Page 37 - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

The right-most lashup in Figure 1-18 is a con- Dragging with a Hook
figuration that is about as involved a Trucker’s Hitch
as you can get before friction defeats mechanical When dragging an item with a hook, make sure
advantage. Here the line passed over the cargo is cut the hook goes in with the bill pointing down, so it
to an appropriate length and has a thimble spliced won’t fall out if the load is released.
in its end. A separate lanyard is anchored by one
end below, a bight is passed through the thimble, a
Biegner Hitch is made in that bight, and the other handiness and adaptability. Swaying or sweating
end is rove through the hitch. This creates a six-part up on a halyard is another application of the same
purchase. If that doesn’t do the trick, you need a principle.
come-along or some chain binders.
Wedging
Frapping When you can’t frap, wedge. Figure 1-21 shows an
To compound the tension on a lashing, apply “frap- impromptu clamp made for gluing up some stock.
ping” turns. These are made at right angles to the Round turns are made tightly around the work, but
basic lashing to snug it still more; these turns can there’s no place to put frapping turns, so smooth,
be so effective as to rip ringbolts out, so use them hard wedges, whose tips are under the lashing to
with discretion. In Figure 1-20, frapping turns are start, are driven in to tighten as well as any clamp.
taken on the head-tensioning strings of a drum, For wide work, like a cutting board, it may be nec-
and they tighten the round turns made to finish the essary to weight or clamp the work to keep it flat.
“mousing” of a hook (see the sidebar on page 17), Before large bar clamps were generally avail-
to keep the load from hopping off the hook when able, wedged chains were used to hold deadwood
things are slack. These two far-removed examples assemblies in place for boring. It’s still an inexpen-
should help illustrate frapping’s extraordinary sive alternative.

Figure 1-20. Frapping can be put to such widely Figure 1-21. Wedging. Make a series of tight turns
divergent uses as lashing drumheads and mousing around the tip of a wedge whose corners have been
hooks. rounded. Drive the wedge down to tighten the lashing.

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