Page 31 - The Ashley Book of Knots

THE ASHLEY BOOK OF KNOTS

Supplementary Kit ~ 101 (including sailmaking and netting tools)

A. Hickory fid, 8 Y2" G. Cord for netting

B. Sewing or seaming palm H. Five yards ~IO duck (canvas)

C. Sail needles, mree, assorted I. Linen cord, three balls assorted

D. Sail hook (for holding work) (miniature rope)

E. Netting needle J. Heaver

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F. Netting spool practice K. Thimble

c spool)

1 1 Kit ~102

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,

I Occasional Tools and Materials

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• A. Shouldered tweezers for "fancy
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F • E. Pricker, 8"
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•
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']) • kqotting" F. Linen cord in various sizes
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, B. Duco cement G. Larger-size banding for knot
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,
E • •

• pracnce
• C. Sail twine H. Bolt rope, three-strand, for
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•
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• D. Roping palm splicing

Perhaps the easiest way to tie many of the more elaborate knots is

G to place an outline of the knot desired on the cork projecting board,

and to tie the knot directly over this diagram, pinning the cord at

frequent intervals. A copy of the diagram is the first thing required.

Tracing paper is the simplest thmg to use, bllt carbon paper will

K

101 serve equally well. Place the carbon paper between two sheets of

white paper and make either a direct tracing or a reversed one, ac-

102. cording to which side of the carbon paper is uppermost. To get a

reversed tracing with ordinary tracing paper, merely tum the first

tracing over and retrace on the back of it. If no tracing paper is

A c handy, use ordinary typing paper against a well-lighted windowpane.

Some of the more elaborate diagrams will require enlarging. The

pantograph provides an inexpensive and practical method of enlarge-

ment. One may be bought in any stationery shop for fifty cents and

upward. There are also various reflecting and enlarging instruments

of moderate cost, for sale in artists' materials shops, designed for the

use of commercial artists. With these an enlarged tracing may be

made in one operation.

A photostatic enlargement is perhaps the simplest means and is in-

expensive, since a dozen diagrams may be traced on a single sheet

of 8" X 10" paper and photostated directly onto a sheet of sensitized

paper four times that size. If wished, one can be made directly from

the book itself without any tracing.

Knots are tied in various kinds of flexible material: thongs, withes,

F roots, sinew, hair, and wire; but in this work, unless otherwise
E

specified, rope and cord will be the materials considered. The term

rope itself ordin2Iily applies to twisted vegetable fiber. The first

H operation in making rope of such material is to spin or twist a number

of fibers into a yam or thread. The ordinary twist is the same as that

of a right-handed corkscrew, and is termed right-handed. If the yams

are twisted right-handed, the strands are left-handed and the rope

itself is right-handed.

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