Page 242 - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

pushing the strand in ahead of it and pushing the vice is optional, and seizings are made with mar-
heart out. Remove the second spike once you’re line or nylon seine twine. Even an ardent Fittingist
well started. would have to concede that knowing how to grom-
As you approach the finish, pause to see how met is a useful skill, especially in an emergency. And
the lengths are going to work out, and to trim one or for those who like to fit out in the traditional man-
both ends. You want the two ends almost to meet. ner, the possibilities are endless.
If you measure well, the heart will fall out just as
you run out of end, and the two ends will nearly
meet inside the wire (Figure 6-44H). Ah, perfect. A THE COMFORTS OF SERVICE
smooth, steel-strong beauty, and all from a single
strand. Service, hah! I can’t think of a sillier waste of time
Now, getting back to those Expensive Fittings, than wrapping rope with little-bitty pieces of string.
Figure 6-45 shows a few of the places where your It’s an absurd, archaic, ridiculously labor-inten-
handiwork can be put to use. Wire grommets are sive exercise in drudgery that you, a contemporary
usually served and sometimes leathered where they sailor, could never conceivably have a use for.
bear on mast or boom, to waterproof and to better Unless maybe you’re looking for a cheap, easy
distribute strain (see the following section, under way to hang your boathook from a shroud. A few
“Mending”). Thimbles are held in place with wire turns of marline at the appropriate height make a
Round Seizings. With the softer rope grommets, ser- firm base to seize a round sail thimble to, to hold the

Figure 6-45. Some sample grommet locations, including blocks, yard, painter, sling, bucket, tholepin, and
neck, head, and smoke gear.

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