Page 260 - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

old eyes, straighten and cover a section of the
piece at a time.
• For applications that require molding the leather
to fit odd shapes (knife sheaths, gaff jaws, etc.),
soak the rough-cut leather for a few hours in
tepid water, then mold it to the object. Tape
metal objects before molding, unless you want
them permanently stained. When the leather has
the shape you want, clamp it snugly in place and
let it dry, then cut it to finished shape. You may
need to use a different stitch, or even tacks for
some projects.

THE WIRE ROUND SEIZING

There is no more subtle knot than this one. In struc-
ture and appearance it is an ordinary Round Seizing,
rendered in wire instead of marline. But the stresses
it is designed to endure are of a higher order than its
twine cousin’s, and the technique of making it prop-
Figure 6-64. A double-served, leathered soft eye is
shown in A. This heavy leather was prepared by erly relies so much on fussiness and “feel” that it is
pre-punching holes ⁄8 inch apart and ⁄8 inch from the most difficult knot to learn to do well. Because
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the edges (B). The holes were marked with a jogging it is intrinsic to many items of traditional rigging,
wheel for regular spacing (C), and the stitches were particularly shroud pairs, wire-rope grommets, and
smoothed down with a seam rubber (D). deadeyes, I’m going to attempt a description of it
here. But understand that practice and something

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