Page 356 - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

each one goes into a subsequent space at the stem
when it is tucked.
Turn the knot back over. The ends should all
be coming out of the center. As you can see (Figure
10-7K), the face of the knot is doubled; we’ll now
use the strands to triple it, finishing the knot. As
Figure 10-7L shows, you don’t follow the closest
face but the one next to it; otherwise you don’t get a
fair run. So lay each strand alongside the appropri-
ate face and tuck it to the stem, under four parts. A
carpet-hooking tool or bent piece of wire is a great
help here.

Drawing Up and Trimming
Use your small, blunted spike to draw the knot up.
Start with the lower half of a horizontal pair and
work your way around, taking out slack as you go.
Leave that last, tripling pass standing up a little;
pulling it all the way down now will distort things. Figure 10-8. Continuing the knife lanyard. After fit-
Tighten each strand in turn, going over them all two ting the three-strand braid around the Star Knot
or three times until the knot is firm, then pull those Button, put a loose Constrictor at the appropriate
last turns down flush. To trim, lay a small, sharp spot on the legs of the braid.
blade at the point where an end emerges, press
lightly, and work the end back and forth under the ter 4 (see Figure 4-6A, B, C, D); the one we’ll do
knife; slicing with the knife is liable to result in sev- here is tied in the same manner but with twice as
ered button loops. many strands, which is to say it’s five times more
difficult. But this is a fancy-work chapter, so have
Back to the Lanyard at it. You can glue and/or paint the strands here
You are the proud owner of a genuine Star Knot as with the Star Knot. The easiest thing is to paint
Button, which can now be fitted to the button loop five of them, and count the unpainted one as either
of your lanyard. Remember the lanyard? We’re “1” or “6.” As with the Star Knot, success is largely
making one here. Take that little stretch of three- determined by keeping all the turns compact and
strand braid and pass it around the circumference of fair. Draw up carefully, slowly.
the button. Pinch it down so the fit is tight, then put Figure 10-9 shows the finished knot at the base
on a loose Constrictor (Figure 10-8). Check the fit; of the button loop braid. Pull that little Constrictor
the button should just fit through the loop. Tighten up to the base of the knot when drawing up. You
the Constrictor and lay the button aside for now. can pry the thread off later.
Before going to the next knot, pound the Mat-
A Six-Strand Double Matthew Walker Knot thew Walker into a flattish oval shape, the faces
Matthew Walker, for a long time “the only man to of the oval being perpendicular to the faces of the
have a knot named after him,” was possibly a mas- three-strand braid.
ter rigger in a British naval dockyard, circa 1800,
according to Ashley. Whoever he was, he certainly Six-Strand French Sinnet
came up with an elegant, wide-range-of-usefulness Hang the braided eye over a nail or peg at chest
knot. I described the three-strand version in Chap- height and proceed to make some flat sinnet as

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