Page 413 - Brion Toss - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

Glossary

Abrasion: Chafe or wear on a rope or wire rope. Belaying pin: A wood or metal pin inserted
Chafe is most readily found on the surface of rope, through a hole in a rail, to which running rigging is
but ropes can also abrade internally. belayed.

Aircraft cable: Strands, cords, and wire ropes Bend: A knot that ties together the ends of two
made of very strong wire. Intended originally for ropes.
aircraft controls, it is now widely used as standing
rigging in traditional vessels. Bight: A slack section in a rope’s standing part; a
U-shaped bend of a line used in the formation of a
Area, metallic: The sum of the cross-sectional knot.
areas of metal. In a wire rope it is the amount of
“meat” in the sum of the individual yarns in a Bitts: Upright timbers, usually in pairs, for making
wire, which varies with construction. fast mooring and towing lines.
Back a strand, to:. In a splice, to tuck a strand Block: A device with grooved wheels for changing
with, rather than against, the lay. the lead of a line, or for increasing the power of a
tackle.
Backsplice: An end-of-the-rope knot in which the
strands are spliced back into their own standing Bollards: Posts, commonly of iron, suitable for
part. mooring. Like bitts, they are usually found in
pairs, but they are more often round, while bitts
Becket: 1. A rope handle. 2. The eye or hook of a are usually square.
block or block strop where the purchase originates
(as opposed to the bail, from which the block Breaking strength: The measured load required to
hangs). 3. A short rope with an eye at one end and break a rope in tension. See Nominal strength.
a button at the other, used for securing spars, oars, Button: A leather stop fitted to the loom of an
etc. oar to prevent it from slipping outboard; a firm,

Belay, to: To secure a rope with round and figure- compact multi-strand knot in which the ends lead
eight turns around a belaying pin, cleat, bitts, etc. back to the standing part after the knot is formed.
To make an extemporaneous attachment to any By the run: To let go or cast off instantly instead of
object, especially with the intent of being able to slacking gradually.
control high loads.
Cable: A term loosely applied to wire ropes, wire
strands, fiber ropes, and electrical conductors.

Thanks to Doubleday & Company for permission to take Capsize: When applied to knots, this means to
many of these definitions from The Ashley Book of Knots.
Clifford Ashley’s precise and painstaking definitions can change the form under stress; to pervert.
hardly be improved upon.

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