Page 29 - The Ashley Book of Knots
P. 29
THE ASHLEY BOOK OF KNOTS
87. The sail maker works in a loft while seated on a backless
wooden bench with his tools stuck into various holes at one end, the
right end if he is right-han=led.
88. He has a small three-edged tool called a stabber for making
eyelet holes.
89. Two different types of marlingspike are shown.
90. Several sizes of fids are required. Although commonly of wood,
sometimes they are of whalebone, and often (in large sizes) of iron.
A wooden fid may have a head, but it does not bulge, like the mar-
lingspike head, beyond the line of :he cone's taper.
91. A pricker is a smaller metal tool with a handle of other material
-
~
...
..- (wood, leather, bone, etc.), or else it is an all-metal tool small enough
-' to be held in the grasp of the hand (jIj 99A). It is used by all three
~
-"
... craftsmen but principally by the sailmaker. The sailmaker's knife
-'
- .. .J (jIj 94) is pointed and the back is often used in rubbing light seams;
~
-"
~
... ~ for heavy seams a rubber (also called seam rubber) (jlj96) is used.
-"
,
, .J
,
-
- - His needles (jlj98) are three-edged and of many sizes. A marline
J
-
-
~ • needle may be fully seven inches long with three flat sides three
-
~
- , sixteenths of an inch wide. The shank and eye of a needle are smaller
•
• ttl than the blade, so that needle and thread are easily pulled through
•
,
89 '10 after the needle point has once been entered. Instead of a thimble the
sailmaker uses a palm, which is a checkered metal disk mounted in a
sole leather or rawhide band. There are two sorts: a roping palm
&9 (jlj9S), for sewing bolt rope to canvas, and a seaming palm (jlj97),
for sewing cloths together. To hold his work in place he uses a sail-
book (jIj IOID) which is made fast to his bench with a lanyard.
The sailor regularly employs any or all of the tools of the two
, . other trades. His work at sea obliges him at times to be both rigger
-r.B and sailmaker. A sailm"s knife (jlj93) frequently has a blunt point
and, in addition to its professional uses, is the sailor's only eating
92 utensil, his fingers serving as boosters. On long voyages a cautious
shipmaster will lead the whole crew aft to the carpenter's vise and
have the point of each knife snapped off to resemble the rigger's
SAlLOR
\.
'\ \ \ \ \ , \ , , \ \\ ,\. , ,. ::::-.:..:.:.::=:.:..-_/ knife (jlj92).
9
•
•
The best material I have found for practicing fancy and multl-
93 strand knots is a round, flexible cotton braid called banding that is
used for small "individual" drives in cotton mills. For general prac-
ticai knot work, a good quality Manila rope is all that is required.
For making splices, bolt rope is excellent as it is soft-laid and of
selected fiber. It is made with three strands only. Tarred ratline stuff
(three-strand) and lanyard stuff (four-strand) hold the lay better
than Manila and allow of more and easier correction.
For bag lanyards, leashes, etc., and for the standing rigging of ship
models, there is a miniature rope in three and four strands of un-
bleached linen, made in a number of sizes for Jacquard loom harness.
"Oriental" stores carry beautiful braided silk cord in various colors
about five thirty-seconds of an inch in diameter. The P. C. Herwig
Company, 121 Sands Street, Brooklyn, New York, has cotton cord
for square knotting or "macrame" in almost every color and will
send a catalogue if requested. They also sell an excellent pattern and .
instruction book on square knotting that is inexpensive and well
illustrated.
Costly equipment is unnecessary. The fingers and a long round
shoestring are all that is absolutely required for tying most of the
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