Page 230 - The Pocket Guide to Outdoor Knots

COMMON WHIPPING

Purpose

This quick and easy whipping should be applied to the unseized end of any rope
or other sizeable bit of cordage that would otherwise unravel and fray. Synthetic

hawser-laid ropes by their very nature lack cohesion and must be heat-sealed,

taped or whipped. This particular whipping’s weakness is its simplicity. It will,
as a consequence, come adrift if subjected to rough treatment; and, if even a
single turn snaps, the entire whipping unwinds.

More robust alternatives to this whipping are either the West Country

whipping (pages 42–43) or a 5-lead x 4-bight Turk’s head (pages 150–151). Still
this is a useful first aid treatment with which to bandage cut ropes.

Tying
It can be helpful to whip toward the cut end and in the opposite direction to the

lay of the rope, for the most effective result. Tight binding tends to open up the

lay, which (as it springs back) tightens the whipping. First lay a bight or loop
along the line, then wrap the working end to enclose it (figures 1–2).
Tuck the working end of the whipping twine down through the remaining bit

of bight and pull on the other end to trap it (figure 3). Continue to pull, so that it

is dragged beneath the wrapping turns of the whipping, until the resulting
interlocked elbows lie in the middle (figure 4).