Guild SuppliesPrice List 2003

Item Price

Knot Charts

Full Set of 100 charts £10.00Individual charts £0.20

Rubber Stamp

IGKT Member, with logo £4.00(excludes stamp pad)

Guild Tie

Long, dark blue with Guild Logo in gold £8.95

Badges - all with Guild Logo

Blazer Badge £1.00Enamel Brooch £2.00Windscreen Sticker £1.00

Certificate of Membership £2.50Parchment membership scrollSigned by the President and Hon SecFor mounting and hanging

Cheques payable to IGKT, or simply send your credit card detailsPS Don’t forget to allow for postage

Supplies Secretary: - Bruce Turley

19 Windmill Avenue, Rubery, Birmingham B45 9SP

email bruce.turley@blueyonder.co.uk

Telephone: 0121 453 4124

Knotting MattersMagazine of the

International Guild of

Knot Tyers

Issue No. 81

President: Jeff Wyatt

Secretary: Nigel Harding

Editor: Colin Grundy

Website: www.igkt.net

Submission dates for articles

KM 82 07 JAN 2004

KM 83 07 APR 2004

Ben Self demonstrates the art of fender making at the Inland waterways Festival.Back Cover: Rigging on the bowsprit of

SS Great Britain, Bristol, UK.

IN THIS ISSUE

Secretary’s Blotter 2President’s Letter 3IGKT Website 5Alpine Butterfly Loop 6WoW - Wild on Waterways 10Book Reviews 13Knotmaster 14How a guitar string became a Heaving-line 16Net Making 18Knot Gallery 22The IGKT Logo Mathematically Speaking 28Webbing Knots - Part 4 34An Alternative Notation for Knot Diagrams 38Branch Lines 40Postbag 42

The IGKT is a UK RegisteredCharity No. 802153

Except as otherwise indicated, copyrightin Knotting Matters is reserved to the In-ternational Guild of Knot Tyers IGKT2003. Copyright of members articlespublished in Knotting Matters is reservedto the authors and permission to reprintshould be sought from the author and ed-itor. All sources of quotations printed inKnotting Matters are acknowledged.ISSN 0959-2881

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Notes from the Secretary’s Blotter

s I am writing these Notes fromthe Secretary’s Blotter, autumnhas finally arrived after what

must have been the longest and hottestsummer for almost 20 years. Driving towork through Ashdown Forest, one ofthe last ancient forests of England, thecolours of the trees have beenoutstanding. I have even seen deerroaming at the edge of the road. By thetime this has fallen on your doormat, itwill be Christmas, and this gives me theideal opportunity to send you the seasonsgreetings, and hope that all goes well foryour in the New Year.

The New Year will also bring with itthe increase in subscriptions, which wasapproved by the members present at theAGM last May, in accordance with theConstitution. Just as a reminder, from the1st January 2004, the Adult subscriptionhas risen from £16 to £18, and theFamily subscription has gone up asimilar amount to £22. This is the firstincrease for several years, and theCouncil hopes that this will not changeagain soon.

Whilst on the subject of subscriptions,there seems to have been a littleconfusion caused when some membersreceived reminders from the CharitiesAid Foundation. Due to the way in whichwe set up member’s account with CAF,their record of renewal dates is differentfrom mine. This should not have causeda problem, however I had overlooked thefact that they provided a ‘reminderservice’, in addition to the reminders thatI send out. The net result has been a gooddeal of confusion, and I can onlyapologise for this. However, I can

confirm that I have asked CAF not tosend any more reminders out untilfurther notice.

I must also remind members that atpresent the CAF can only acceptmembers fees in UK pounds, which ofcourse includes credit card payments. Ifyou have a problem with this, it ispossible for me to accept payment in USdollars, but do please send them to me,and not CAF. Those who pay byStanding Order should by now havecancelled it, and returned the new DirectDebit form to the CAF, or myself. This isall just to make life easier for those of uswho are administering the Guild on yourbehalf.

Finally, moving away from the boringsubject of finance, I must give youadvance notice of the next AGM, whichis to be held at the Historic Dockyard inChatham, which is in the South East ofEngland. The meeting will be held on the8th May 2004, and should be an amazingevent, as this dockyard has been home tothe British Navy for hundreds of years,until it was closed just a few years ago.The original ropewalk is still incommission, and producing ropes inboth modern and traditional materials,and will be open for viewing. I haveconvinced the museum authorities thatour meetings are something to behold,and they are hoping to publicise ourevent in their official programme fornext year. This promises to be excellentmeeting with a wonderful opportunity tomeet the public, and I look forward toseeing you all there

Nigel Harding

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President’s Letter

start this edition of the President’sLetter on a sad note. I would like tosend sincere condolences on behalf

of the Guild, to Kay Lewis, whosehusband, Wayne, was a staunch memberof the Texas Branch, and who diedsuddenly, although not unexpectedly, inJune. He had been looking forward toattending the North American BranchAGM in October, but as Kay says, “hewill be there in spirit”.

On a somewhat lighter note, I wasinvited to give a talk at the ‘Skill-Swopping Weekend’ organised by theBraid Society. The aim of my talk wasto demonstrate knotting techniquesrelevant to braid makers. I’m sure Ilearnt more than I taught! The IGKTcan gain a lot from these types ofweekends, and it gives food for thought,not only at home, but also overseas, as towhat can be achieved by weekendsdedicated to ‘skill-swopping’.

It was good to meet members ofanother Society, including one from ourown, Edna Gibson from Devon who wasalso giving a talk, on “Findings andFinishings”. The hospitality wasexcellent and I had a thoroughlyenjoyable weekend, and to prove howgood a time I had, I have since become amember of the Braiding Society.

I’m glad to hear that Tony Fisher andhis wife, Carolyn, whose teachingcontract has been extended, will behonouring us with their presence foranother year! Unfortunately he decidedthat because of his extended stay hecould no longer remain President of the

New Zealand Chapter. New Zealand’sloss is our gain!

My wife, Lesley, and I went on ourannual pilgrimage to Butser, inHampshire, invited by the Solent Branchto help man their stand at the QueenElizabeth Country Park Show. Theweather was glorious and, boy, did theywork me hard. Members of the SolentBranch do turn out some beautiful work,and they put together a first-classexhibition of knotting skills.

We have also attended a couple oflocal IWA Canal Festivals, one atWendover and the other at LeightonBuzzard, and visited the BraunstonNarrowboat Festival where Ken Nelsonand Colin Grundy were doing sterlingwork in promoting the Guild.

The next big event on our calendar isthe North American Branch AGM atNewport News, Virginia, in October.Several members of the Guild inEngland will be in attendance, includingLesley and myself. Unfortunately thiswas arranged before we knew that thedate for the Guild’s Half-Yearly Meetingin Ipswich had been changed and wasnow being held at the same time. Iapologise for not being able to attend theIpswich meeting, especially as it will beonly the 2nd meeting I have missed sincejoining the Guild.

The Travel Scholarship discussed atthe AGM, has finally been accepted inprinciple, by the Committee, and willeventually go ahead, after dotting all thei’s and crossing all the t’s.

Jeff Wyatt

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Col’s CommentWhat a busy year this has been, withshows, meetings and editing KM, thetime has fairly flown by.

Some of our readers had spotted in thelast issue of Knotting Matters, a noticeasking for copy to be posted to NigelHarding. This is a temporary measure, asI expect to be moving house in the nearfuture, and it will allow some form ofcontinuity. As soon as things have settleddown again, I will inform you of my newaddress.

Finally, may I wish you all a goodChristmas and happy New Year.

Frank HarrisMany of our members will rememberFrank Harris. This letter was receivedrecently from his daughter.

“My father Frank Harris, wishes me toinform you that he has moved to Kent tobe nearer his daughters, his new addressis Room 36, Woodgate, Tudely Lane,Tonbridge, Kent TN11 0QJ. Tel 01732350952.

My father appears to have settled intohis new surroundings and is enjoying thecompany of the other residents, at nearly90 he has done well to live alone for solong, but now feels the need to be nearerto us and to have all the benefits that areoffered from his new residence. He iswell in himself, although a little frail andforgetful, but would like to beremembered to all members of the Guildto whom he sends his fondest wishes.

Any correspondence should be sent tohis new address, where visitors are mostwelcome. These days he does not copewell by telephone, but would be happy tocorrespond by post.”

Obituary

I am sorry to report that one of ourearly members; Tom Long of KingsLynn, slipped his anchor on the 20thof July 2003 at the age of 86. Hewas featured in “Profile of aKnotsman” in Knotting Matters #12.A fine Knot Tyer, making large andintricate knot boards, he wouldtravel down to our early meetingsfrom Kings Lynn. As the years gotthe better of him and he could nottravel so easily, he put his knot tyingenergies into supporting True’sYard, the museum of fishing andmaritime life, in Kings Lynn. Iwonder how many thousands of hisgreen and yellow [these being thecolours of the local Norwich Cityfootball team] key fobs they sold.

There was another side to Tom.During the second world war he wasChief Petty Officer on the renownedFrench fishing vessel MUTIN thatwas fitted out as a French tunnyfisher and worked out of the HelfordRiver in Cornwall, smugglingundercover agents in and out ofoccupied France. For this work hewas awarded the DistinguishedService Medal in 1945. It was one ofhis proudest moments to be guest ofhonour when the French Navyreturned with MUTIN to the HelfordRiver in 1997.

He will be greatly missed by manypeople; our condolences go to hiswife and family.

Des Pawson

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IGKT Websitefter the initial burst of activity toget the Guild’s website up andrunning again, all has gone very

quiet. There have only been one or tworecent additions to the Galleries, and afew links to other sites added. TheForum is still active but I think non-members are a little disappointed thattheir questions are going unanswered.So if any web-wise members couldregularly log on to the Forum andcorrespond with these people, it mighteven generate a few more members!!!There are some very interesting itemsbeing posted there, and it looks as ifsome comments by contributors aboutthe lack of response has had some effect.But, as our Web Mistress says” A goodweb forum needs nurturing. It doesn’ttake care of itself.”

One thing that did happen this summerwas the fact that we had to close downthe Guestbook. There were far too many“inappropriate” comments being left,including links to pornographic sites etc,so our Webmistress and I had to come tothe sad decision that the only way tocombat this was to remove the facility.Luckily this does not appear to havecrept over to the Forum. There have

been a few additions to the Forumsection, for Feedback, Polls andAnnouncements.

Since we now have the opportunity tolist links to almost any knotting site, itmight be an idea to issue an invitation(via Knotting Matters?) to people to sendin their favourite knotting links. Themore links we can have, the better thesite’s positioning in search engineresults!! Of course, if any membershave their own website, we can put a linkto their site in the Links section. Ideally,we’d like to know where the site is, itsname and one or two lines that describewhat the site is about.

The Galleries are always open toGuild members, so if you are ‘on-line’just email your pictures to me, or sendyour photographs to me at: 91 LutonRoad, Dunstable, Beds LU5 4LW,England. I can scan them and forwardthem to our illustrious Webmistress, butthe pictures do need to be as sharp aspossible.

Lesley WyattWeb Administrator

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Alpine Butterfly Loop‘The Queen of Knots’

by Cy Canute

kimming through The CompleteGuide to Rope Techniques, aninstruction manual for

mountaineers by Nigel Shepherd,published by Constable (London, 2001),I found his opinion of the AlpineButterfly Loop;

‘This knot is used for tying intothe middle of the rope. It is by farthe most suitable knot ... it could besaid that the knot was designed forthe purpose.’

Well, yes, it may have been. AlthoughI had assumed that few of today’sclimbers knew or used it. Indeed thatcould be the situation because Mr.Shepherd adds;

‘Although not in common usage,this knot is gaining credence andpopularity. I suspect one of thereasons it has been so ignored overthe years is that it is quitecomplicated to tie.’

Oh, come on! It isn’t quantum physicsor learning to ride a unicycle. As rope-work author John Sweet observed;

‘... it is so easy to make that onecan only wonder why it is not inmore general use.’

That was in Scout Pioneering,published (London, 1974) by The ScoutAssociation, where he also nominatedthe Alpine Butterfly loop for thesobriquet ‘Queen of Knots’, inspired bythe novelist, poet, lyricist and wit A.P.

Herbert’s earlier declaration that ‘TheBowline is the King of Knots’.

There is a snag, however, with anyso-called middle-man’s tie-on aroundthe waist. The climber thus tethered cansometimes be tugged this way and that,like seaweed in an surging tide, by straymoves of his or her companions. Amodicum of slack can be had by clippinga harness-held karabiner into a smallAlpine Butterfly loop; and even morefreedom won, without sacrificing safety,if the loop is longer (but no more than anarm’s length) and tied in a figure-of-eight knot close to the attachment of thekarabiner. This was impossible, ofcourse, before karabiners came intoregular use around the 1930s.

Some knotting pundits suggest thatthis knot with the pretty name is derivedfrom the artilleryman’s or man-harness(1870: man’s harness) knot, hitch orloop. Then again, Harry Asher wrote inThe Alternative Knot Book (London,1989);

‘This [the Alpine Butterfly] knothas been used by mountaineers ...since ancient times.’

Without evidence to support thatcontention, however, it remains a 20thcentury phenomenon. The loop-on-loopmethod of tying it that he portrays (fig. 1in this essay of mine) was retrieved byGuild member Lester Copesteak from a1928 issue of The Alpine Journal.

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In their American publicationEncyclopedia of Knots and Fancy RopeWork (Maryland, 1939), Graumont &

Hensel illustrate the knot but refer to it asa Lineman’s Loop (plate 21, fig. 6).

Clifford Ashley in The Ashley Book ofKnots (New York, 1944) also labels itLineman’s Loop (#1053) but portraysthe twister method (see my fig. 2).Apparently unaware of its Europeandoppelganger, he credits fellow

American James M. Drew with firstpublishing and naming the knot, in - Iguess - Ropework, Knots, Hitches,Splices, Halters (St. Paul, 1936).

The most up-to-date leapfrog method(fig. 3) for this tied-in-the-bight loop

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knot appeared in Knots by Brion Toss(New York, 1990).

If you can back-date the AlpineButterfly Loop before 1928, do tell theeditor of Knotting Matters. Until then, I

am just glad to see it rediscovered and re-adopted, for as Brion Toss remarked inThe Rigger’s Locker (1992);

‘... old knots never die; they justwait for us to come to our senses.’

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“Every man aboard knows the penalty. Fifty licks of the cat.” He watched theirfaces. Fifty strokes of the knotted leather thongs could cripple a man for life. Ahundred strokes was a sentence of certain and horrible death. “They have earnedthemselves the full fifty. However, I remember that these four fools fought wellon this very deck when we captured this vessel.”

“I am a merciful man.” he told them. “Make it fifteen for each, Master Daniel,but comb your cat well between the strokes.”

Birds of PreyWilbur Smith

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WoW - Wild on Waterways

by Chris Selfe

caveman,” replied the five-year-old boy solemnly when CharlieTyrrell asked him what type of

knot he should make. Charlie kneelingon the ground in front of the boy and hisyounger brother pondered the unusualrequest then tied a figure of eight into theend of the rope. He then proceeded withthe new rope trick ‘put the caveman inthe cave’; known to you and me as threadthe rope through the loop. Suchinventiveness and enthusiasm on the partof all the members when children cameto visit added to the popularity of thestand. The young lad was participating

in WoW, (Wild on Waterways) at theInland Waterways Association Festival,Beale Park, during August wherechildren went from stand to stand to trytheir hand at different activities. Afterpatient tuition from Charlie the lad leftwith a stamped passport and a wide grin.

Ken Nelson did a marvellous job oforganising the event and close to twentyguild members turned up over the fourdays to man the stands and demonstrateknot-tying to the public. Colin Grundydid hourly braid on braid splicing demoswhile Ben Selfe demonstrated the art offender making. Ken gave two

James Sutro now convinced to join the Guild

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workshops on decorative ropework.Both were well attended and on oneoccasion Ken had so many participantshe had to recruit the assistance of CharlieTyrrell and Nicola Chandler. Thedemonstrations proved to be responsiblefor a lot of the book sales and an anchormade by Fred Parker on Monday was aperfect example of this.

Forty-five minutes into the show anew guild member was recruited.

American James Sutro didn’t thinktwice when offered a membership leafletand signed on the spot. During the

festival more than seven new memberscould be added to the Guild’s list. KenNelson said, “If we could pick upmembership like we did this time itwould be fantastic.”

The star of the show as ever wasLonnie Boggs with his rope-makingmachine.

The energy and enthusiasm thatLonnie puts into teaching the childrenleaves many of us gasping for breath. Hestarts before the show opens and has tobe told to stop when the show has closed.Poor Lonnie had hardly any time to eator rest, as the queue of waiting childrenand even adults was always long. Oneeager youngster, Gina Wallis-Smithvisited the stand every day and becameLonnie’s right-hand woman, helping toteach others her new obsession. PeterGoldstone brought along his rope-making machine on Saturday, whichhelped relieve the workload and ensuredeveryone got a chance to take home alength of uniquely designed rope.

Lonnie demonstrates rope-making

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The weather played its part and wewere blessed with sunshine for most ofthe time.

On the rare occasion when things werequiet, members shared their knowledgewith each other. Ken showed everyonethe two-ring rope trick and we all fellabout laughing watching the faces andactions of Nick Wilde, Jim Hawkins,Alex Carson and especially Ben Selfewho seemed to think the trick wouldwork better if he let out a warrior cry atevery attempt.

The IWA festival at Beale Parkproved to be a roaring success thanks tothe enthusiasm of the guild members(unfortunately there was not space tomention everybody here) and theirwillingness to demonstrate that knot-tying need not be just practical ordecorative but also lots of fun.

Left: A tall order for rope making.Below: Ken Nelson astounds passers by

with the boomerang knot.

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Book ReviewsChinese Knots for Beaded Jewelleryby Suzen Millodot published (UK,January 2003) by Search Press Ltd.ISBN: 0-85532-968-8Price: UK £9.99US $19.95

Suzen Millodot is an IGKT member,currently living in Israel, and anaccomplished arts and craftspractitioner.

This glossy, soft cover 80-page book,a slim 206-mm x 204-mm, is lavishlyillustrated throughout in colour withover 300 photographs (amplified, wherenecessary, by additional line drawings)and 17 full-page plates.

The contents open with a brief historyof knots in general, and Chinese knots inparticular, then continue with essentialearly guidance in the required tools,materials and techniques. Individualknots - which include the button, cloverleaf, cross, double coin, doubleconnection, flat, good luck, pan chang,plafond, prosperity, round brocade,snake and virtue knots - are introduced,one at a time, in the form of 16 knottedprojects creating original bracelets andnecklaces. Lists of ingredients precedestep-by-step instruction and expert tips.

Suzen’s book demystifies Chineseknotting for beginners; but it will alsodelight those already adept at this kind ofknotting, for she has artfully combinedbeads of wood, glass, metal and semi-precious stones with leather thongs,braided cotton and thick satin rattail. in a

virtuoso display of mix-&-matchmaterial selection and colour control. Itis not just a how-to manual but also asource of artistic inspiration.

The book concluds with a usefulindex.

Obtain a copy from any good bookshop or art & craft outlet and, if you can,visit the author’s website:www.chineseknots-r-us. 8k.com

For the latest information about otherart and craft books available from SearchPress Limited, as well as to order a freecolour catalogue, or to find out where toobtain materials and equipment, visittheir website: www.searchpress.com

Alternatively write to them at SearchPress Ltd., Weliwood, North Farm Road,Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN2 3DR.

Tel:+44 (0)1892 510850; Fax: 01892515903;

E-mail: sales@searchpress.comUS customers should call toll-free on

(800) 289-9276, or write to Search PressUSA, 1338 Ross Street, Petaluma, CA94954

G.B.

Des Pawson’s Knot Craft by DesPawson, with illustrations by AnnNorman published (UK, October 2003)by Adlard Coles Nautical. ISBN: 0-7136-5441-4Price: UK £10.99

Des Pawson needs no introduction toGuild members, being one of the co-founders of the IGKT. His lifetime ofworking with rope and his experienceand passion for the subject comes over inthis book. Ann Norman, another Guildmember is perhaps a little less well

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known. Ann is a professional ropemaker, with her own ropewalk in theOxfordshire village of Bampton, she isalso an accomplished illustrator.

Among the problems facing knot tyerswhen they want to create a knottedarticle, are how to go about it and howmuch material will they want? If you arelooking at that beautifully crafted bellrope or fender at a Guild meeting, youmay be able to ask the person who tied it.Here is a book that will answer thatquestion for you, and many more.

In this slim 96-page book, Des passeson a host of hints and tips gained fromyears of studying and making knottedarticles. It starts off with an introductionto his idea of keeping a recipe book ofmaterials, lengths, knots and other hintsand tips he has used over the years. Hegoes on to talk about tools, cordage, afew useful knots and the part I reallyliked, mixtures of tar and tallow etc.

The main part of the book covers some28 projects, from a simple key ring, tochest beckets, wheel coverings and eventips on making knot boards. Each projectcontains information on the materialsrequired and their lengths, and the knotsused in the project. Each knot isbeautifully illustrated, along with thefinished article. Des continues to pass ontips of the trade in each chapter.

The final pages of the book containdetails of suppliers (UK and USA only),further reading and a section on theIGKT.

This book fills a gap in the knottinglibrary, not only for the newcomer toknot tying, but also for the moreexperienced. It may not fulfil all yourneeds, but is full of useful informationthat is difficult to find elsewhere.

CG

Knotmaster Series No. 19

‘Knotting ventured,knotting gained.’

Common whipping

Some people admit to Knotmaster thatthey avoid using this time-honouredwhipping, uncertain how exactly it works. Itis quite simple.

Lay a bight or loop of whipping twinealongside the rope and trap it within a seriesof snug, tight wrapping turns (fig. 1).Continue until the whipping is at least as longas the diameter of the line being seized - anda trifle more - then tuck the working endthrough what remains of the original bight(fig. 2). So as to make the next step easy,keep the last wrapping slacker than thosepreceding it. Now pull the unused end of thetwine, as shown (fig. 3) so that it drags theworking end beneath the whipping, creatinga couple of interlocked elbows with the twoends (fig. 4). Stop pulling when these elbowsare located at the centre of the whipping. Cutoff the ends.

NOTE: Bind towards the cut end, and whiphawser-laid lines in the opposite direction tothe lay of the strands, so that any tendency ofthe rope to un-lay will automatically tightenthe whipping.

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16

How a guitar string became a Heaving-line!

by Sten Johansson

n 1908 the Swedish professorHjalmar Öhrwall published a bookcalled Om Knutar (About Knots). A

new revised edition was published in1916. A thick book of 253 pagesillustrated by his daughter, it has adictionary in seven languages.

At pages 189-190 in the chapterSplices, Whippings, Seizings andBelayings, he writes (free translationfrom Swedish into English),

“A very ingenious ‘belaying knot’ thatI found in the Museum of Gothenburg ona Japanese musical instrument ‘Samisen’similar to a guitar, to attach the strings, isshown in Fig 224 from one side and inFig 225 from the other side: at the lowerpart of the instrument is a number offixed eyes attached, one for each string.With the string you make a round turnaround the two parts in the eye, so it

comes back between its own part and theeye lets it, when it comes in the middle ofthe space between the eye’s two parts,crosses itself, and pass between those onthe other side, across its own part,thereafter up through the eye and thentowards the instrument to the turning pegand it’s neck. The string is consequentlynot attached to the eye itself, which itnever touches, when it is tightened, butstrain equal on both lines and thetransverse little piece of the string isforming an edge, which the string iscrossing and defines its length. Thissimple belaying is superb and can beused for other purposes. If it alreadyfrom the beginning is tied as a slip knotit can easily be untied”.

Ashley saw this ingenious ‘belayingknot’, and apparently as he did notunderstand Swedish, he assumed it was aheaving-line bend (ABOK #1463) to beused on a hawser as the figures show oneheavy line and one lighter bendedtogether. As a source he wrote, “Givenby Örhwall”.

First to steal this knot from Ashleywas E C Fry in The Book of Knots andRopework (1977). He writes, “Used tomake a heaving-line fast to a hawser.”He makes it with a slip knot “ . . . . canequally quickly be let go particularly ifthe heaving line has a monkey’s fist inthe end.” No source is mentioned.

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Geoffrey Budworth in his TheUltimate Encyclopedia of Knots andRopework (1999) shows it in Ashley’sversion and writes, “It was firstmentioned in a seamanship manual of1912”. What seamanship manual? It isnot mentioned in Örhwall’s first edition1908 and neither in his small paperbackcalled The Most Important Knots andpublished in 1912.

In his book Sailing Knots (2000)Geoffrey Budworth has changed theorigin of the knot, “Hjalmar Örhwallincludes this knot in Om Knutar 1916”.

In 2000 M Constantino published herbook The Knot Handbook, a heavy bookof 250 pages and shows ‘the heaving-line bend.’ As the source of this knot shewrites, “First mentioned in 1912 in aSwedish knot manual De ViktigasteKnutarna by Hjalmar Örhwall.” Asmentioned above, this book The MostImportant Knots does not show this knot.However, already in 1914 the Swedishmaster mariner Sam Svensson in his

book Handbok i Sjomansarbete(published in English in 1971 asHandbook of Seaman’s Ropework) hadnoticed this ingenious knot and calls it a‘heaving-line bend’ and finds it usefulwhen ropes differ greatly in size. Hewrites, that it is suitable, not only fortaking a mooring rope ashore, but alsofor sending up a gantline with a flaghalyard.

That is how a guitar string became aheaving-line.

The Reef KnotThe reef knot’s fine for little tasksLike tying tags on sailsBut a sailor never asksFor this one on rails.

The reef knot is a brief knotWhich unmended makes a grief knot;

A grief knot is a thief knotWhich untended takes a leaf knot;

As the leaf not on a treeHas not a long life -So the reef knot running freeMay cause a lot of strife!

Michael JenaidKnots & Their Vices , 1969

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Net Makingby Tony Emery

et making is a traditionalhandcraft of Pennsylvania. Themethod and patterns shown here

are those used by the family of MrDaniel Moser of Pennsburg, Pa. In theearly 1900’s Mr Moser and his familymade fish traps and nets for commercialfishermen of Chesapeake Bay and thelower Susquehanna River. Mr Moserwas taught by his grandmother andpassed his knowledge on to me.

In net making, a series of loops aretied using a simple knot. The gaugekeeps the loops uniform in size and aneedle or shuttle holds the twine. Thesetools can be made from any flat sturdymaterial (ruler, paint stirring stick,masonite, tongue depressor, heavycardboard, etc.). The simple needle has anotch cut at both ends and is loaded endover end. It is worth the trouble to makethe more difficult traditional needle. The

pointed end makes the netting easier andthe spine prevents the twine fromunwinding until you need it.

Use cotton mason (seine) twine,available from any hardware store. Ananchor is made from a 2’ length of twinewith its ends tied together to form a loop.The anchor is placed over a stationaryobject (C-clamp, hook, doorknob, chairback etc.). The first row of loops is castonto the anchor, which also helps to keepthe work taught.

Load your needle and bring it backfrom behind through the anchor, leavinga 6” tail. Pinch the two strands (legs)together 1” below the anchor with thethumb and forefinger of your left hand.At the same time pull back with your lefthand to keep the work taught. The righthand now guides the needle to lock thetwo legs together with a half-hitch knot.

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A. Make a keyhole arc to the left of thetwo legs.

B. Bring the needle behind the two legsand through the keyhole.

C. Draw the knot tight and release thepinch.

The same knot is now tied using thegauge to make uniform loops. The gaugeis held in the left hand with the top edgedirectly below and touching the firstknot. The right hand guides the needle

down around the gauge, up through theanchor, and down to the gauge, formingtwo legs. Pinch the legs against the top ofthe gauge, make the keyhole andcomplete the knot. Make ten loops (11knots) in this manner, remove the gauge,turn the work over so that the needle ison the left (in netting you always workfrom left to right), and you are ready forthe second row. It is not necessary tokeep all loops on the gauge until the rowis completed. Because each loop islocked into place, you can remove thegauge whenever you want to.

In the second and subsequent rows,you are tying into loops formed inprevious rows. The knots are tied inexactly the same manner. The left handpulls back on the work to maintaintension, and pinches each new loop inplace against the top edge of the gaugeuntil the knot is completed. The righthand guides the needle around the gauge,through the next loop of the previous

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row, makes the keyhole, and tightens theknot. When the half-hitch is tied into aloop in this manner it becomes a sheetbend or becket bend. The sheet bend isthe basic knot of netting and must lookexactly the same as shown. If the knotspills, or it is pulled tight below ratherthan above the ‘V’ of the loop, it is nogood and must be re-tied. Complete thesecond row, turn the work over, andcontinue the third row from left to right.Tie a total of 20 rows for this practicalpiece.

You can make a handy storage bag outof this practical panel. Untie the anchorbut don’t remove it from the netting.Thread one end through the long legs onone side; through the end loops; throughthe long legs on the other side, to the topof the netting. Tie both ends of theanchor together to make a drawstring.The netting will form into a pouch whenobjects are placed into it.

When you run out of twine - reload theneedle and with the new twine, tie asecond sheet bend directly over the last

knot tied with the old twine. Continuenetting with the new twine.

To increase - go around the gauge andthrough the same loop twice before tyingthe sheet bend. There will be one extraloop I the next row when you do this.

To decrease - go around the gauge andthrough the next two loops in succession.The sheet bend will lock these loopstogether and there will be one less loopin the next row.

Tubular netting is tied in the samemanner. After the first row is completeDO NOT turn the work. Rather tie intothe first loop you tied, joining the endstogether. From here tie into each loop insuccession, in a spiral, until the requiredlength is completed. String a piece oftwine through the bottom loops and tiethe ends together to make the bottom ofthe bag. The anchor serves as thedrawstring.

ProjectsSuet bag - Originally used as a bait bagfor fish trap. Fill with suet (beef fat) inthe winter or with stale bread, apples,coconut, etc., all year long. The birdswill love it!

Use 1” gauge, cast on ten loops (11knots). Net tubular for 12 rows. Tie thebottom loops together with a separatepiece of twine. The anchor will serve asthe drawstring.Onion storage bag - Onions keep bestwhen air can circulate around them. Anet bag is ideal.

Use 1¼” gauge, cast on 14 loops. Nettubular for ten rows and make adecrease. From here make a decreaseevery fourth new loop until six loops

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remain. Tie the bottom loops togetherand you are ready to store onions.Fish bag - More humane than gillstringer. Put your fish in the bag andhang the bag in deep water. It can also beused as an extra large storage bag,laundry bag, beach bag, etc.

Use 1½” gauge, cast on 30 loops. Nettubular for 30 rows (or longer if youdesire). Make evenly spaced decreasesuntil six loops remain and tie the bottomloops together.

Once you have become proficient atnetting, you will want to make needlesand gauges in various sizes to make finerand courser nets. The needles you usemust be at least ¼” narrower than thegauge so that the loaded needle can passthrough the loops being formed. Now goahead and use your new skill to make:curtains, scarves, hammocks, gardennetting, storage bags, etc.

If you are interested in further readingabout net making, try The Ashley Book ofKnots. This was my introduction to netmaking. It explores other techniques andcontains suggestions for makinghammocks, storage bags etc.

Rope Ends

A Suit of Ropes

In 1983 a pack of cards was soldat Sotheby's for £90,000. It was abeautifully preserved, hand paintedFlemish pack of 52 cards datingback to the 15th century.

The point of interest to us is thatinstead of the suits of Hearts,Clubs, Diamonds and Spades withwhich we are familiar, the suitswere Horns, Dog Collars, DoubleNooses and ropes.

I have not been able to find anillustration of the suit markings butperhaps someone can discover itand send it to KM.

Richard Hopkins

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Knot Gallery

Above - Rose lashing by Raymond MacLaren with 34 plies of 5mm tensile wire.

Left - Ocean Mat by Rus Hammond, in 16 mm Manila.

Over leaf - Picture and Frame by Jeff and Lesley Wyatt, entitled “Thames Barge”Frame by Jeff Wyatt and pyrography by Lesley Wyatt. The frame was braided from

natural fibres and has an approximate overall size of 10” x 12”

Cockscombing

Square knotting

Grafting

Under 2 over 2 Turk's head

Coachwhipping

Under 2 over 2 Turk's head

Continuous crowning

Under 2 over 2 Turk's head

Bellrope by Tony DoranLength 19" (480 mm)Core - 18 mm hemp ropeCovering - 1 mm cotton line

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Above - Table lamps (mid 1950’s) by the late Jim Nicoll, ex Shanghai detective and London river cop.

Right - Macrame mat and side fenders madeby New Zealand member, Rod Orrah

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The IGKT Logo Mathematically Speaking

by Skip Pennock

he family of single piece, orcommon, or running Turk’s headknots, as they are known among

English and American sailors, is one ofthe most attractive series of knots everdevised. They are quite ancient, withrepresentations of them being carvedinto columns found in EgyptianPharaonic tombs, for example.

They are usually cylindrical in form,but they can be tied in decorative andoftentimes practical woven flat knottingform.

Not long ago, I received two Guild20th Birthday Celebrationcommemorative mugs. I was so pleasedwith them and their graceful beauty, thatI have written the Hon. Secretaryrequesting a few more.

I looked upon the gold leaf sailor’sbreastplate knot logo, and wondered if Icould arrive at a two-dimensionalgeometric math model of it which wouldbe more closely true to the design thanmy previous Turk’s head model attemptsdone largely in the mid 1980’s. I believeI have succeeded, and hence producedthis article, in keeping with theeducational and science purposes of theIGKT, and perhaps also to obtain theability to make more accurate drawingsthan possible before, perhaps withgreater predictability.

You are likely to know more aboutmathematics and/or know more aboutflat-form Turk’s head knots, than I willever know. If this is the case, I apologise,taking into account your knowledge andyour knot-tying heritage. In allprobability, this work has been donebefore my attempts. It is simply that I donot know of these other attempts, being arelative newcomer of one year to theGuild.

The mathematics presented herein, Ishould say, consists of some of manyanecdotal cases, for not being a truemathematician, I do not know how togeneralise them into a formal proof.Furthermore, I did not make usage ofcommonly available computertechnology to plot the polar co-ordinategraphs. I live “in the Dark Ages,” and amprimarily a craftsman/artist. Therefore, Iinstead drew them by hand with the aidof good old-fashioned polar graph paperand a simple hand held graphingcalculator, which readily produces,computed tables of values.

Perhaps you have access and theability to utilise computers, and will doso in order to produce graphs such asthose shown in this article. I have heardit said many times, that mathematics isnot something you watch but rathersomething that you do. And it is to be

T

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read and done slowly and methodicallyat first, similar to learning new knots.

To address the ‘Math Anxiety’ aspect(a well known very real anxiety!), I willtry to use conventional nomenclature asmuch as possible. Also, please considerthe following: If you glance over thepages in this article, and it seems likeancient Greek to you, do not worry. Youcan understand it easily, if you canunderstand a compass bearing angle andrange or distance as a function of thatbearing angle. I maintain greatexpectations of you, present and futuregenerations!

Figure 1 shows a simplified version ofthe first kind of model I arrived at twentyyears ago, while taking a refresherCalculus I class at a local university. Oneday the professor asked me, “What areall those pretty little geometric drawingsyou make during class?” I explained, andshe suggested I use Polar (R,U) co-ordinates directly, instead of the familiarCartesian (X & Y) co-ordinate graphingsystem.

Figure 1 is actually a black and whiteimage of a colour acrylic paintingrendered in white, yellow, orange, red,

and burgundy in 1989. The modellingequation of the curve, outlined in white,is simplified to, and enlarged from:

{0º ^ Theta U, or Angle < 3 x 360º}

Because the Cosine of anythingranges from -1 to 1, the radius R variesbetween (2-1) = 1 unit, and (2+1) = 3units. This Figure 1 shows a vagueresemblance to the Guild’s symbol.

The generalised version of this firstmodel is the following:

Some Definitions are in order:Rmid is a Midrange radius constant,

which is greater than A.A is an Amplitude constant, which is

equal to ½ of the Width of the braid.B is the number of Bights, a positive

integer parameter.L is the number of Leads, a positive

integer parameter, greater than 1.B, Bights, and L, Leads, are in their

lowest possible terms, without anycommon factors.

U, Theta, is a measure of Angle; It isthe independent variable, and:

{0º % U < 360Lº}

when angular measure is in the form ofdegrees. (There are 2P radians for every360º, if you are using radians to measureangles.) Theta roughly speaking is abearing angle, similar to a compassbearing direction angle, except that byconvention, it rotates positively in acounter-clockwise direction from a

Radius = 2 + cosine 4θ3

------

R = Rmid + Acos BθL

-----------

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given starting orientation, which isusually the Cartesian “X” axis.

R, Radius, is a measure of Distancefrom the graph’s centre point; it is thedependent variable, depending upon aninputted value of the Angle U, Theta.

Figure 2

See Figure 2 for a diagram explainingRmidrange, Amplitude, and Width ofBraid.

The equations are truly quite simple. Ifthe Radius R equals a constant fixednumber, regardless of the Angle Theta,then we will produce the graph of aCircle. If an appropriate wave is added tothe circle, then we can make a wavybraided circular Turk’s head knot graphwhich will have the right number ofbights and the right number of leads.

A Cosine wave was chosen for themodel, because at its start where Theta isequal to 0º, the wave has its maximumvalue. This makes the modelled Turk’shead knot symmetric about the bearingTheta = 0º, unless a term is thrown in torotate the Turk’s head knot graph, butthat’s another subject in itself.

Figure 3

Figure 3 shows a model for thecentreline of a piece of cord forming thesimplest of Turk’s-Head knots, theTrefoil knot. Of course, the number ofBights is 3 and the number of Leads is 2.Amplitude is set to implicitly equal 1. Itsequation is:

Figure 4

R = 2 + cos 3θ2

------

Where 0° θ 720°<≤{ 2 360° }×=

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Figure 4 shows a model for an 8-Bight, 5-Lead, Turk’s head knot:

Where {0º % U < 1800º = 5 x 360º}

These last two equations were plottedwith a felt tip marker in the early 1980’s,before graphing calculators becamewidely available.

The model helps explain a curious factabout single-piece, or common, orrunning, Turk’s head knots: namely thatthe number of Bights and the number ofLeads may have no common factor (or,divisor), for if they do, the factor willcancel out in both the top and the bottomof the fraction of B/L; that is Bights overLeads. In such a case, the resultingmodelled knot will have both fewerBights and fewer Leads, or it may notform a braided knot at all.

Figure 5

Figure 5 more closely resembles thedoubled Breastplate IGKT emblem. Thefigure actually shows the plot of three

equations, compressed and expressed asone, through the usage of braces:

It has three Midrange radii, as notedwithin the braces.

Its maximum Radius makes use of thelargest midrange radius, and is figuredas:

(2.4 + Cosine 0º) = (2.4 + l) = 3.4 units.

It has been resized to fit on the printedpage, and for comparison purposes,despite its larger size. Its middleMidrange radius remains as 2 units, as inthe case of Figure 1. It’s minimumRadius is computed as (1.6-1), or 0.6units, first achieved at Theta = 135ºwhich = (L/B x 180º) or (¾ x 180º).

Something that is surprising is that notonly does the sailor’s breastplate knot,for example shown in Figure 1, workwith a Plus Sign between 2 and theCosine function in parentheses, But thatthe equation also works when 2 is Raisedto the parenthetic Cosine function.

R = 2 + cos 8θ5

------ R = {1.6 2.0 2.4} + cos 4θ3

------

Figure6

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Indeed, Figure 6 shows a second kindof model, a Power function, which yetmore closely looks like the gilded Guildlogo on the Y2K2 20th Birthday mugsand also on the cover of KnottingMatters. It also is formed of threeequations combined into one:

[cos(4U/3)]R = {0.0 0.3 0.6} + 2 Again {0º % U < 1080º = 3 x 360º}

Because 2-1 = ½, the minimum Radiusof the innermost curve in the equation is(0.0 + ½) = 0.5 units.

The maximum Radius of the outermost Curve is (0.6+21) = 2.6 units.

Therefore, this Figure 6 has beenenlarged, in relative terms, to equal thesize of Figure 5.

It was this last doubled, formed ofthree-equations-into-one equation, uponwhich I arrived during the days afterreceiving the mugs, with the great help,as mentioned, from a hand held graphingcalculator.

I hope you enjoy playing around withthese equations, modelling with them, or

others entirely different from them, suchas Bowditch’s Parametric Equationswhich model rectangular knots, andwhich can model other knots such asoverhand or figure eight knots withdisconnected cord ends.

One thing the mathematical models donot graph is the alternating (basket)weave structure in the final form of tiedflat Turk’s head knots.

Here are some additional examplepossibilities of Turk’s head knotmodelling:In Figure 7:

which has 12 Bights & 5 Leads. Themaximum Radius is 3 units, as is for this7-Lead Turk’s head knot, shown inFigure 8:

Another trefoil knot (which is just anoverhand knot with its cord endsconnected together), is shown in Figure9 as a Power Curve:

R = 2 + cos 12θ5

---------

R = 2 + cos 12θ7

---------

Figure 8

Figure7

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[cos(3U/2)]R = 2

The maximum Radius is 2 units.

Figure 9

Figure 10 is a doubled trefoil knot, asthree power curves in one equation:

[cos(3U/2)]R = {0.0 0.3 0.6} + 2

The maximum of the Radii is 2.6 units.

Figure 10

A figure eight knot, with the cord endsconnected together, creates a projectionof it in its most symmetrical form, whichis a 2-Bight, 3-Lead flat Turk’s headknot. It is shown here in Figure 11,expressed as a Power Curve:

[cos(2U/3)]R = 4

The maximum radius = 4 units

Figure 11

Why not try a 7-Bight, 3-Lead Turk’shead knot with a positive rotation by Tº?:

Have fun tying, drawing, doodling,modelling and applying Turk’s headknots!

The author would like to thank EuropaChang Dawson for suggestions in proofreading and readability of this article.His Decorative Woven Flat Knots is nota mathematics book, but it isoverwhelmingly a craft book. It isavailable from the Guild SuppliesSecretary and from other outlets.

R = 2 + cos 7 θ T°–( )3

-----------------------

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Webbing Knots - Part 4by ‘Jack Fidspike’

his closing feature in my series onknots that can be tied in tape orwebbing is the cue for KM readers

to send their own favorite webbingknots, tips and techniques to our editor

Colin Grundy for possible publication byhim in future issues of the magazine.Meantime, here are my final hitch, bendand a couple of knots.

Buntline hitchTied in flat

material this oldseagoing hitch turnsinto the commonnecktie knot, stillcorrectly referred toas the ‘Four-in-Hand’after the 18th centurygentlemen’s club ofthat name whosemembers adopted itto replace theiroutmoded cravats.

T

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Carrick bendThe carrick bend - with ends on opposite sides - is not an obvious choice for a

webbing knot, but it works well enough as long as unwanted twists are carefullyeliminated before the knot is tightened and capsized into its final form.

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Square knotUse this compact and good-looking knot to turn an off-cut of webbing into a chic bit

of neck-wear, the knot neatly filling the V-space of an open necked blouse or shirt,while the two ends hang at jaunty angles, as an eye-catching fashion accessory.

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Pyramid knotThe knot is so new that no

particular application - practicalor decorative - has yet, as far as Iknow, been found for it. That isno criticism. It could be worn asa lanyard knot around one’sneck; or a close-linked series ofthem might be made into achunky bracelet. Perhaps a largeenough specimen in tough papercould be used to gift-wrap smallpresents ... or employed to re-sharpen used razor blades. (Olderreaders will recall the cardboard‘magic’ pyramids, sold by post-WWII mail order companies,who claimed their product didprecisely that by somehowfocussing Earth’s magneticfield!) This knotted pyramid,however, was devised by Guildmember Robert M. Wolfe, M.D.of Chicago, USA, and publishedin KM #65 (December 1999).

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An Alternative Notation for Knot Diagrams

By Dick Clements

he classical means of describing ordefining a knot diagrammaticallyis undoubtedly familiar to all knot

enthusiasts. A knot may be drawn in twodimensional form with, at each crossing,the cord passing over being drawn as acontinuous curve and the cord passingunder being drawn with a break on eachside of the crossing. Thus the bendknown alternatively as the rigger’s bendor Hunter’s bend may be represented asin figure 1.

Figure 1: Classical knot diagram for the rigger’s bend

I have recently been pursuing workwhich involves manipulating bends fromone form to another and, in the course ofdoing this, I needed to sketch by hand alarge number of knot diagrams in orderto record the manipulations. I found that,whilst the classical form of diagram isexcellent for formal use, sketching thebends with the breaks in the correct placeis a slow and laborious process. Forinstance to sketch the rigger’s bend one

first needs to draw one cord, leavingbreaks in the correct place for the othercord, as in Figure 2. Then the other cordmust be added trying to ensure that asmooth curve passes through the correctgaps in the first cord. In practise I havefound that obtaining clear, well formedknot diagrams in this way is far fromeasy.

Figure 2: First Stage in drawing a knot diagram for the rigger’s bend

Hence, in order to produce a sketch ofa bend quickly and easily, I devised analternative way of representing the bend.This method can be applied to any knotand is particularly suited to drawing knotdiagrams when recording on paper adiagram for a real physical knot in apiece of cord or rope. The method startsby drawing a continuous curve torepresent each cord without worrying, atthis stage, which cord passes over andwhich under at each crossing. For theriggers bend this gives the diagram infigure 3.

T

39

Figure 3: First stage in drawing the alter-native knot diagram for the rigger’s bend

Next a parallel line is added to eachcord which does break where a cordpasses under another cord at a junction.Thus, for the rigger’s bend illustrated,the second stage would produce thediagram in figure 4.

Figure 4: Second stage in drawing the alternative knot diagram for the rigger’s

bend

Finally, at each crossing, the spacebetween the parallel lines of a cordwhich passes over itself or another cordis blocked in. Thus, for the rigger’sbend, the third stage would produce thediagram in figure 5.

Figure 5: Third stage in drawing the alter-native knot diagram for the rigger’s bend

Obviously diagrams drawn in thisnotation are not quite so clear as theclassical style of diagram but they aremuch easier to draw quickly andaccurately. I find it a useful notation forrecording working diagrams some ofwhich may, at a later stage, betranscribed to the classical form.

Tied in knotsA knot has been found in a protein

made by a primitive bug called Methano-bacterium thermoautotrophicum. Whileknots in proteins aren’t unheard of, theyare still rare. And know one knows howthey form or how they affect protein be-haviour.

Finding a knot in such an ancientbacterium indicates that they must havesome use, says co-author AndrzejJoachimiak from Argonne nationalLaboratory in Chicago. “Evolutiondoesn’t hold on to things it doesn’tneed,” he says. Perhaps the knot mighthelp the protein hold together at hightemperature, he suggests.

New ScientistDecember 2002

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BranchLinesWest Country BranchAt our July meeting, Ken Yalden gave avery informative and interesting talk onthe Starbolins, those members of theGuild who like to dress up in 18thcentury uniforms. The many tales andincidences that have happened to Kenand the Starbolins made for a veryenjoyable afternoon.

The 21st September saw some of ourmembers at the Keynsham Craft Fair,manning a stall of items made by thebranch. We had a wide range of producefor sale but unfortunately people werenot buying. We did have a lot of interestin the branch and the Guild and if allthese enquiries bear fruit both the branchand the Guild could benefit. TheSeptember meeting was one of our ‘learnand tell’ sessions. Members pass on theirknowledge to others with hands onactivities. Two knots on which severalmembers require clarification were theMathew Walker and the star knot. Acouple of different ways of tying bothwere demonstrated and the memberspresent had something with which topass the time over the rest of theweekend.

In October we gave a talk to a group ofladies known as the Portbury WivesGroup. Everyone had a pleasant eveninglearning about the Guild and knotting.

‘Tug’ Shipp

French BranchNext year, we shall be holding the 4thFrench Knot-tying weekend over the27th to 28th March. It will be held in theRouen Maritime Museum.

The museum, established in 1980occupies a former portuary hangar, builtfor the Schiffino Company in 1926. Thecollection comprises many objects fromthe merchant navy and the Port ofRouen, including ship models, marineengines, navigation instruments as wellas a barge, tugboat and other smallworkboats. It also puts on temporaryexhibitions. Check out the website formore details - www.musee-maritime-rouen.asso.fr/

For comfortable accommodation inRouen, look up -www.rouentourisme.com

Graham macLachlan

NAB 2003 Meeting, Virginia.I would like to say a big ‘Thank You’

to all who made both Lesley and I sovery welcome at the NAB 2003 meetingheld last month in Newport NewsVirginia.

Right from the spontaneous receptionreceived as we arrived in the foyer of theHotel through to the farewell wave givenby my good friends John and CaroleCushman on the Interstate 64 as they leftus as we headed for the airport afterspending four days showing us thewonderful sights of Virginia, Wal-martand Sam Adams!

This had been, in my opinion, theperfect way to conclude what had turnedout to be a really good gathering of

41

enthusiastic Knot Tyers held at a superbvenue.

Finally I wish ‘Good Luck’ to SteveCoates and John Cushman in the futureforming of a New England chapter of theNAB.

Ken Yalden

NAB AGMIn the middle of October Lesley and I

visited Virginia in the eastern UnitedStates, partly to have a holiday and partlyto attend the AGM of the NorthAmerican Branch on the Guild.

We met up with Gordon Perry, KenYalden and Lesley Bell at Heathrow, andafter an uneventful flight arrived safelyat Dulles Airport, Washington. Wepicked up our rental car, and headedsouth for Newport News. Some fourhours later we found our hotel, the PointPlaza, and booked in. We briefly metKen, Lesley and Gordon in the foyer,plus Bruce, Linda and James Turley.Also some familiar American faces -Robert Black, Gary and BarbaraSessions, Ed Morai, John and KayBurke, Steve Coates and Keith Hudson .Unfortunately by this time we werepretty tired so we decided to get somesleep in order to be well prepared for themeeting the following day.

The meeting was held at the MaritimeMuseum in Newport News - what aperfect venue.

Once we had all set up our displays,the first day was spent having the mainmeeting and a series of Masterclasses -which attracted interested membersthroughout the three days.

On the Saturday we moved everythinginto the main foyer of the Museum and

so were available for the visitors to theMuseum to be entertained and shown themystiques of the knot. John Cushman,Ken and Gordon manned the 6-KnotChallenge, which grabbed the attentionof adults and children alike. Mostvisitors were sufficiently intrigued by“what can be done with a piece of string”that they walked around the varioustables admiring the different displays ofknotwork from both the US and England.Another important item: Saturday wasJames Turley’s 18th birthday. Jameswas a bit disappointed that he had toabide by US law that stipulated that hecould not drink until the age of 21, theUK the age limit is 18!

Also on Saturday was the first-timetelephone link-up with the Half yearlyAGM in Ipswich, Suffolk, England.This went off very well in America as wewere on “hands-free” and could all chatat once. Congratulations to Des Pawsonand Terry Barns in England, and JohnBurke and Ed Morai in the US for alltheir efforts to make this historic eventrun as smoothly as it did.

Sunday continued the Masterclassesand meeting with visitors to theMuseum. There was also time to have alook around the Museum itself, which iswell worth a visit if anyone’s in the area.One especially interesting exhibit wasthe “Monitor” or rather pieces of it thathave been brought up from the seabottom.

Many thanks to John and Kay Burke,and the other members involved, for alltheir hard work in organising such anenjoyable occasion. We have even moreAmerican friends to look out for at thenext US meeting we attend!

Jeff WyattGuild President

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PostbagThe views expressed in reader’s letter do notnecessarily reflect those of the Council. TheEditor reserves the right to shorten any letteras necessary.

Who will Teach ‘EmWith reference to Geoffrey Budworth’sletter (KM 79, Splices-Who needs‘em?). The reason I joined the Guild wasto learn ropework that had not beenpassed down from the old sailors downto the new ones. I am pleased to say thatfrom a lot of Guild members (includingDes & Liz Pawson, Stuart Grainger toname just a couple), my knowledge hasincreased a lot, thanks to the Guild. If wetake Geoffrey’s cue and put splices toone side, then who is going to teach thenew sailors how to splice in the future?As I have said in my previous letter’s toKnotting Matters, the Merchant Seamanstill has to learn to splice both rope ANDwire in order to pass his exams.Nowadays, wires come ready made withferrules, but when you are at sea and youneed a wire splicing, if we takeGeoffrey’s advice, then no one is goingto be able to do it. I thought that theIGKT was set up to promote ropeworkand keep an interest in this dying art. SoGeoffrey, we dump splicing, becauseyou think there is no place for it, what’snext on the agenda, getting rid of rope? Iconclude with the thought” Think beforeyou compose a letter!”

Paul L EvansHartlepool, UK

R Hood Haggie & SonReplying to Colin Grundy’s queryconcerning the present status of R. HoodHaggie & Son, in KM80 (page 47). Theropeworks at Willington Quay,Wallsend, Tyne & Wear, are still inproduction, but now operate under thename of Bridon International, and arepart of the international engineeringgroup, FKI plc. On Tyneside they arestill referred to as Haggie’s ropeworks.

The family founder, David Haggie,arrived on Tyneside from Scotland in theearly 1800s (I have some informationwhich I haven’t yet been able to confirm;that his mother was a Jane Hay, amember of a well known Sunderlandropemaking family). He started aropewalk in partnership with a Mr.Pollard on the salt meadows atGateshead.

Between 1809 and 1825 Haggie hadthree sons, Robert Hood, David, andPeter, who all, in due time, entered thebusiness, the name changing to HaggieBrothers. In 1843, after a falling out,Robert Hood Haggie left the businessand took up a lease on a vacant ropery atWillington Quay, Wallsend, this wasover the River Tyne and six milesdownstream from Gateshead. DavidHaggie, the founder, died in 1851. SonDavid, who was more interested in localpolitics (he was mayor of Gateshead in1854), eventually sold his share of thebusiness to his younger brother, Peter.This David had two sons, David Henry,and George, who also got theropemaking bug and set up inpartnership in 1879, when they took overHay’s Ropery (yes, the same Hay familyas mentioned earlier), at Sheepfold,Monkwearmouth, Sunderland. Thebusiness was named D.H. & G. Haggie,

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hence the three ropeworks namedHaggie in the Tyne and Wear area.

There were at least a couple of dozenropeworks on Tyneside in the 19thcentury, a good many of them craftorientated and small, which were the firstto go to the wall; amalgamations andtakeovers started in the 1850s. The firstbig merger came in 1924, when eightlocal companies formed British RopesLimited (including Haggie Brothers, andD.H. & G. Haggie), this soon snowballednationwide, and by 1927, 30 companieshad joined the merger.

After the Second World War BritishRopes Limited entered another period ofexpansion, as did R. Hood Haggie andSon. However, later, in 1959, R. HoodHaggie & Son, one of the UK’s largestindependents, finally succumbed toBritish Ropes many overtures and joinedthe group. In the early 1970s there was amajor reorganisation, and a drasticallyslimmed down group was renamedBridon. In July 1997, Bridon was takenover by FKI plc, an internationalengineering group, although it stilloperates under the name of Bridon.

The family name still lives on inHaggie Rand, South Africa’s largestropemaker. Gordon Haggie, one of theGeordie Haggie’s, started the companyafter the First World War, inJohannesburg.

Looking at the accompanyingillustration, I notice that the manilatowing-spring has a right-handed cablelay. Although contrary to generalpractice this is quite normal in towing, asall components in the towing rope mustmaintain a common lay throughout therope’s entire length. The ropemaker’spreferred option was to reverse the fourstages of twisting, in making up themanila towing-spring, rather than

construct a length of left laid wire rope tomake-up the two wire pennants.

Thomas Simpson

South Shields, UK

Mirror ImagesThe pair of chest beckets pictured on

page 25 of KM80 (September 2003)were first displayed by Guild newcomerBarry Brown at the IGKT’s 21st AGM inWeston-Super-Mare on 10th May 2003,where he pointed out to me that they areperfect mirror images of one another.Each and every bit of knot work on onehas been painstakingly reversed on theother, making them into a remarkableapprentice piece.

Geoffrey BudworthTonbridge, UK

Aviation SpliceIn reply to the letter from Andrew

Lyle in K.M.80 about an end terminalfitting.

During my recent summer holiday Ibought a second-hand book, mainly forone illustration and paragraph, althoughthere was a lot of other fascinatinginformation also present.

The book was Anchors and Mooringfor small craft by Lt-Col A. T. Colin,originally produced in France in 1961byEditions du Compas, but my edition wastranslated and produced in 1963 by TheMaritime Press. From comments in thebook it would appear that the colonel

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was a French amateur yachtsman whohad designed several patterns of anchor.

The paragraph that caught my eyefollows a short discussion on thestrengths of various ropes and splices.

“I cannot, however, refrain frommentioning the very simple eye-spliceknown as the 'aviation splice' which maynot be beautiful to look at but whose usefor splicing rudder and aileron cablessufficiently vouches for its reliability -and it can obviously be done veryrapidly: Pass the cable through a shorttube (5 to 6 inches) of annealed copper,of a section one-and-a-half times that ofthe cable to be spliced. Bend the cableback on itself to form the eye and re-introduce the loose end into the tube inthe opposite direction, flattening the tubeslightly if necessary; then crush the tubeflat with a hammer, twist it in the centrethrough 180° and again beat flat. Thesteel strands will be embedded in thesofter copper, which, having beenannealed, will not fracture, and theycannot slip out. The whole job hardlytakes two minutes and the splice ispractically indestructible; it goes withoutsaying that the quality of this speedyrepair will begin to deteriorate after afew months if and when thermo-electric

action between the copper and the steelbegins to produce corrosion."

If permitted by the wartime RAF, thiswould also have saved Percy Blandfordfrom some perforated thumbs, but hewould not then have acquired suchexpertise in conventional wire splicing.

I don't know if this will help Andrew,but it is the first reference I had seen tothis splicing technique. I hope othermembers of the Guild can spread morelight on this.

Richard HopkinsBristol, UK

A Bowline Too Many?I am making a study of bowlines. I

have come across the followingbowlines: reverse Carrick bend bowline;Carrick bend bowline; water bowline;slip noose; French bowline; doublecaulker’s chair bowline; double chaisede calfat bowline; French bowline-on-a-bight; simple bowline; double knottedbowline; interlocking round-turnbowline; fool’s bowline; round-turnhitch bowline; angler’s loop bowline;perfection bowline; Algonquin bowline;fisherman’s bowline; Irish bowline;figure of eight bowline; enhanced doublebowline; double bowline; round-turnbowline; jam bowline; triple bowline;true bowline; painter’s bowline;interlocking bowline; Lark’s headSpanish bowline; bow bowline; invertedbowline; back bowline; clinch bowline;thumb bowline; Brummychamnbowline; Portuguese bowline; enhancedbowline; lock bowline; Ontario bowline;

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slip bowline; twist bowline; Spanishbowline; double Spanish bowline; belt &braces bowline; double bowline-on-abight; slip noose bowline; pulleybowline; bowline; reverse bowline; ringbowline; stopper bowline; runningbowline; bowline-on-a-bight; left-handed bowline; Linesman’s bowline.

I would be very pleased if othermembers could let me have the names ofother bowlines and how to tie them ofcourse. Also some bowlines havealternative names, so I would be pleasedto receive them too.

Harvey R R WallaceIsle of Wight, UK

Beginners KnotsI read with disbelief the 7 page article

“Which Knots for beginners” inSeptember’s Knotting Matters. I firstlearned knots in the Scouts nearly 50years ago. I am still a member of themovement and have an appointment as apioneering instructor although I’m notvery active.

There is not, and there never has been,any knot in the Scouting manual morecomplicated than tying a shoelace. It is aknot requiring considerable dexterity yetmost youngsters can tie it by the age ofnine. Why! It is a matter of incentive. Achild who couldn’t tie its own shoelacebefore the age of nine would die ofembarrassment - so they learn.

When I was a Scout all those years agoall Scouts could tie knots and it hadnothing whatever to do with my“growing up on a farm” I didn’t, nor didI “handle rope every day from earlychildhood”. Nor did any other

Scouts in the troop have such abackground. We learned because in

those days being a Scout who couldn’ttie knots would be as embarrassing asbeing a lifeguard who couldn’t swim.We wanted to be Scouts and one of thethings that marked you out as a Scoutwas an ability to use rope.

Today Scouts no longer feelembarrassed if they are not too good atknots. Chances are their leader can’t tieknots either. Pity but there it is.

While I, like other members of IGKTwill happily sit playing with a piece ofcord and derive pleasure from it, youngpeople today have no desire to learnknots ‘for the fun of it’. The purpose ofknots and rope work in Scouting is inorder to build things. If a Scout knowsthat the plan is to say build a raft then, hewill be persuaded to learn some knotsthat will help him do it because he cansee some purpose to it.

Which knots to teach is purely basedon what knots are needed?

The first knot I would choose to teachis the timber hitch. So simple that youmay have to persuade a Scout that itreally is a knot. It is a very secure knot inScouting type applications i.e. Tying arope to a spar, tree or picket.

The next thing I would do is to getthem to tie a series of half hitches arounda broom handle or something. Just to getthe feel of them. I might point out,especially if any of the Scouts were girls,that what they are doing is in effectblanket stitch. The half hitch is arguablythe most important knot there is and thesimplest.

To teach the most vital piece of ropework in Scouting, a square lashing, Iwould start with a timber hitch. Put onthree wrapping turns. Change direction.Put on two frapping turns and finish witha half hitch round a spar. Work the half

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hitch tight into the corner then addanother half hitch to lock the first.

I personally would drop ‘clove hitch’from the book. It is not secure when usedas a hitch, certainly not as secure as atimber hitch and although it is the sameas two half hitches you get better resultsif you teach ‘lock it off with two halfhitches’ than ‘finish with a clove hitch’.

Frequently in pioneering you have tobring a structure vertical and tie off theguys. The only knot I know that you cantie against the pull of a rope is a roundturn and two half hitches. A round turn ishardly difficult and we have alreadycovered half hitches. In my view itshould only be used when the rope isunder tension or where you have a smalldiameter metal stake where a timberhitch won’t work.

To tie two ropes together you make aloop in one. Pass the end of the otherrope through it and tie a half hitch aroundboth strands of the loop. Called a sheetbend. The best knot for that purposewhen pioneering because it can beundone afterwards.

The tripod lashing can start with atimber hitch and end with two halfhitches. Likewise a sheer lashing. I seeno point in teaching a diagonal lashing. Iam not convinced it does anythingsufficiently different to a square lashing.Nor would I teach a sheepshank. I havenever found it useful.

A reef knot is the only knot you canuse to tie two ends together undertension. It is needed in first aid anywayso I would include it. I don’t like the “Left over right and under ......” method.The best way I know is to tie an overhandknot. Take one end back on itself to forma loop. Then it is easy to see what youneed to do with the other end to complete

the knot. After a bit of practice the “Takeone end back on itself to form a loop”need only be done mentally.

The waggoner’s hitch is a very usefulknot for getting a rope really tight but Iwould not recommend it because it canfall apart while you are trying to tie it andbecause if anything gave it a knock, itcould result in a capsize which isdangerous. The alternative I use, which Ihave called the trailer hitch is bothsimpler and safer. (I don’t know whetherit is original). Again it ends with theubiquitous two half hitches.

To make a fixed loop I would use abowline. It has the advantage that withpractice you can tie it with one handwhile holding on with the other and itcan be untied after tension has beenapplied even when wet.

Unfortunately a lot of the methodstaught only work if you are standingbehind the spar you are tying a looparound while in practice you may betrying to reach out and tie it around a sparin front of you. The method I havealways used is - Take the rope around thespar. Take the working end over thestanding part and back under to make anoverhand knot. Pull the working enduntil it is straight transferring a loop intothe standing part. Take the working endunder the standing part and back downthrough the loop.

Choosing knots in Scouting is basedon need. If you really needed a verycomplicated knot you would have toteach it. Luckily you don’t. I don’t thinkany of the knots I have described aredifficult, neither do I think that I havehad to compromise in choosing them.

John Kennaugh

Callington, UK

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Knotting DiaryAGM’s & 1/2 YEARLY MEETINGS

22nd AGM7th - 9th May 2003Chatham Historic Dockyard, KentContact: Nigel HardingTel: 01825 760425

Half-Yearly Meeting8th - 10th October 2004Pitsea.Details to follow

BRANCH MEETINGS

Midlands Branch9th February 200419 Windmill Avenue, Rubery, BirminghamContact Bruce TurleyTel: 0121 453 4124

East Anglian Branch3rd April 2004Museum of East Anglian Life, Stowmarket, SuffolkContact John HalifaxTel: 01502 519123

French Knot Tying Weekend27th to 28th March 2004Rouen Maritime Museum, Rouen, FranceContact Graham macLachlanEmail: igktfrance@club-internet.fr

German Meeting & Exibition7th to 9th May 2004 An Exhibition and Display of Ropework on board the former Merchant Navy Training

Ship "Schulschiff Deutschland" at Bremen-Vegesack. Contact: Peter Willems email: peter@fancyworks.de

EVENTSThe Beale Park Boat Show11th to 13th June 2004 Members of the Guild will be in attendance Beale Park, Lower Basildon, Pangbourne,Nr Reading, Berkshire Contact: Ken Nelson Tel: 0783 6722198

SECRETARY:Nigel Harding16 Egles Grove,Uckfield,Sussex, TN22 2BYTel: 01825 760425E-mail: nigel@nigelharding.demon.co.uk

Guild Annual Subscription rates:Juniors £5Seniors £16Families £20Corporate by arrangementPayable by cash/cheque Eurocard, Master-card or Visa. Taxpayers in UK - we would pre-fer a covenanted subscription.

EDITOR:Colin Grundyc/o 16 Egles Grove,Uckfield,Sussex, TN22 2BYTel: 0794 6841157E-mail: knotting_matters@btinternet.com

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Full page £32 £49Half page £19 £22Quarter Page £10 £15

Printed by Gipping Press Ltd., Needham Market. Tel: (01449) 721599 Fax: (01449) 721372

Guild SuppliesPrice List 2003

Item Price

Geoffrey Budworth

Notlore a miscellany of quotes from fact and fiction £2.50The Knot Book £3.99Plaited Moebius Bands £2.50Knot Rhymes and Reasons £1.50

Brian Field

Breastplate Designs £2.50Concerning Crosses £1.50

Eric Franklin

Turksheads the Traditional Way £1.50 *Nylon Novelties £2.00 *

Stuart Grainger

Knotcraft £3.60 *Ropefolk £1.30 *Turks Head Alternatives £2.20 *Creative Ropecraft (Hardback - 3rd Ed.) £9.95Knotted Fabrics Hardback price includes UK postage £9.00

John Halifax

Something Different with over 50 Button Knots £3.20

Colin Jones

The DIY Book of Fenders £9.95

Harold Scott

On Various Cruxiform Turks Heads £2.50Sliding Template Method for Designing Cruciform Turks-Heads Vol. 2 £3.00

Skip Pennock

Decorative Woven Flat Knots £12.50*

IGKT

Knotting Matters copies of past editions £2.50(Some past editions available - contact the Secretary for details)

*bulk purchases of these items available at a discount - phone for detailsCheques payable to IGKT, or simply send your credit card details