to the anchor knot.This was done to reduce slippage atthis part of the arrangement. The
anchor was tied under light tension.The length of the tails at the Bend wasmeasured in mm before any furthertension had been applied. The holdingpeg was removed and the length of thetails measured again. A peg was placedin a selected hole, and the Drop Armraised to touch it. The arm was thenallowed to drop and the tail lengthmeasured. The procedure was thenrepeated ten times and the tailsmeasured. This process was followed,measuring every ten drops, untilpractically all the cord had slippedthrough the bend, the cord had brokenor 100 drops had been administered.The actual slippage at each stage wascalculated by subtracting themeasured length under tension butbefore the first drop.
Fig. 1Test Apparatus
36
The initial tests were conducted usinga light cotton string slightly less than1 mm dia. These showed that thesystem worked and was able to givenear reproducible results. The forcedelivered by the Drop Arm had to bemoderated by using a lower peg as thisstring tended to break easily.
Table 1
Half Hitch. Considering that theaccuracy of the measurements wouldbe of the order of +/-1 mm, the resultsare almost too good to be true.
The next phase of the testing wasthe comparison of slippage betweenline of opposite twist joined using thefour possible types of the Sheet Bend,as shown in Fig2. The labelling of the
Number of Drops
Slippage mm
10
5
11
9
20
15
18
17
30
20
23
24
40
25
27
27
Mean Slippage mm
Once the nlethod had beenestablished, a test run in triplicate wasmade using a 1mm nylon line. ThreeRight Handed Sheet Bends (Ashley1432) were tied and tested. The resultsare shown in Table 1. These resultsdemonstrated the general repeatabilityof the test.The results obtained and are themeasured lengths of slippage of thetail of the line not incorporating the
Type A
37
8+/-3 17+/-2 32+/-2 26+/-1
types was deliberately simplified tomake reference to the type for eachtest easier. Also there is some variancebetween authors with some showingType C and others Type A as THESHEET BEND!
Note: in the Fig 2, the arrowrepresents the standing part, and thedot represents the working end (or thetail I have been referring to).
TypeS
~ r-I ~~elJ Lj-e
TypeC
The lines used in the test, beingfrom different manufacturers, weremarginally different in diameter. Therewere probably minor differences incomposition, yarn size and otherfeatures that would contribute to thedifference in the comparative results.
Table 2
seen that the most secure knot in thisseries of tests was Type A tied in theLeft-Hand twist, followed by Type Cin Right Hand twist. The least secureknots were Type D in Left Hand andType B in Right Hand.
Number of Drops 1 2 10 20 30 ~o 50
Slippage mm
Series 1Right Hand twist cordTest 1 (Sheet Bend Type A) 1 4 12 21 30 37 ~3
Test 2 (Sheet Bend Type B) 10 16 36 40Test 3 (Sheet Bend Type C) 5 5 12 22 27 35 38Test 4 (Sheet bend Type D) 10 15 22 32 36 40 +-l
Series 2
Left Hand twist cordTest 5 (Sheet Bend Type A) 1 2 6 9 11 16 18Test 6 (Sheet Bend Type B) 5 7 17 25 37Test 7 (Sheet Bend Type C) 1 1 8 17 26 36 ~O
Test 8 (Sheet Bend Type D) 16 19 36
ResultsTable 2 sets out the results obtained
on measuring the slippage of theworking end as described. It can be
38
ConclusionsThe results obtained.
unsurprisingly, confirmed Ashley' sfindings, i.e. the ends in a Sheet bend
should be on the same side of the knot.There does appear to be someinfluence on the stability of the testTypes relating to the handedness of thetwist. The procedure was notconsidered to be any more than a
slightly crude method of testingslippage, but the results obtained werereasonably reproducible.
My wife drew the other conclusionfrom the testing. She is now convincedI am totally mad.
AN IMPROVED SQUARE LASHING
START WITH A TIMBERHITCH. THIS IS MORESECURE THAN THETRADITIONAL CLOVE
HITCH
PUT ON 3 WRAPPINGTURNS. THEN CHANGEDIRECTION AS SHOWN
FOR FRAPPING
~~\\II I I I \ \ I, I t' I J \ )
~Y. .. ,) .
, ~/12/,/Zi IINSTEAD OF THE TRADITIONAL
FRAPPING TURNS 1 PASS THEEND UNDER THE STARTMAKING IT INTO A HALF
HITCH. - PULL TIGHT.
PUT A HALF HITCH AROUND ADD A SECOND HALFTHE POLE AND WORK IT HITCH AND TIGHTENTIGHT INTO THE CORNER
Note: ALTHOUGHT TWO HALF HITCHES RESULT IN THESAME KNOT AS THE CLOVE HITCH THIS WAY OFTYING IT PUTS IT TIGHT INTO THE CORNER SOIT CANNOT ROTATE AND LOSE TENSION
I', I '\ i
l
.,\ I __ r-_~--.--"-~I I 1 ~I ! I I :
!!ll~
~i I
ADD A SECOND HALF HITCHAND PULL AS TIGHT ASPOSSIBLE. Note: UNLIKE
THE TRADITIONAL LASHINGTHE TENSION WILL STAY
THERE WHILE TYING OFF
John Kennaugh (c) 1998
39
MonkeyFist ToolBy Antony Souza
A t a recent New Bedfordmeeting Ken Yaldenencouraged me show the
tool I use to make small Monkey Fists,which I give away for zipper pulls andthe larger ones for key chains, to themembers through KM. I find that Isave line when I use the tool versesthe fingers on fists, with I" balls. Thelarger tool was made to accommodatecenter balls from I" to 1/2" and allsizes in between.
40
The mall r monkey fi t tool i madefrom spinal tap inj tion needlesl.4mm diameter. The fi_t i l ..+mmline with a 3/8" ball in centre.
Internet KnotMuseum
D aniel L. Callahan fromAnchorage, Alaska hasrecently moved into a
museum of fancy knots. Danielsays,
We have fancy knots fromaround the world, and we hope tomake this little museum into a placefor all knot tyers! He has ahomepage on the Internet at http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/5182/. Those members with webaccess will enjoy viewing hisInternet museum.
Rope Ends
"Walking backstage at theLiverpool Empire was likewalking on the deck of a hugeland-bound sailing ship. Weclimbed up onto the fly-floor, highabove the stage, where the fly menbring in the scenery. After threeweeks at sea, I felt at home. Thesame sort of ropes, the same knots,cleats for belaying and the samenames."(Island Race, by John McCarthyand Sandi Toksvig, pub. 1995 byBBC Books)
41
BranchLinesKnotting in theNew Millennium fromNew Zealand!Kia Ora (Greetings) from Aotearoa(New Zealand)! !
Firstly, congratulations to KenYalden and his team for thepreparation of the IGKT MillenniumSurvival Pack! I am delighted thatsome of the suggestions that I madein KM: 57 were of use to theorganization!
My own Millennium contributionwas made on the floating crane, the"Hikitia" at anchor off Oriental Bayin Wellington Harbour. We were usedas part of the production of anenactment of the formation ofWellington Harbour. I formed a ninepart- four lead Turks Head atop thecrane, (a 100 feet up, hanging on aPetzel C-71 dorsal harness, I mightadd) yesterday (31 st of December) atabout 8:00pm. We thought that theweather might have been too bad atmidnight or at 4:00am when ourceremonies started. The other factorwas I didn't want to be up there whenthe Pyro-Techics erupted from the JibHead! I hope that I will be forgivenmy temerity.
At midnight a video record was
42
made of me short-splicing a manilarope to signify all members beingtogether. I also did an eye splice tosignify our being ever alert to ways topromote Qur organization through the"eyes of the world!"
I would like to lay claim to beingthe first person in the world to splicea rope, in particular a natural fibrerope. Any challengers?
As I was on watch all night, I alsoformed another nine-part~ four leadTurks Head on the bridge railing ofthe "Hikitia". I might add that I mightwell be sacked as an Officer of theWatch. On the two occasions that Ineeded a short break, we were boardedby up to 30 visitors!
A real highlight of the next fewdays is our first Guild Meeting of thenew millennium with ProfessorVaughan Jones (Our New ZealandChapter's Patron and one of theInternational Guild's Vice-Presidents).Maybe this is the first G-uild Meetingof the new era?
I haven't had time yet tocommunicate with our Chaptermembers (I have just come off a 36hour muster without a sleep), but willreport more fully to you as soon aspossible. It goes without saying thatthe New Zealand Chapter willparticipate fully this year in ourbirthday celebrations. Unfortunately Iwill be unable to venture to the Maymeeting.
A wonderful visit to New Zealandat the end of the year from Netherlandsmember Willeke van der Ham was a
highlight. What a wonderfulambassador for the Guild! Willeke hasmet more New Zealand members thanI have! Whilst here she stayed with anumber of us; attended a Guildmeeting on the "Hikitia" ~ helped JackSheahan and I at a Fire BrigadeTraining session and left wonderfulexamples of her work with each of us.She is a consummate traveller and inmy opinion should be appointed"ambassador-at-Iarge" for theInternational part of the organization.Arohanui ki a koutou katoa!(Love and Care to you all)
Tony FisherPresident - New Zealand Chapter
West Midlands BranchOn 21st November 1999 the WestMidlands Branch held their firstmeeting for quite a while. We had ourmeeting at Kinver Scout Campsite,unfortunately there were only six ofus but we all enjoyed ourselves. Uponarrival Bill Lyden greeted us all witha nice hot mug of coffee, we all thenhad a chat before Colin Jones gave usa talk and demonstration onGrommets. We all finished up makingone of these. Our thanks go to Colinfor sharing this with us and also Billfor arranging the venue.
Bruce Turley
East Anglian BranchAt lpm on Saturday 25th
September 1999; 22 enthusiastic
43
members of the East Anglian Branchof the Guild gathered for a convivialand informative late summerafternoon of Knotting Craft/Skills.John Addis the retiring outgoingsecretary handed over the reigns,records, subscription funds and themost important thing; the wherewithalto me. John and his wife Audrey werethanked and applauded for theirsterling work and enthusiasm inkeeping the Branch running and inparticular Audrey for keeping ussupplied with tea/coffee and biscuits.We wish them a happy fulfilling andpeaceful retirement and hope to seethem again at future meetings withJohn adding his distinctive flair.
We enjoyed an interesting andinformative dual talk/teach-inworkshop by Des Pawson on the wideand intriguing use of combination'Half Hitching' techniques and'Needle Hitching' to cover bottles andvarious other structures and in themaking of 'Mats' ably assisted by hiswife Liz.
I gave out a 'Handout' about howwomankind had got the world all sewnup with spinning and rope makingwhilst man the hunter-gatherer wentout with their handiwork to hunt. Afterwhich I endeavored to teach twodifferent ways to tie the American'Theodore'Knot and the SouthAmerican and Australian method oftying a 'Rose Knot' by two differentmethods, which is in fact a Singlestrand 'Mathew Walker' but n1ucheasier to tie than the traditional
methods of using multi-plys. All ofwhich lead me on to demonstratinghow to combine those knots using 6/7metres of rope to make a 'Head Collar/Halter~ .
Our next meeting will be on Sat.25th March 2000 at 1pm at the usualvenue. Bring samples of your craft toshow and explain; I will demonstratean aspect of 'Macrame' HangingBasket techniques. See you there!
John Halifax
West Yorkshire Branch1999 was a good year for the West
Yorkshire Branch of the IGKT, withvarious different events and plenty ofopportunity to exchange ideas andchat.
At both International meetings ourBranch was well represented. and wehad a great time meeting otherknotters, including several from othercountries. A piece of rope canovercome language barriers very well!
At Branch level we had sevenmeetings throughout the year andwhilst the numbers attending have notincreased, we are working on it.
In addition to the Branch meetings,we met the general public at numerousevents. We had three exhibitions inMuseums last year. The first was atthe Colne Valley Folk Museum atGolcar where we had a static displayfor 5 weeks occupying quite a largeroom, with S01l1e manning at theweekends. The Captain CookMuseum in Whitby invited us back
44
again and we displayed for a \\'eekendin the hot sunshine in their courtyardon the banks of the river Esk. Theevent was particularly good as somelocal members who brought their \\'orkto display with ours joined us. Ourthird Museum was Armley IndustrialMuseum where we had a singledisplay case to support the RNLIexhibition. This ran for a month. andwe staffed the last weekend.
Our Waterways festivals beganwith a Canal Working Boat weekend(a first for us) in Shipley. The eventwas not well publicized so there \\'erenot many visitors: However \\'e metanother branch of the boatingfraternity and were made verywelcome. We then had the WakefieldCanal Festival, a regular event for us.where we are well received and havea good follo\\'ing of interested boaters.The one-day De\\'sbury Canal Festl\'alfollo\\'ed. hot. dusty and good fun. Ourfinal outdoor event of the year \\'as atthe Leeds Waterways festival. \\'hichbegan only three years ago and hasrapidly grown in size and popularity.A visiting French market was on thesite this year, which made lunchesmore exciting! The Festival is held atClarence docks, next to the RoyalArmouries, and makes a good venuefor our display.We already have three bookings forthis year, the first being a weekenddisplay at Armley Mills IndustrialMuseum on February 19th and 20th.The IGKT President, Brian Field isplanning to join us that weekend. Our
second booking is for a representationof the Branch at the Lace Guildmeeting in Scarborough, in April. Ourthird booking is for Wakefield CanalFestival on June 3rdl4th
We know that we will have manymore requests and unfortunately, wehave had to turn down several over thepast 2/3 years as we have not hadsufficient members available to staffthe events. Please call if you have anytime spare to join us at events, and youare all VERY welcome to our Branchmeetings.
David Pearson
Pacific Americas BranchWe have our "Traveling Knot Box"
which is a 3 ft by 2 ft by 7 inch woodenbox that opens up to show twoknotboards. Since the beginning ofthe Branch, members have alsodonated a good quantity of knotteditems for display at different showsand events. This is what we take withus when we go before the public.
Dana Point Harbor holds two majoryearly events. These are the FestivalofWhales in March and the Tall ShipsFestival in August. We always get agood number of members toparticipate with these and we canalways anticipate a good crowd. Theyare exhausting but exhilarating at thesame time!
There was also the Tall ShipsCannon Festival at Rainbow Harbor
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in Long Beach. The parking was a bitdifficult so we didn't see as manypeople that time but we met someenthusiastic knotters none the less.
Lindsey Philpott gave a talk at theBanning House Museum and to anumber of Boy Scout Troops in theLos Angeles area.
Someone saw us at the Tall ShipsFestival and so Joe Schmidbauer wasinvited to the Victorian HandicraftFaire in Lake Forest. This took placeat Heritage Hill Park a few weeksbefore Christmas. Most of the craftersin the area where there showing offtheir goods. One lady told me that shehad just learned of the existence of theGuild and had been hoping to findsome information about it. It was herlucky day that I was there with all theinformation she could want! Joe alsogave a lecture to Boy Scout Troop 399in Corona, which turned out to be avery fun time indeed.
The Pacific Americas Branch holdsmonthly meetings at the Los AngelesMaritime Museum with whom it isaffiliated. It is also planning a knottingextravaganza this June 24th and 25thin Long Beach, California called "Lotsof Knots: A World of Knotting" Moredetails will be sent along as we workthem out.
Joe SchmidbauerIGKT-PAB
•
PostbagThe views expressed in reader's lellers do notnecessarily reflect those 01 the Council. The Editorreserves the right to shorten any leller as necessary.
The Surrey Six
The presentation of the 'Surrey six'in the last issue of KM was interesting,but raises a few questions.
What is the authority behind thestatement 'these are the knots we thinkshould be used with modern ropes':Is this proposal endorsed by the Guildor is it peculiar to the Surrey Branch?
What set of knots do these knotsreplace?
Have there been tests that validatethe claim that this set is more suitablefor use with modern ropes.
Does the term 'modern ropes'mean man-made fibre ropes, and doesit encompass all types of rope incurrent use?
I believe that the Surrey Sixrepresents work that the Guild shouldbe engaged in, revalidating traditionalworking knots in the light of newmaterials and rope design, but therationale of proposals for changeshould be fully documented. Perhapsthe authors could address this.
Tony Doran
ROPE-MAKING ANCHOR?I have enclosed a photograph of an
old carved seaman in oilskins, holdinga metal three-core hawser, secured ona rosewood base. With three metalrods spaced 2 1/2" apart fixed as atriangle. My wife bought this at a carboot fair, thought it would be a niceletter rack! After a few weeks and afew hours admiring the quality of theworkmanship, it reminded me of theanchor points used in rope making,which I saw in a book on ChathamDockyard history. The Rope Shed hada similar anchorage. I wonder if anymembers could identify this idea ofmine?
Brian Trew, Hastings
Snail MailAs a freelance writer I ought to
welcome more picturesque pro e: butI do object to the dismissiye use of'snail mail' when it appears to
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condemn those ofus who have chosen-for whatever reasons - to do withoute-mail addresses and fax numbers ,connection to the Internet, or even amobile phone.
Contributors to Knotting Matterswho request information and thensupply only an e-mail address (whentheir details are not in the currentIGKT membership handbook) willreceive no response from me. Frankly,I find their approach irksome anddiscourteous.
Sorry to grumble. It's my age.Perhaps I don't get out enough.
Geoffrey Budworth,Tonbridge, England
Watch TelescopesI was interested to see a photograph
in the Times of 3rd September 1999,showing Captain Mark Stanhope, ofHMS Illustrious, carrying his watchtelescope complete with decorativeTurks Heads. Cans any of our exRoyal Navy members comment on thecontinuing validity of watchtelescopes in this age, or are they 99%ceremonial now?
John Constable, Pershore
HammocksI wish to make a hammock for my
own use, but cannot find anyinformation on this subject. Can anyreader help me?
Also where can I purchase thosesmall ships wheels, pulley blocks andlifebelts etc. that I have seen on someknotboard displays? I would begrateful for any information.
Keep up the good work withKnotting Matters. I look forward toevery issue.
Robert WisemanFraserburgh, Scotland
CatshankHas anyone seen this? I found it
on a book published in 1948. JohnErving, the intrepid yachtsman calledit a "Catshank". I've found it doesn'tslip, won't jam under pressure, andmakes a good addition to knotboards.As far as I can see it's not in Ashley orany of the knot books or sailingmanuals?
Peter Win ward,Suffolk, UK
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KnottingDiary
Compiled by Jeff Wyatt91 Luton Road, Dunstable,Bedfordshire, LU5 4LWTel: 01582 664504E-mail: [email protected]
IGKT Annual General MeetingT. S. Weston, Weston-Super-Mare,Somerset. 13th May 2000Contact: Nigel Harding
AWorld of KnottingIGKT-PABLong Beach, California24th -25th June 2000Contact: Lindsay PhilpottTel: (562) 595-8854, orJoseph SchmidbauerE-mail: [email protected]
IGKT Half-yearly Meeting14th October 2000, NetherlandsContact Willeke van der HamTel: 0251 21 3285
West Yorkshire Branch21 st March, 16th May 2000Beulah Hotel, Tong Road, FarnelyLeeds.Contact David Pearson,Tel: 0113 257 2689
Lace Guild MeetingApril 2000, ScarboroughWakefield Canal Festival3rd and 4th June 2000Contact David Pearson
SECRETARY:Nigel Harding16 Egles Grove,Uckfield,Sussex, TH22 2BYTel: 01827 760425E-mail: [email protected]
Guild Annual Subscription rates:Juniors £5Seniors £16Families £20Corporate by arrangementPayable by cash/cheque Eurocard, Mastercardor Visa. Taxpayers in UK - we would prefer acovenanted subscription.
EDITOR:Colin Grundy4 Hanwood Close,Eastern Green,Coventry CV5 7DZTel: 024 7646 8603E-mail: [email protected]
Full pageHalf pageQuarter Page
West Midlands Branch12th March 2000 at Kinver ScoutCamp, Kinver, Nr. Stourbridge.Contact Bruce TurleyTel: 0121 453 4124
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Advertising Rates:Members
£32£19£10
Non-me bers£49£22£15
Guild SuppliesPrice List 2000
Supplies Secretary:- Bruce Turley19 Windmill Avenue, Rubery, Birmingham B45 9SP
email [email protected]: 0121 453 4124
Cheques payable to IGKT, or simply send your credit card detailsPS Dont forget to allow for Postage
Item PriceGeoffrey BudworthKnotlore a miscellany of quotes from fact and fiction £2.50Much Ado About Knotting history of the 1st 10 years of the Guild £2.50 *The Knot Book £3.99
Brian FieldBreastplate Designs £2.50Concerning Crosses £1.50
Eric FranklinTurkesheads the Traditional Way £1.50 *Nylon Novelties £2.00 *
Stuart GraingerKnotcraft £3.60 *Ropefolk £1.30Turks Head Alternatives £2.20 *Creative Ropecraft Hardback £9.95Knotted Fabrics Hardback price includes UK postage £9.00
John HalifaxSomething Different with over 50 Button Knots £3.20 *
Harold ScottOn Various Cruxiform Turks Heads £2.50Sliding Template Method for Designing Cruciform Turks-Heads Vol. 2 £3.00
IGKTKnotting Matters copies of past editions £2.50(Some past editions available – contact the Secretary for details)* bulk purchases of these items available at a discount – phone for details
Printed by Gipping Press, Needham arket. Tel: (0449) 721599. Fax: (0449) 721372
