Page 170 - Derek E. Avery - The new encyclopedia of knots

Serving including parcelling and worming: a serving can be applied

without either parcelling or worming; however, the latter two cannot be
used without serving to finish the work.

To worm a rope, you lay lengths of small cordage, such as lengths of
marline, in the grooves between the strands of a rope with the lay. This
has the effect of infilling, to form a more even surface.

Parcelling can be applied on top of the worming, using canvas which has
been waterproofed by impregnating it with tar. Bandage a strip of canvas
50 to 75mm (2 to 3in) wide around the worming, also with the lay. Take
care to ensure that the windings overlap downwards, so that if they
become wet, any water will run off.

Finally, apply the serving against the lay, by tightly binding the worming

and parcelling with marline, which should be laid on with a serving mallet
in order to ensure even turns with no gaps, in addition to supplying the
required tightness.

Sewn whipping see needle and palm whipping.

Shamrock knot: quite a decorative knot which is of a similar type in its
formation to the jury mast head knot (see page 103), and is developed
from the true lover’s knot (see page 175).

figure 113.1

Tie a true lover’s knot (figures 113.1–113.2), leaving plenty of length of
working end and having kept the thumb knots loose enough to be able