![]() We still use those posts for their original purpose - the relatively mild tensions needed for full-length service - but a significant portion of what we do now involves Whitehill’s rope, as well as the 12-strand Spectra from New England Rope and Colligo. We tensioned the piece in that picture to somewhat over 1,500lbs on the rigging posts out behind our shop. If you don’t do this, and just splice both ends, you can get a piece of rigging that might grow 6″ or more before it stops elongating. This means pulling on it really, really hard, typically at least 5% of its rated strength, before measuring it and cutting it for its finished length. One tricky thing about using HM fiber rigging is that, while it isn’t elastic once it is set up, its strands need to be “settled” to remove any constructional stretch. By the way, seizings are also not trustworthy on most “conventional” ropes, like Nylon and Dacron, because these ropes get much thinner when tensioned, so that seizings that start out very tight get very loose, and slip. ![]() Seizings just don’t work on uncovered Spectra - too slick - but we have tested it to typical load limits on the Whitehill rope, and the most we got was a minor, expected deformation of the seizing. But this trick will only work if the seizings are really, really good, such that if one leg of the pair is damaged and loses tension, the seizing won’t slip, and also slack the remaining leg. That way you only need to make one terminal at the upper end, instead of two, so you don’t need as many eyes stacked aloft, in traditional configurations, or as many tangs, in modern configurations. The idea of shroud pairs is that you can make two shrouds from a single, continuous piece of wire or rope. Note that I would use a solid thimble for more significant loads than this vessel will impose on this piece. The core of each strand is made of Vectran, so the rope is about as strong as 1×19 wire of the same diameter, but much lighter. That black rope is a high-modulus 3-strand rope from Whitehill. In the picture above, I am finishing a twine seizing on a lower shroud pair. These are basically rolling levers, used to tighten seizings and other knot structures, drawing them tighter than one can do by hand. *As with many things, practice will keep knot tying methods fresh in your mind, so it doesn't hurt to keep a length of cord on you just for that purpose anytime you have a spare few minutes, and maybe you can teach someone else while you're at it.Most of the time we use turnbuckles for tensioning standing rigging, and block-and-tackle and/or winches for running rigging, but handwork for fabrication often involves tension, and for this we will sometimes revert to more atavistic techniques, like using heaving mallets. Many different knots could be used for any given situation, so there's times where you might wish you didn't know more than a few knots because you waste time deciding which one to use. I imagine many folks get by in life with just knowing the shoestring knot, although I wonder if they even know that when I see so many people wearing slip on type shoes, flipflops, and crocs just about everywhere nowadays. Monkey's Fist, when done just right and even on all sides, they just look cool.Ĭobra stitch/Solomon bar/Portuguese sinnet/square knotting, and probably goes by a few more names for this ancient useful and decorative knot. To me they're like working a puzzle and I find myself looking for things to put them on. Turk's Head knots, there are infinite variations for these and being a mathematical knot, I still don't quite understand them. Overhand knot, it's the basis for many other knots and useful as a simple stopper knot.Ī few 'decorative' knots that work well with paracord: Trucker's hitch, good for tightly cinching down a line. Tautline hitch, to secure a line to a fixed point.Ĭonstrictor knot, useful to tie up and secure loose material.ĭouble fisherman's bend, to securely tie two cords together. There are several variations but the basic one will do and adding a half hitch or two after the knot makes it even more secure. A few 'working' knots that are good to know that I've used with paracord, in no particular order:īowline, for a fixed loop.
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