Page 261 - Brion Toss - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

I can only describe as utilitarian intuition will do As with the Liverpool Eyesplice, you can set
you a lot more good than words and pictures will. up to seize either vertically or horizontally. With
an upright wire one can walk completely around
Setup the work for greater speed and better-controlled
5
Fully serve an eight-foot length of ⁄16-inch 7 x 7 or “tracking,” so a vertical setup is almost universal.
7 x 19 wire rope (seizings should always be applied But there are times when horizontal is handy, and
over a grip-providing layer of service). Clamp this some people prefer it. For this text, we are going
in a vertically mounted rigging vise or, just for this with vertical.
practice, in a machinist’s vise (Figure 6-65). Hitch About 6 to 8 inches above the vise jaws, apply a
onto the wire ends and haul them up snugly to an homemade rigger’s screw (made from a double-bar
overhead block, using block and tackle or come- clamp with shaped wood jaws screwed to it), and
along to pull the work nearly bar taut. How firmly is snug it up to pinch the legs firmly together. Hitch a
your vise secured to the floor? light line to the clamp’s handle and lead it out hori-

Figure 6-65. Wire Round Seizing setup. The served wires have been clamped in place at their lower ends, and
the upper ends have been pulled taut overhead. The rigger’s screw is in position, with a line led from its handle
to torque the wire a quarter-turn counterclockwise. This will provide resistance for the clockwise torque that the
seizing stick will apply. A strip of canvas and a length of seizing wire have been inserted between the legs at the
seizing site, as the text describes. A very compact loop has been formed in the end of the wire as a stopper to
prevent the end of the wire from being pulled free when you start the seizing.

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