Page 28 - Randy Penn Everything Knots Book

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ALL ABOUT ROPES AND TWINE

on an ordinary right-handed screw or bolt would have. When the
strands are laid left-handed, the rope is called “S-laid.” These
designations are due to the direction of slant of the middle part
of these letters. This direction must be noted when winding on
a whipping as shown in Chapter 12. For greater security, the
direction of the winding should be opposite to the direction of
the twist.

FACT

Many knots and knotting techniques came into use as a
consequence of the three-strand construction of rope. People
began making “multistrand” knots by separating the three
strands and combining them to form a knot. Sometimes these
strands were even woven back into the rope itself, as in the Back
Splice or the Eye Splice. This “splicing” of rope is sometimes done
with other types of rope, but it must be done differently for each
structure, with widely varying degrees of difficulty.

By its nature, twisted rope’s behavior is affected by the direc-
tion of its lay. It should be coiled in right-handed fashion as shown
in Chapter 12, and will be troublesome if coiled otherwise. This is
because the lay of the rope will resist being tightened more than
being loosened. It has a slight springiness due to its tendency to
untwist under strain, and this causes a load to spin when sus-
pended freely with twisted rope.

Braided and Plaited Ropes

More recently, the use of modern machinery and synthetic fibers
has helped us move beyond the limitations of twisted ropes. Rope-
making machines can now weave braided or plaited ropes that
come in many decorative patterns, are tightly woven, and don’t
untwist easily like twisted ropes do.

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