Page 32 - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

Figure 1-13. The old and the new side by side on a
sprung tiller: John Henry versus the steam hammer,
the Constrictor versus the hose clamp.
Figure 1-14A. To tie a Single Constrictor with the
Constrictors end, make a crossed round turn, crossing from right
There are times when you’ll want to make a more to left. Bring the end up on the left side of the stand-
temporary seizing. For this, nothing beats the Con- ing part, then lead it over to the right and under the
strictor Knot, a convenient, relentlessly secure way crossing point, away from you.
to bind parcels, to keep rope ends from unlaying, or
to hold things in place for the application of perma-
nent seizings. To know the knot is to constantly find
uses for it (Ashley recommends it for everything
from flour sacks to atomizer bulbs). When drawn
up sufficiently tight it is an amazing thing, at least
as valuable as the kingly Bowline. It is by no means
a new knot, just a neglected one. But then, old
knots never die; they just wait for us to come to our
senses. For example, hose clamps seem to be the
emergency recourse of choice for binding cracked
tillers, spars, boathooks, etc. Once I even saw one
on the end of a raveling line. The prevailing atti- Figure 1-14B. The Double Constrictor gets an extra
tude about them is that though they are expensive, crossing turn, parallel with and to the left of the first.
time-consuming to apply, snag on everything, and The end goes under three parts as it passes under the
look awful, they’re better than anything else for crossing point.
temporary repairs, right?
Wrong. For all the above jobs, and for hundreds
of others besides, hose clamps can do little that Con- Double is for those situations where extra strength
strictor Knots can’t—including clamping hoses. A and security is a must, as for semi-permanent lash-
Single or Double Constrictor made with a piece of ings, whippings, or for large gluing jobs where a
job-scaled nylon or polyester twine is a quick, easy, hose, “C,” or other kind of clamp might be unavail-
unobtrusive, durable, and essentially free way to able or too bulky. The double is also more secure in
bind things together. If the Bowline is the King of slick twine, especially when it’s waxed.
Knots, surely the Constrictor is the Queen. Either the Single or Double Constrictor can be
In recent years, sailors and landspeople alike tied with the end (Figure 1-14A,B) when you need
have been coming to their senses in sufficient num- to fasten it around a ring, stanchion, spoke, etc.
bers that a Single Constrictor Knot is no longer But whenever possible—whenever you

a rarity. But the Double Constrictor still is. The can make the knot and then drop it over the
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