Page 558 - The Ashley Book of Knots

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CHAPTER 41 : DECORATIVE i\lARLINGSPIKE

SEAMANSHIP (APPLIED KNOTS)

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Add to all this labor, the neat v..'ork upon the rigging; tbe kllot~·,

Flemish-eyes, splices, seiz.illgs, coverings, POillfillgs ([lld grattillgs,

,which shov..' a ship ill crack order. --- ..-'-~---

RICHARD H. DANA, JR., Two Years Before tbe Mast, 1841

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In the days of hand-made rope a great quantity <'If "small stuff" r---

was wanted aboard ship, which could have been easily supplied by

the ropewalks ashore, but was more cheaply produced aboard ship

by the sailors themselves. l\lany ships carried small ropemaker's

winches for the purpose. But most of the stuff used by the sailor

for his "fancy" knot work was made wholly by hand. The material

for this manufacture was called "junk." Old cable and rope were

chopped into workable lengths, opened and reduced to their com- ---.-

ponent yarns. These yarns were twisted together by rolling with .,-

the palm, against the thigh or belly, or else they were twisted up ,

between thumb and fingers and then were laid up into faxes and

nettles. These were called "twice-laid stuff." Yarns were larger

around then than they are at the present time, and the hemp fiber

then used was stronger than Manila. A single yarn of hemp was

supposed to bear a weight of a hundred pounds. A _____ _

Nowadays small stuff approximating faxes and nettles can be

procured, ready-made, at slight cost. Italian marline will serve nicely • - •

instead of a Spanish fox, and a good quality of common mar line ,

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is much like an ordinary fox. Four-thread stuff (two-strand) and

six-thread stuff (three-strand) are made for crab- and lobster-pot

buoy ropes, and these closely resemble m:ttle stuff.

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