Post by hawkeyes on Jan 31, 2021 15:32:34 GMT -7
Let's talk about crafting rope... Many resources exist on the subject so I'm not going into any historical detail on the mass production of 18th century rope. Mainly what I'm focusing on is high quality hemp rope, three ply strong one can make.
This is one detail that stands out to me personally, and to those who know the difference in rope materials of the period. Without question hemp ropes were the king of kings during our period of interest, that indeed is agreeable. I hate seeing the many more "modern" rope variations available in use amongst many in the hobby. This is were making rope from hemp is an absolute.
I recently acquired my new panther primitives wedge along with a small dining fly I made for the wedge from a 7x7 panther trail tarp already on hand. The addition of the dining fly certainly requires the use of mooring lines and tension blocks/ dog bones. This is were my journey has begun on a larger scale, hemp rigging is an absolute for my new camp. With the completion of my spruce poles for the lodge setup, measurements were taken in order to produce the lengths I wanted.
Now the fun part, how do we make rope on a larger scale? Now I certainly haven't access to a ropewalk... Nor are we making rope lengths that would require the sheer amount of space they used, strictly 8' sections.
The tool I made for the process is rather simple and is called a rope club. I cannot verify it's use within the period unfortunately... Absolutely could not find anything relating to smaller scale production so this particular tool is for now shall we say a "modern variable". Simple piece of an ash plank, 14" in length 1" wide. A 1" hole is bored through 1.5" from the bottom of one end, then two notches cut, this I call the spinner board. Now the spindle or handle is a length of oak 12" long 1" diameter. A section of ash is cut, a hole bored to 1" about a 1/4" through then the spindle and stop are secured with a single nail and hide glue. There you have your nifty essential rope making tool!
Time to make quality hemp rope from twine. I purchase my twine from a local hobby lobby, an hours drive warrants the need to purchase multiple balls in one trip. I use a medium thickness twine which yields a three ply rope a tad over 1/4" in diameter. When making a three ply rope in any length your initial run of twine must be 3x your desired finished length. Example, I wanted 8.5'/9' of finished rope therefore I started with a single loop strand of 34'+- a few".
This image represents a "single loop strand" with your rope club ready. A hook is affixed and the twine is essentially held in place and a simple overhand knot made to secure both ends. The tied twine is then secured to the club were the two notches were cut. With tension applied one either spins the club by hand clockwise or counter clockwise as it doesn't matter. As you spin hold tension, once the line starts to kink on itself your ready to triple the twisted line to form a three ply rope. A helping hand is recommended with this step as keeping tension on the twisted line is critical or it'll birds nest and twist itself into oblivion. From the hook end and with even tension from a helper the twisted line is essentially split forming a loop back to the club that results in three separate bundles, again keep tension applied! Drawing instruction below of what I'm trying to describe...
It sounds and looks entirely confusing, however reading it is harder than the entire process is altogether. If you have an understanding of what we are trying to do you'll get the above sketch.
Once we have the three ply strand looped back to the club and tension still applied time to spin the club in the opposite direction, example we started clockwise now we spin our bundle counterclockwise to twist it together permanently. I personally go beyond a tad were the rope will naturally lay out. Once you have your bundles together you now have a very nicely made hemp rope!
As you can see the result is an extremely strong and high quality PC/HC hemp rope. For the price hemp rope is sold for per foot I made a tad over 60' of rope for under $7.00... That there is perfectly suitable to me and worth the time! Now the rope club is stored in the lodge box along with a ball of hemp so rope can be made in camp when needed.
Hope this long and drawn out post becomes useful to someone! You now can have excellent hemp rope right at your disposal.
This is one detail that stands out to me personally, and to those who know the difference in rope materials of the period. Without question hemp ropes were the king of kings during our period of interest, that indeed is agreeable. I hate seeing the many more "modern" rope variations available in use amongst many in the hobby. This is were making rope from hemp is an absolute.
I recently acquired my new panther primitives wedge along with a small dining fly I made for the wedge from a 7x7 panther trail tarp already on hand. The addition of the dining fly certainly requires the use of mooring lines and tension blocks/ dog bones. This is were my journey has begun on a larger scale, hemp rigging is an absolute for my new camp. With the completion of my spruce poles for the lodge setup, measurements were taken in order to produce the lengths I wanted.
Now the fun part, how do we make rope on a larger scale? Now I certainly haven't access to a ropewalk... Nor are we making rope lengths that would require the sheer amount of space they used, strictly 8' sections.
The tool I made for the process is rather simple and is called a rope club. I cannot verify it's use within the period unfortunately... Absolutely could not find anything relating to smaller scale production so this particular tool is for now shall we say a "modern variable". Simple piece of an ash plank, 14" in length 1" wide. A 1" hole is bored through 1.5" from the bottom of one end, then two notches cut, this I call the spinner board. Now the spindle or handle is a length of oak 12" long 1" diameter. A section of ash is cut, a hole bored to 1" about a 1/4" through then the spindle and stop are secured with a single nail and hide glue. There you have your nifty essential rope making tool!
Time to make quality hemp rope from twine. I purchase my twine from a local hobby lobby, an hours drive warrants the need to purchase multiple balls in one trip. I use a medium thickness twine which yields a three ply rope a tad over 1/4" in diameter. When making a three ply rope in any length your initial run of twine must be 3x your desired finished length. Example, I wanted 8.5'/9' of finished rope therefore I started with a single loop strand of 34'+- a few".
This image represents a "single loop strand" with your rope club ready. A hook is affixed and the twine is essentially held in place and a simple overhand knot made to secure both ends. The tied twine is then secured to the club were the two notches were cut. With tension applied one either spins the club by hand clockwise or counter clockwise as it doesn't matter. As you spin hold tension, once the line starts to kink on itself your ready to triple the twisted line to form a three ply rope. A helping hand is recommended with this step as keeping tension on the twisted line is critical or it'll birds nest and twist itself into oblivion. From the hook end and with even tension from a helper the twisted line is essentially split forming a loop back to the club that results in three separate bundles, again keep tension applied! Drawing instruction below of what I'm trying to describe...
It sounds and looks entirely confusing, however reading it is harder than the entire process is altogether. If you have an understanding of what we are trying to do you'll get the above sketch.
Once we have the three ply strand looped back to the club and tension still applied time to spin the club in the opposite direction, example we started clockwise now we spin our bundle counterclockwise to twist it together permanently. I personally go beyond a tad were the rope will naturally lay out. Once you have your bundles together you now have a very nicely made hemp rope!
As you can see the result is an extremely strong and high quality PC/HC hemp rope. For the price hemp rope is sold for per foot I made a tad over 60' of rope for under $7.00... That there is perfectly suitable to me and worth the time! Now the rope club is stored in the lodge box along with a ball of hemp so rope can be made in camp when needed.
Hope this long and drawn out post becomes useful to someone! You now can have excellent hemp rope right at your disposal.
