Page 37 - Knots, Splices and Rope Work: A Practical Treatise

End pointings are very useful as well as ornamental,
for while an ordinary seizing or whipping will
prevent the strands from unravelling, the ends are
broad and clumsy and oftentimes are too large to
pass through a block or eye large enough for the rest

of the rope. The ordinary way of pointing a rope is
to first whip as described (Fig. 4), and then unlay
the end as for the Flemish eye. Take out about two-
thirds of the yarns and twist each in two. Take two
parts of different yarns and twist together with
finger and thumb, keeping the lay on the yarn and
thus forming left-handed stuff known as “nettles.”

Comb out the rest of the yarn with a knife, leaving a
few to lay back upon the rope. Now pass three turns
of twine like a timber-hitch tightly around the part
where the nettles separate and fasten the twine, and
while passing this “warp” lay the nettles backward

and forward with each turn. The ends are now
whipped with twine or yarn and finally “snaked,”
which is done by taking the end under and over the
outer turns of the seizing alternately. If the rope is small a stick is often put in the upper
part to strengthen it or the tip maybe finished with a small eye. If properly done a pointed
rope is very handsome and appears as in B, Fig. 103.

Another simple way of finishing a rope end is to seize the end, as at A, Fig. 104, and open
out the strands, bring the strands back alongside the rope, and whip the whole (Fig. 105).