Page 351 - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

get enough to cover the whole project. Before you
Loop-and-Button Becket
start, make the lengths up into “foxes,” figure-eight
The Loop-and-Button Becket shown below is turns made around the thumb and pinky and seized
inherently lovely as well as practical. The strands with a Constrictor Knot. Pull a working length out
that form the Eyesplice are transformed into the as you go and draw up the Constrictor occasionally
button that secures the eye. And the extra bulk of
the splice is chafing gear for whatever you’re but- to keep the foxes intact.
toning around. This novel becket, the brainchild of
James McGrew, is just the thing for hanging fend-
ers, or for tack pendants or small-craft halyards. ONE HIGH-CLASS
In small stuff, this configuration works as a belt KNIFE LANYARD
lanyard for tools and keys.
To make it, tie a button, such as Ashley’s 880 This next project is a fancy-work sampler, a series
(Chapter 4, page 90) in the same size line you’re
going to use. Now pick up the line you’ll use, and of fairly involved knots blended together to form an
form an eye that’s just big enough to slip over the object of graceful utility. You may never have made
button. Leave a tail long enough for five tucks, any of these knots, but though the diagrams might
plus enough to make another button. Splice in the seem involved, there’s nothing going on that can’t be
eye, then seize the ends together and make the but-
ton. Done. handled if you just take things one step at a time. At
There are many the end you’ll have a useful object plus the ability to
traditional button- use all those knots in any combination for whatever
and-becket varia-
tions, and they are other projects you desire.
the inspiration for To begin, take three 6-foot lengths of number
today’s soft shack- 32 to 40 twine, middle them together, and put on a
les (see page 388).
Constrictor Knot with stout sail twine, 2 to 3 inches
to one side of the middle, around all three strands
(Figure 10-6). Braid the longer half of the bundle,
working away from the Constrictor, until you have
a braid about 3 inches long. Is the braid good and
tight? Even? Fine, put the whole works down, take
the phone off the hook, close the door, and prepare
to tie a Star Knot.
Measure off two 18-inch pieces and one 9-inch
piece of the same cord you used for the braid. Dou-
ble the longer pieces, lay the short one alongside
them, and Constrictor all together about ⁄4 inch
1
from the bight end (Figure 10-7). If the twine you’re
using is inclined to ravel, dip the ends in Krazy Glue
before proceeding. I got this idea from my ingenious
friend, George Pitkin, who also suggested applying
a daub of paint to each end to help keep track of
the sequence. George says, “Just remember the old
mnemonic for the colors of the spectrum: ‘Roy G.
Biv.’ That’s short for Red, Orange, Yellow, Green,
Blue, Indigo, Violet.”
You only need to go as far as Blue for this knot.
Hold the doubled bights in one hand and open
up the ends like the petals of a flower. Start with

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