Page 569 - The Ashley Book of Knots

THE ASHLEY BOOK OF KNOTS

The blade of a sail needle is much larger than the shank and eye,

so that it makes a large hole ,vhen it enters and the thread is easily

3532. • drawn through. A number of threads, each from a different spool,

are threaded at the same time, the number depending on the weight

of the canvas to be used. Sometimes as many as six spools are em-

ployed. The needle is thrust with a palm, of which there are two

sorts-one for seaming, and one for roping.

3531. Cloths are sewed together with what is termed a fiat semll.

The Naval Expositor of 1750 called it a mOll k' s semll, but Admiral

Smyth, in 1867, says that a monk's seam is a reinforcement between

, the two other lines of flat seaming.

,
To sew a flat seam in a new sail: With the cloths lying flat on the

, loft floor turn up the right selvage edges of the different cloths and

,

, crease them well with a "seam rubber." Nowadavs a colored thread
•

in the canvas marks the width of the seam; formerly it was marked

•
with a pencil. Take two cloths. arrange as in the first drawing, the

selvage of the top cloth above the crease of the lower. Sew from

left to right and away from you (as shown by the arrows). When

the seam is finished, open the cloths and rub the seam down flat, with

the seam rubber.

3532. Fold back the second cloth and sew the selvage of the first

doth to the doubled part of the second cloth. Rub the seam smooth.

3533. "Round seaming" is the earliest practice; it is mentioned in

3S35'"

the Expositor of 1750. The two selvages are laid together without

overlapping and the edges are sewed over and over.

3534. Roping stitches are also taken to the right, and more threads

are required than in seaming. These are well waxed and rubbed. The

boltrope is held on a stretch and the canvas is sewed on slackly to

make allowance for the stretch of the boltrope, which is always
35"37

three-strand. The needle is thrust first through the boltrope, then

up through the doubled canvas edge. In heavy sewing a heaver

('/I: 10 1 J) is used to pull the canvas snugly down into the cuntlines.

Several turns of the thread are taken around the heaver and then

the heaver is twisted. Square sails are always roped on the after side,
•

fore-and-aft sails always on the port side, to save wear of the stitches

against the spar. Ropes are sewed to a doubled edge or hem termed

the tabling. The end or point of the heaver is cupped and a reluctant

needle may be shoved well into the rope by this means.

3535. Cross stitches are added at all clews, cringles, splices, etc.

3536. The sailor's stitch, also called "baseball stitch," is employed

in mending garments and sometimes in mending saiL

3537. The double sailor's stitch is used in mending where the ma-

terial is very weak.

3538. Herringboning, or herringbone stitch, is the preferred stitch

in mending a ripped sail or where two selvages or hems are to be

brought together.

3539. A round seam (I) is ordinarily made in covering manropes,

yoke ropes and the like.

3540. The round seam (2) is preferable, the only difference being

.3 41 in the direction of the needle thrust. The covering will be firmer if

the stitch passes through the rope. A worming will also contribute

to the firmness of the covering.

..... 3541. An "invisible stitch" is sewed with two needles and the two

stitches are taken directly opposite each other and along the exact

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