ISSUE 72 SEPTEMBER 2001ISSN 0959-2881

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Knotting MattersNewsletter of theInternational Guild ofKnot Tyers

Issue No. 72

President: Brian FieldSecretary: Nigel HardingEditor: Colin GrundyWebsite: www.igkt.craft.org

Submission dates for articlesKM 73 07 OCT 2001KM 74 07 JAN 2002

The IGKT is a UK Registered Charity No. 802153

Except as otherwise indicated, copyright in Knotting Matters is reserved to the International Guild of Knot Tyers IGKT 2001. Copyright of members articles published in Knotting Matters is reserved to the authors and permission to reprint should be sought from the author and editor. All sources of quotations printed in Knotting Matters are acknowledged.

Cover design by Stuart Grainger

IN THIS ISSUE

Letter from a President 5T. S. Swiftsure - The AGM 6Chas. L. Spencer 10Spanish Bowline 11How to - Untie Knots 12Knotmaster 14The Monkey’s Fist 16Early Cord Making Tools 20Knot Gallery 22The Three Lead by Six Bight Turk’s Head 28Captain Kai Lund 32Portrait of a Branch 36More on the History of Knotboards 38The Origin of Nylon 40Branch Lines 41Postbag 44

Relaxing after the knot tyer’s supper

Notes from theSecretary's Blotter

T he sun is shining at last. It seemsto have been raining here since lastOctober, when the town centre of

Uckfield was under four feet of water.That happened two days before ourOctober meeting in Beverwijk, and it hastaken all this time for the town to recover,the last of the shops reopening in the lastfew days.

What with that, and the fact that Sylviaand I have been forced by circumstanceto live apart for nearly two years, Ijumpedat the chance to go to Botswana with myson for a couple of weeks earlier this year.What a wonderful experience, - we stayedwith some friends in Francistown, near theZimbabwe border, and we camped out inthe bush for seven nights. Naturally, novisit to Africa is complete without beingchased by elephants fortunately our agedtruck managed to outrun it, - but you neverknow 4uite what's around the corner.What fascinated me was our bushmanguide, who, having washed his clothes inthe river, promptly made himself awashing line by picking the leaves of aconvenient plant, and tying them together,using what looked like a sheet bend. Thiswas pulled tight around two suitable trees,and made off with a round turn and twoor three half hitches.

The snag with any holiday is that whenyou come home, there is a mountain ofcorrespondence to deal with. And then

2

there was the computer. That has beenslowing down for some time, but with thevolume ofemails waiting for me, it simplydied.

The computer has now been replaced,and I have caught up with the backlog (Ithink), but some of you may have had towait quite a long time for any responsefrom me for about a three-month period,earlier this year. My apologies to thosewho were affected, but hopefully all isnow back to normal.

I did manage to get to the AGM atFareham, or was it Farnham? I get the twomixed up. Here the retiring members ofthe Council, including myself, were allreturned for a further three-year tour ofduty. This was not because they werethought to be so outstanding in theirperformance as Trustees, but simplybecause there were no other names putforward. Since the Constitution wasaltered, by asking for two weeks noticefor a nomination, the election process atthe AGM has been simplified. It is nowso simple, that there hasn't been anelection for several years. Them meansthat you appear to be stuck with theCouncil you have got, for better or worse,apparently indefinitely. We would like tothink that we are doing the best for theGuild, but without the stimulation of anelection (and here in the UK we have beenstimulated by the General Election), the

Council could stagnate.

What I have been asked to do, is givenotice that of those council members dueto retire in 2002, at least two wil1 not bestanding for re election, hence we arelooking for at least two replacements, andin order to achieve an election, we mustmake at least three, preferably fournominations. How about it?

As for the secretary's role, I amlooking to devolve some of the more timeconsuming duties, and so you may wellsee a change in the distribution of KM,and possibly the collection ofsubscriptions. Watch this space.Incidentally, I now havc an electroniccredit card machine (until now I havehand-written every credit card voucher).This machine allows me to accept a muchwider range of credit cards, and also debitcards, including, Mastercard, Visa,Switch, Delta, JOB, Electron, and Solo.That reminds me, when I ask for the 'nameon the card', I mean the name of theaccount, not Visa etc. I have a number ofcredit card details that I am unable to use,as I am unable to identify who has sent itto me, and all I joined for was to learn afew knots, and now I am knot allowed topick up a piece of string.

Nigel Harding

3

Col's Comment

Recently I attended a camp with mylocal Scout Group on a site nearBinningham, as a helper. I had

been asked to run a pioneering session, theremainder of my time was spent generallyassisting the leaders and camp statf.

Early on I was approached with therequest, "Can you find some way to hangthis up in the kitchen tent?" The object inquestion was a roll of paper towel similarto a large toilet roll, but the requirementwas to draw the towel from the centre ofthe roll. A fairly straightforward taskachieved with the aid of a Jury Mastheadknot, much to the surprise of the chef, anex-navy man.

Later, I was asked if I could repair apair of spectacles belonging to one of theboys. The screw had been lost from theframes and the lens had fallen out. Atemporary repair was effected withwhipping twine and a Surgeon's knot,enough to enable the lad to use his glassesuntil the end of the camp.

"Is there nothing you can't do withknots?" they asked. "Yes, plenty, butknowing a few knots certainly helps."

Growing up with knots has helped meover the years with an immense amountof tasks and having a piece of string orrope handy has often got me out of a trickysituation even if only on a temporary basis.I wonder how other members of the publicwould fare in this day and age of gadgetsand fastenings?

A new feature appears with this issueof Knotting Matters, it is a Portrait of a

Branch. The aim of these articles are forthe branches of the Guild to say a littleabout how they were first founded, whatthey get up to and who are thepersonalities within the branch. I haveasked the Pacific-Americas Branch to kickoff this feature with a bit aboutthemselves. There is no particular reasonbehind this; it's just that I was writing toJoe Schmidbauer when the idea crossedmy mind. So please don't be offended ifyour branch was started earlier, I don'tknow when particular branches werefounded anyway. Before you decide to putpen to paper and write in about yourbranch, to keep the article current I shallbe dropping a line to the branch contactor Secretary, as I require it. I hope youenjoy this feature.

I was asked recently why some articleshad not appeared in the edition

immediately following their submission.The bulk of Knotting Mattcrs is made upwell before the deadline dates that appearon page one. This leaves me with a fewpages to finish of letters, branch news andthe Secretary's Blotter etc. I have to do itthis way to keep up with the productionschedule and get it to the printers in theweek following the deadline.

In addition, I attempt to have a broadselection of articles within the 48 pages,so there is something to interest everyone.I hope I am successful in this, and I donot plan to do bumper editions. Allsubmissions are acknowledged and nearlyeveryone is used. 1fT cannot use it, I willtell you. So if you have submitted a pieceand it has been acknowledged and notappeared in print yet, please be patient. Ifyou have taken the trouble to write it, thenI will take the trouble to print it.

Your editor enjoying a quiet drink with Charlie Tyrell at T.S. Swiftsure

4

Letter from a President

M y local branch of the I.G.K.T.meets in The National MotorBoat Museum in the WatTyler

Country Park and all Essex Parks wereclosed during the recent epidemic ofbovine ' foot and mouth' disease.Fortunately, the Kent branch from theother side of the Thames estuary issued amuch-appreciated invitation to join intheir meetings, and this gave me thechance to visit another Group. Themeeting was very well attended and withtalks on lanyard making and basicmacrame, there was a lot of learning andknot tying taking place.

June brought an all too short visit fromCharles Holmes (President of the Texasbranch IGKT) and his wife, Deborah .Wemanaged to squeeze in a visit to DesPawson, whose Rope work Museumshould be on every members list of placesto visit, as well as visit one or two localbeauty spots. I had hoped to renew ourfriendship at the NAB meeting in Texasbut found it impossible to make anydefinite plans until the present round ofvisits to consultants is over. I hope torenew normal service by the end ofAugustor September.

Feedback on the subject ofmembership growth in the U.K. suggeststhree possible avenues of exploration.

First, we need to explore all ways bywhich the public can be exposed toropework. Most people are unaware of therange and beauty of our craft and are in

5

no position to judge whether or not it is" their thing ".

Second we need to encourage anyintcrest that is aroused by offering coursesin as many aspects ofknotling as possible.These courses should include modulesthat can be used by members in their ownhomes, for many members are unable toattend meetings .We are, in the U.K., aregistered educational charity. andalthough education is one of the basic aimsof our Guild it is not as yet, one of ourstrongest points.

Third we need to encourage theformation of local" branches ", for it is inmeeting together that enthusiasm can beengendered, new members extend theirabilities and old dogs, (like me), learn newtricks. It doesn't matter if the branch is aformally recognised one or if it is a fewmembers meeting in the corner of a bar,what counts is the fun and the chance toswap knowledge.

Brian Field

I'New knots are often flashes in the I

.pan; they founder on circumstances that IItradition long ago anticipated ... old IIknots never die; they just wait for us to IIcome to our senses.' IIBrion Toss, The Rigger's Locker - iIUSA,1992 ~l __ . .__ _.__ _~__

T.S.Swiftsure .. the AGMfrom our Midland's Stringer

6

Charlie Tyrrell entertains the Sea Cadets

Ellesmere Port Boat Museum on October13th. He said that preparations were wellin hand and there would al 0 be activitieson the Sunday morning.

Ken went on to tell about the nextAGM which would be the Guild'stwentieth birthday. There will be five daysof public shows and trips to variousvenues for knot tyers that attend. FarehamCouncil has also adopted our birthday aspart of the Queen's Golden Jubileecelebration. Ken a ked for ideas of thingsthat members would like to do during theweek's event. He al 0 asked each memberto make a macrame square (AS ize - thesame as this magazine page) and abellrope to be displayed at Fareham forsix months following the birthday. DesPawson pointed out to the meeting that asmembers we have a duty to support thisevent and also suggested that the councilconsider ways of upporting some

7

members financially to attend the event.

A few questions then came I"rom thefloor and this wa followed by thetraditional "Portrait of a Knot Tyer".where two members answer threeque tions. How they got interested in knottying, how they heard about the Guild andwhat other interests do they have.

First up was Ken 'Jim' Hawkins ofNorfolk. Jim explained that his uncleawaked his interest in knot tying when hewas a child. The Scout· and then the Navyfollowed this. On board ship a Pettyofficer showed him a copy of Ashley andthat developed hi . enthusiasm. Jim foundout about the Guild by mistake, when hebought a copy of Stuart Grainger'sCreative Ropecraft and I"ound the addressof the Guild. His main interest waspractical but now he is into bellropes.Jim's other interest is corn dolly makingwhich is closely related to knotting.

Are Des Pawson and Jeff Wyattkneeling at the alter of Ashley?

Next up was GOI"don Hauslip fromPitlochry in Scotland. Gordon firstbecame interested in knotting when hewas researching for a particular knot andhis wife bought him a copy ofCyrus Day'sKnots and Splices. He found out about theGuild aboard the Cutty Sark at Greenwich.Gordon started off on practical knots andthen moved on to decorative knots. Hisother hobbies include fly-fishing in whichhe ties his own trout flies.

David Walker gave the meeting a fewpoints to think about on the future of theGuild. This created some debate,including suggestions for employingprofessionals to do some of theadministrative work, hiring an office,separating the Guild into areas andcreating a job description for the Hon.Secretary. Fred Carrington suggested tothe meeting that those surviving membersfrom the inaugural meeting on theDiscovery back in 1983 should be madelife members. Those particular memberspresent rejected this idea.

The formal part of the meeting wasconcluded and following an excellent

8

lunch laid on by the Sea Cadets, theafternoon was spent in free association,chatting and learning.

During the evening a splendid knottyers supper was enjoyed by some fiftymembers who stayed for a meal.

Sunday was a change from previousyears in as much that Ken Yalden hadarranged for a number of knot tyers toinstruct on specific subjects in workshopsessions. These were advertised on a boardthe day before and people were invited toput their names down for any session theywere interested in. The event proved agreat success, with the following sessions,Willeke van del' Ham teaching bell ropes,Colin Grundy - splicing, AlbertSoutherden - hitches, Harold Scott ­wirework, 'Spud' Murphy/BernardCutbush - bottle covering, Europa Chang-lacework, Bill Meakin - Turk's head matsand Catherine Goldstone - macrame.

Eventually mid-day came and the timeto draw to a close a mo t successful andenjoyable weekend of knotting. See youat the next one.

1

Above - Geoffrey Budworth at a book signing session.Below - Bill Meakin tutors on a Sunday Workshop.

CHAS.L.SPENCERa potted biography

by Geoffrey Budworth

Colonel Charles Louis Spencer wasauthor of Knots, Splices & FancyWork, originally published

(Glasgow, Scotland) by Brown, Son &Ferguson, Ltd. in 1934. For many of us inthe UK, it was our first advanced knotbook.

He was born a Glaswegian in 1870,son of John Spencer, and educated atKelvinside Academy, then CollegeChaptal, in Paris, France. Serving withdistinction in the 1914-1918 First WorldWar, he was mentioned three times indespatches, and in 1918 awarded theD.S.O. (Distinguished Service Order). Hewas further honoured in 1919 with aC.B.E.(Commander of the BritishEmpire).

Volume IV of the reference book WhoWas Who (1941-1950, 4th edition) listshis membership of the Junior UnitedServices Club, the Caledonian Club andthe New Western Club (Glasgow). Hisrecreation was yachting, a pursuit in whichhe also made a creditable contribution, andin the late 1930s he was vice-Commodoreof the Clyde Cruising Club.

IGKT member Captain AllanMcDowall related (see KM 43, page 7)how, as a very young boy, he once metColonel and Mrs. Spencer. Theembanassed couple had unintentionallyrun aground off the south coast ofEngland, in a large German schooner, on

10

the local oyster beds of an Isle of Wightcreek. Allan and his mother were sailingclose-by in a dinghy and, when the skydumped a heavy downpour of rain whichthreatened to waterlog their old andleaking boat, the Spencers invited thebedraggled pair aboard their own gin­palace of a craft to warm and dry off.There the conversation must have comearound to knot tying, because Mrs.Spencer taught him how to tie a Monkey'sFist.

Although Charles Spencer's book wasbased upon the earlier 1907 work Knots,Bends, Splices by Captain J. NethercliftJutsum, of Cardiff, Wales, it grew ­through various reprints - to become aclassic of its kind. A later edition, revisedby Percy W. Blandford IGKT, is stillobtainable today.

Spencer died, aged 78, on 2nd May 1948.

a

Fig. 241.

Spanish Bowlineby John Halifax

1. Form an inverted bight with boththe ends hanging down and on the

same side.

3. Next turn both ends downwardsbetween the two top bights andthrough and out of the bottom

triangular bight.

2. Now take both ends underneaththe bight and lead them upward

behind the basic form.

4. Hey Presto! A qUicker and easierSpanish Bowline.

Is this a new method? To check it is the same, make it the traditional wayand undo it by removing the two ends.

11

How to: "Untie Knots"by Willeke van der Ham

When showing and teachingknots and how to tie them Iam often asked for the name

of the book I am using. 'What kind ofbookare you looking for?' I ask. The answeris: ' How to untie knots.' I am sure manyguild members know at least as muchabout this as I do but for the rest, here ishow I untie knots and tangles in string orcord, the kind that happen when workingwith long lengths, or loosely wound thinstuff.

Basically, use patience. Single loopknots can be undone by opening the bodyof the knot. This is easiest done when youcan actually see the knot and its structure,so use your reading or magnifying glasses.If it really is a simple loop knot it mightbe a slip knot but better not pull hardbecause the knots which seem to be slipknots but are fixed loops (like the middleman hitch or the alpine butterfly,) in thinstuff are the knots which require scissors.

Sometimes knots are so complicatedthat they are just tangles, consisting ofstring wound around itself and having acouple loop knots as an extra. Grasp themiddle of the tangle and shake softly.Repeat this a few times. If you see anyprogress pull carefully on the outsides ofthe tangle and repeat the whole process.When you see the tangle coming undone,start winding the string from one end. Gotill you get to a knot or the leftover bit ofthe tangle and start on the other end tillthat is also wound. Start with shaking

12

again, holding the wound ends in yourhand.

There are tangles that do not react toshaking, try pulling carefully and neverwith any force. Once started shakingmight help. If the tangle is really stubbornthe only way to win is to undo the knot bypulling the string out. Locate one end,follow it back through the tangle withoutmoving it, depending on the diameter andcoarseness from 3 cm to 10 cm (I" to 4")pull a bight there, and enlarging the bightpull the end out. Repeat until all the stringis free at last. If the string behaves wellyou might be able to take larger lengthsat a time but be careful and experimentwith small steps. From 3 cm to 5, 8, 10and so on. Beware, once you start usingthis method the first method will behindered because by undoing one knot youoften make several new ones.

This will also work on lengths of ropebut often you will need more peoplebecause of size and weight. Knots in rope,cord or string that have been under stress,or have been drawn real tight and/or havebeen left a long time. Also knots in naturalrope that is wet, especially when wettedafter tying.

Consider the rope, is it worth beinguntied? Because these knots do sometimesdamage the rope and it very annoying tospent a couple of hours to get that knotout only to find that your rope has beendamaged beyond use. If the rope is wetthere is another consideration. Do you

need to untie it now? Another time whenthe rope is dry again, untying might beeasier, and another day you might havemore patience making the task simpler.

If you decide to tackle the job makesure you have the right tools handy andput away those which will surely bedamaged on the job. If you do not own amarlinespike or heavy metal pricker usea cheap screwdriver or whatever bluntpointed object you can find that can takea big force without bending it. If you usescrewdrivers, it can be handy to haveseveral sizes near you. Do not use yourwooden, Swedish or Gripfid. These arenot build to withstand the forces you aregoing to apply, I found out the hard way,tools being returned bent out of shape afterbeing borrowed.

First, take all tension off the rope ifpossible. With knots tied (in rope) aroundsomething, start with the side that is nottight. Push the ends sticking out of theknots slowly into the knot. (Twisting therope so that the diameter gets smaller.)Knead the knot and push again. If thisfails, use you blunt pointed object. Stickthe point between one rope and another,never between the different strands ofonerope. Try to find a place near to where therope has been crossing under only oneother part of the knot. Try to loosen therope a bit and repeat the pushing andkneading. You may have to repeat thissequence several times. Take care not todamage the strands of your rope or the toolyou are using.

Ifyou need to untie a set of knots, likeyou find when pioneering with Scouts,make sure you attack the outmost knot,i.e. the one that was made last. I found

13

that for the Scouts there is no differencebetween the beginning and the end of arope. I insist on untying from the endbecause even when you are able to undothe starting knot it will not help you much,since undoing the rest is much harder fromthis end. But if the last knot is a real bitchthen working the line lose from thebeginning often is an option.

With multi-strand knots you invertfrom the way the knot is made. The laststage in tying such a knot is alwaystightening. So start with working someslack in each strand in turn, first only onetuck, later yuu might be able tu du a set uftucks. Once you have worked some slackin the knot you can start undoing the knot,also just one tuck at a time. But here youhave the choice between doing all thestrands in turn or taking on strand outcompletely.

Whatever the size of rope, string, yarnor strands you are trying to untie be carefulnot to make kinks in your line, or if youhave to make kinks as is often the case,do not put to much stress on them, thisruins your rope and makes your wholeeffort of untying a waste of time.

Another problem you will recogniseis how to untie shoelaces! Mainly becausethe child wants those things off her or hisfeet now, and not when mummy is done.If it is a nasty knot and the shoe will comeoff without untying do just that. It mightstart a bad habit but I never met anybodywho did not every now and again tookshoes off with the laces still in their bows.The second best is to put the child toplaying or eating a sweet in such a positionthat you can really see what you are doing.The actual untying is not different from

many other knots. Apply patience and alittle poking and try to work some slackinto the actual knot. Untying becomesharder in old and damaged laces so if theyare in a bad condition and you havereplacements, take the scissors. By theway, fat round laces do not so often getinto impossible knots. It are the soft flatlaces that I myself always find hard to getuntied, even when in the perfect bows.

I wish you a lot of patience, (mymother always told me to go to the shopand buy a kilo of patience when I tried todo a task like untying as a youngster, shewas just not able to tell me which shopwould sell it,) and a lot of pride when youhave managed to succeed.

"Mousing" aTurk's Head Knotby James L. Doyle

A "Mouse" or "Mousing" is a knob that israised. To raise your Turk's headsymmetrically and firmly with a mouse,apply a 3 lead by 5 bight Turk's head knot(left).

Then apply on the centre of the 3L x 5BTurk's head knot a 6 lead by 5 bight Turk'shead with five strands. This method givesthe Turk's head knot a raised knob-likeappearance (right).

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KnotmasterSeriesNo.10

"Knotting ventured,knotting gained. "

1 - Ossel knot

'Ossel' was the Scottishfisherman's word for a gill net(Cornish: orsel) and this knot is asea-going one. Atougher alternativeto the rolling hitch, it will withstandtugging and pulling about in alldirections. Wrap and tuck as shown(fig. 1a), tightening before loading(fig. 1b).

2 - Ossel hitch

This slim knot, also with a sea­fishing background, is a securealternative to the clove hitch. Wrapand tuck as shown (fig. 2a) and thencarefully tighten before loading (fig,2b).

1a

2a

Osset hitch

15

OsseL knot

lb

2b

The Monkey's Fistby Thomas Simpson

R eading sten.JOhanSSOn's 'cry forhelp', concerning the monkey'sfist, in KM62 (page 21) and again

in KM66 (page 30), I was surprised to readthat it hadn't been sighted in print before1935. Without ever giving it any thought,I was under the impression that it had beenaround since the 19th century.

As this article is attempting to answerSten's points in KM62, read his letterbefore reading this one.

The four main libraries in the Tyne andWear area (where I live) all have a largenautical content, as this is one ofthe mainmaritime areas in the UK. I have searchedthrough hundreds of books' indexes, orskim-read the books where no index wasincluded. Checked the indexes of theMariner 50 Mirror (quarterly periodical ofthe Society of Nautical Research) from itsstart in 1911. I selectively searchedthrough the Nautical Magazine (monthlysince 1838) - no overall index! I amfamiliar with the magazine and aware ofits negligible knotting content.

Despite all this activity I havemanaged to find only one item before1935. An entry, not in a nautical book, butin an English dictionary. Mind not just anydictionary, but the recognised definitiveEnglish dictionary The Oxford EnglishDictionary (second edition) of twentyvolumes. The reference is in volume IX(page 1006). It refers to a written entry in

16

Gershom Bradford's Glossary of SeaTerms, New York (1927); "Monkey's fist- a complicated knot with weight enclosed,used at the end of a heaving line". I havefound a 1954 edition of this book (whichthe date obviously excludes). It is adictionary type book with neitherinstructions nor illustration.

My local libraries have copies ofCyrus Day's The Art of Knotting andSplicing (four printings, 1947- I986) - nocopies of his Sailors' Knots. According toDay's preface, this is an updated versionof his Sailors' Knots - with twelve yearsof added research.

Cyrus Day was an academic and askilled bibliographer, his interest inhistorical knot data is immediately evidentHe mentions hundreds of sourcesthroughout the text, sometimes three orfour on a page and from the most obscurepublications. Most of the knots arehistorically sourced. He also has abibliography of 220 knotting books andpublications at the end of the book.

On the monkey's fist page (pagenumbers differ between editions), themain knot, the monkey's fist, has nomention of origin, yet the two minor knotson this page (the doughnut knot and theparticular heaving line knot) areimmediately sourced to Ashley (1925).

From the overall text and attemptingto read between the lines, all I can deduce

is that Day never saw a monkey's fist inany publication. All I can surmise is thathe must have sighted an actual 'working'heaving line with a monkey's fist attached.He may have been told that it had been inuse for a number of years. Depending oncircumstances, it could take anindeterminate number of years from itsintroduction to finally appearing in print.This may have accounted for his cautionin not commenting on its origins. He gavethe knot a prominent presentation in thebook.

Day didn't fall into the trap ofrepeating Ashley's comments about E.N.Little's Logbook Notes being the sourceof the monkey's fist He and Ashley knewor corresponded with each other, so heprobably questioned Ashley about Little.

Ashley does make a brief mention ofhis 'fragmentary' notes at the top of page8 in The Ashley Book of Knots. With thebenefit of hindsight, it's regrettable hedidn't use the same proviso that he usedin the forward of The Yankee Whaler(1926 & 1938); "Generally when I havequoted I have named my authority, butfrequently when I have quoted from notesthis has not been possible. These noteswere made over a considerable period ofyears, and often I failed to makeattributions. Sometimes it has beennecessary to quote from memory, but Ihave not consciously indulged inunverified statements".

Graumont and Hensel were both ex­seamen and didn't necessarily require abook to have knowledge of a monkey'sfist. Mind, at least six of the twelveexamples in their Encyclopedia of Knotsand Fancy Ropework require a vivid

17

imagination to be recognised as monkey'sfists. Although the knot listed as amonkey's paw is a true monkey's fist

Sten mentions that in the Italian AshleyBook of Knots the monkey's fist is calledSacchetto (small bag). The translatorappears to be confused with another typeof heaving line weight. Very occasionallyships use a small stitched canvas bag/sachet - packed tightly with sand (not leadshot); it is about 5 inches long x 2.5 inchesdiameter, a brass eyelet is punched intoone end of the canvas to effect connectionto the heaving line.

Among interested parties there is anunspoken weight limit on weightedheaving line knots. If a shoreside dockingparty is unhappy with a particular heavingline weight, they will attract the attentionof the ship's crew and in an exaggeratedritualistic manner, cut offthe heaving lineweight and commit it to the dock or riverbottom.

In nautical English the word monkey(meaning small) was sometimes used insailing ships, but this interpretation nevercarried over into the steamships.

When considering the possessiveforms of monkey, they appear visuallyunderstandable - five examples come tomind.

Monkey's Face

A metal triangular plate (9 inchesdiameter x I inch thick). It had a hole ineach corner. The derrick topping lift span,chain preventer, and bull rope, shackledinto each corner. It held a derrick at anyrequired fixed height, whilst workingcargo.

Monkey's Breakfast

At sea - a particularly untidy piece ofworkcould be said to "Look like a monkey'sbreakfast".

Monkey's Piss

Lime Juice!

Monkey's tail

A purposely seized bight in a rope. Sameas a kink in a monkey's tail. See Ashley#534 - the heaving line page.

Monkey's Fist

In the past, heaving lines were usuallymade from 12 or 15 thread, tarred ratline,1.25 inches circumference (lOmmdiameter), very dark brown in colour.During my time in the Merchant Service,particularly the early years, monkeys werepopular pets on board ships. I can assurethe reader that the tarred strands of ratlinelooked just like a monkey's fingers.

18

I'd be surprised if any relevantinformation turned up in E.H. Osborn'sRope Work. This was a 40 pagepublication, emanating from a smallfarming town called Sauk Centre(population 3,700) in central Minnesota­95 miles NW of Minneapolis. Thecontents were surely of an agriculturalnature.

Day's outstanding bibliographicalknowledge is very intimidating anddoesn't leave much hope for lesser mortalsto turn up any worthwhile information.One possible line of enquiry worthfollowing is to check out nautical bookswith a long printing history that have acurrent monkey's fist entry, then attemptto track back through earlier printings tosee when the monkey's fist disappeared.

One such book is the AdmiraltyManual of Seamanship, recent printingscontain the monkey's fist, and the 1937printing doesn't. I don't know when it firstappeared in the manual - although this isof secondary importance.

Other options include first hand factualaccounts by seamen, fictional nauticalstories by seamen etc. Material in this areais very thin on the ground, as very fewfo'c'sle seamen have committed pen topaper.

I personally have no problems aboutwhere the monkey's fist came from - I goalong with Ashley and believe it's directlyrelated to the knob knot and small Turk'shead (see Ashley chapter 29).

Long before the arrival of themonkey's fist, a very small minority ofseamen ('knotting aficionados') wouldhave been using knob knots as

personalised knots on heaving lines, andtoday these personalised knob knots arestill used on heaving lines, long after thearrival of the monkey's fist. It is aseaman's way of expressing his knottingskills. Eventually, in the course ofexperimenting, one or more of these'knotting aficionados' would havehappened upon the monkey's fist'sconstruction. Its ease of rotationalconstruction surely clinched its eventualstatus as the leading heaving line knot.

During my time at sea I used aMauretania knot (a Turk's head derivative)as my personalised heaving line knot. Asto when it came on the scene ­improvements often arrive out of a senseof need and necessity. One possibleexplanation is that with the arrival of thelarge Atlantic liners at the beginning ofthe 20th century, a far better 'carrying'heaving line was required to reach thequayside from the high forecastle headsof these new large liners. This may haveprompted the arrival of the monkey's fist.

Up until this time ships had a lowelevation, often flush decked and of smalltonnage. Their decks were hardly anyhigher than the quaysides theyapproached. Their optimum line throwingdistance was a lot less than that requiredby the new high decked liners.

Although my searches can't be called'all-encompassing', confined as they areto my local sources. I have never the less,seen enough to convince me, that CyrusDay was the first knot tyer to explain andillustrate the monkey's fist in print.

Cyrus Lawrence Day (1900-1968) anative New Yorker was a professor at the

19

University of Delaware. His academicbackground increases the possibility thathis private papers are in safekeeping. An'in depth' biography would make acreditable addition to the guild'sinformation bank. He has an entry in WhoWi:/s Who in America (volume V).

More KnottyLimericks

From Geoffrey Budworth

A reckless rock-climber named WattChose an insecure life-support knot.When it failed, as he fellTo his death, he yelled, 'Hell!That's a knot that one ought to boycott'.

From Maurice Smith

There was a Guild member named KenWho tied fancy knots now and thenHis splices were tightHis plaits a delightAnd the judge gave him nine out of ten

From Les Scanlon

An adventurous couple newly wed,The wife begged to be tied to the bedBut soon got disappointedWhen his knots prematurely camedisjointedThat she ran off with a Guild memberinstead.

More Early Cord Making Tools.by Richard Hopkins

I n K.M. 69 I wrote about a device thatthe Maya used for cord making andasked if anyone could add

information about the tool.

Geoffrey Budworth kindly sent me analticle from the Handbook of Seauwn:SRopework by Sam Svenson - originallypublished in Swedish in 1940 but nowavailable in English. A tool is shown verysimilar to the Maya item and described asbeing very rare. It was used to spin shortlengths of two-ply yarn.

A length of yarn was fixed at one endand the other end tied to the hook on thetool. This was then whirled round untilthe yarn had been twisted tightly. It wasthen doubled and twisted in the oppositedirection to give a usable twine.

More recently, looking for somethingcompletely different, I found a referencein Ancient Egyptians - Their Life andCustoms by J Gardner Wilkinson, to anillustration in a tomb at Thebes, of the timeof Thotmes III (around 1450 BC). Here,thongs of leather were being twisted andit is reasonable to think that cord mighthave been made in the same manner.

The ends of the thongs were insertedinto a hollow tube where they weresomehow secured. From the side of thetube a bar stuck out with a heavy weighton its outer end. The operator whirled thetube around, the weight acting like aflywheel, and walked backwards. The tube

20

was attached to his waistband through asimple swivel so he could use his bodyweight to maintain tension on the thongs.An assistant payed out the thongs and keptthe separate strands from becomingtangled. The illustration does not showhow the assistant's end was securedneither can it indicate if the cord was thengiven a reverse twist to lock the strands.

This suggests that the idea has, in fact,been around, not just for a few hundredyears but for 3400 years or more, indifferent parts of the world, and I believethere must be other examples of this toolstill to be recorded. If any reader knowsof other examples, I would be delightedto hear of them.

In frivolous mood I wondered if theside handled baton of the police could beadapted to this task, and tried to imaginethe reaction, both official and unofficial,to experiments designed to widen theapplication of the sword to ploughsharesidea.

An early tomb painting

Sam Svenson's tool

21

22

23

Above - Dragonfly Knot by Jack Keene

Left - An oar crutch cover in hitching on an old whaler in the Whale Museum, Canical, Madeira. (photo - Gordon Perry)

Knot Gallery

24

Chalice in Cotton Fishing Line by Joquim Paulo Escudeiro

Facing page - Superb decorated picture frame by Bernard Cutbush

25

26

Above - Intricate lacework by Europa Chang Dawson

Right - An attractive bellrope by Richard Hodge

27

The Three Lead by Six Bight Turk's Head KnotTied in the Hand and Other Ways

by Jesse Coleman

T he three lead by six bight Turk'sHead Knot may be the easiestmulti-strand THK to tie. It is tied

with three separate cords and may be verycolorful. It is rather a short THK, withonly three leads. The "barber pole"pattern that is seen on many multi-strandTHK's is absent in this knot.

The rule of the greatest commondivisor states: "The number uf curdsneeded to tie a THK is the greatestcommon divisor of the number of bightsand the number of leads in the knot." Thenumber of bights in this knot is six and isevenly divisible by the integers 1, 2, 3 and6. The number of leads is three and isevenly divisible by the integers I and 3.The largest number in both of these twosets of numbers (1,2,3,6 and 1,3) is three.Therefore, three cords are required to tiethis knot.

The 3L X68 THK Tied in the HandAny coloured cords may be used, but

let's call them red, white and blue, thecolours of several national flags. Usefairly long cords and take about 20 cm ofthe red and white cords and loosely tiethem into two loops. These two loops areto be placed over the fingers. The thirdcord will be woven between these twoloops.

To begin, lay the loop of red cord overthe forefinger and little finger as shownin figure 1. Next, lay the loop of white

28

cord over the thumb and ring finger, andover the red cord as shown in figure 2.

The blue cord starts at the bottom ofthe palm and weaves the usual over andunder pattern used in all Turk's HeadKnots (figure 3). The blue cord continuesaround the ring finger and back to thestarting point, completing the third lOOp.Each of the three cords in this knot mustfollow an over and under pattern as theygo from the outside of the knot to theinside and back again. The finished knotis shown in figure 4.

At this point, the knot may doubled,removed from the hand and completed inthe usual manner.

The 3L X68 THK Tied as a MatTo tie this knot in mat form, start with

the same three coloured cords as beforeand again tie two of them (the red andwhite ones) in loops. Lay the red loop onthe mat in a long thin oval as in figure 5.Lay the loop of white cord over it asshown in figure 6. Next, weave the bluecord through the first two cords as shownin figure 7. Thc completed knot is shownin figure 8.

The 3L X68 THK Tied on aStick or RodFigure 9 shows a stick or rod with a

single (red, of course) loop of cord aroundit. A second cord (the white one) is woundaround the stick and over the first cord asshown in figure 10. The third or blue cord

is woven through the first two cords asshown in figure 11. The completed knotis shown in figure 12.

When tying multi-strand THK's, it isbest to use cords that are the same

29

diameter, stiffness and firmness. If oneof the cords is noticeably stiffer or largerthan the other, then the resulting THK maynot be as attractive as possible. This isnot a problem in single strand THK·s.

30

j

j

j

j

j

j

j

j

j

j

j

j

j

j

j

j

j

j

j

j

j

10

31

Captain Kaj Lundby Ronnie Gustavsson & Sven Erik Andersson

A great man with a low profile.Well known to many of us thanksto his books on macrame and

cordage work.

Kaj Lund was born in 1911 atSvendburg in Denmark, a shipping townwith many sailing ships. So it was naturalthat he learnt to sail early. He yearned forthe Great Seas and first shipped on boarda three-masted schooner. Later he sailedin other ships, among them the three­masted barque the "Suzanne" (ex"Kylemore"), at that time Denmark'slargest sailing vessel. Here he learned allthat a seaman in a sailing ship ought toknow.

After his time under sail, having donethe qualification period for applying to beadmitted into the School of Navigation,he passed his examinations for Mate's andCaptain's certificates. There then followedservice in the Navy.

Later he was employed in the salvagecompany Svitzcr. For a fcw ycars hcworked in the Mediterranean, and on theAtlantic coast, stationed at Gibraltar,Tangier and Casablanca. The workconsisted in salvaging wrecked anddisabled vessels.

After his time with Svitzer, he enteredthe Danish shipowning companyLauritzen, where he was attached to theirspecial department for maritimeeducation.

He then transferred to the Danish

32

Merchant Marine Welfare Board. Therehe built up the Danish Seamen's Servicefrom scratch.

'The start was made after a few years,when I had become head of the MerchantMarine Welfare Ofrice. In that capacitymy main concern was with the seamen'sleisure time. My first task was to assistthe sailors in forming associations forspare time activities. The second was toconvince the sailors that they possessedsomething that was lacking for peopleashore.

I worked a great deal withphotography, in order to demonstrate thatseamen had motifs which people at homedid not have. But there was another thing,too. One of the seamen's specialities wasto make bottled-ships. So in the course ofa few years there appeared articles onbottle-ships in the little periodical theHorisont (Horizon), which I started.

Then there was this business of FancyWork. I bcgan with some articles onmacrame. This was in the early 1950's. Igot in touch with a vocational teacher, F.Brandt-M0ller by name, who had madehimself familiar with macrame. Ipersuaded him to write a few articles onbelts and the like. He was an excellent tyer,but not so good at expressing himself inwriting. So I took down what he said. Butthen I had to grasp what he meant: themalter must be made clear, plain foreveryone to understand.

These articles were collected in thefirst Knyttebogen (The Macrame Book).The book caught on to such extent that Idecided to continue on the track. We nowarranged a few competitions andexhibitions of sailor's hobby work andreceived a great many contributions.Before I sent the works back to theparticipants, I analysed and took picturesof the pieces. And then I wrote a bookabout them, KIl)'tte Model/er og Knl'tteideer (Macrame, Models and Ideas).

The analysis made it clear to methat there was a need for a basic book onmacrame. So Knyttebog for Begyndere(Macrame for Beginners) appeared, andwhile I wrote that book I learnt to tiemacrame properly. When I had completedthe book for beginners I realised that therewas an old tradition which was revived.These were the same things as theyproduced at the turn of the century 1900.There was a surge of interest in macrame

33

at that time.

It then occurred to me that there wereso many possibilities in macrame that Jstarted writing a whole series of smallbooks in the fornl of specialised pamphletsintended for beginners in the ages 7 to 70.This became the series called La)' Nogel(Make Something!).

The books Matter og RosetteI' (Matsand Rosettes) and TO\'I'lcrks KI.//1S1(Artistic Rope Work) concerned realFancy Rope Work. This was my ownexperiment with cordage. But thetechnique is different, more based onbraiding and rope work methods.Macrame, on the other hand, is properlya form of Fancy Work.

A part of Fancy Work is in Englishsquare knotting, or international macrameof Arabic origin. And this word hasassumed an extended meaninginternationally to cover all Fancy Workdone with small stuff. Macrame is a smallpart which can be used for innumerabletypes of decorative work, e.g. needlehitching and sennits.

Later on I wrote a few books aboutother things. Beeller afCam og Tal' (Beltsof Cord and Twine) treated the tying ofbelts where I had mixed in some cordagework. Knyttede Tasker (Macrame Bags)was about the tying of bags, somethingwhich, of course had always been goingon.

I found that there was a need for amodern book on professional cordagework, and this became Knob og Splejs(Knot and Splice).

I have fallen in love with the knot

known as Turk's Head or the TurkishPearl. It is the only absolutely symmetricalknot that can be made with the one partonly. The Turk's Head cannot only bemade as a knot, but it can be flattened outinto a rosette, transformed into a tube or aring, or be expanded in various ways, evento form a drop. The Turk's Head offers somany possibilities as to give sufficientmaterial for a whole book on the subject.'·

In addition to many articles innewspapers and periodicals, and a numberof translations, Captain Lund is also theauthor of some thirty books on maritimehistory.

He also belongs to the Association ofWooden Ship. "Nobody can be an expertin that crowd," says Kaj Lund. "I havebecome humble over the years. I thoughtI knew most things until I discovered thatthere were fifty different Dutch types ofvessels using the same rigging."

Many Happy Returns, Kaj Lund!And Warmest Thanks for the pleasure youhave spread by letting us share yourknowledge and wisdom.

Literature

Knynebogen, (The M3crame Book) with F. Brandt·M011er 1958

Knylte Modeller og Knytte Ideer (Macrame. Modelsand Ideas) 1968

Matter og Roselter (Mats and Rosettes) 1968

Knyuebog for Begyndere (Macrame for Beginners)1969

Tovva?rks Kunstt' (Fancy Rope Work) 1969

Knob og Splejs' (Knot 3nd Splice) 1970

Brelter af Gain og Tov (Belt's of Cord and Twine)1971

Knyttede Tasker (Macrame, Bags) 1972

34

Knytte Opskriftcr ( otes on Macrame) 1972.(Continoation of Models and Ideas)

The "Lav Noget" Series 1973·1976

Knyt (Tic l )

Knyt Stjerncr (Tie Stars)

Knyl Juleting. (Tie Christmas Dccorations»

Knyt Kurve (Tie Baskets)

Knyt Punge (Tie Pouches)

Knyt Farvekombinationer (Tie ColourCombinations)

Knyt Bredt (Tie Broad)

Knyt med Halvstik (Tie with Clove Hitch)

Knyt Rundt (Tic Round)

1 Tmnslatcd into Gnman.

, Translated into Dutch. German. Norwegian andSwedish.

No books have been translated into English. Theprospective English publishers wanted to secure thecopyright for the American market as well. which

the Danish publishers did nOl agree 10.

20th Birthday CelebrationSouvenir Mug

These cobalt blue Jacobean style mugs, with the Guilds logo picked out in 22 caratgold, are being made by the Coalport Pottery Museum. As such, they will not only bearthe authentic Coalport insignia, but also the Ironbridge logo, on its base.

Five hundred of these 'collectors item' mugs have been ordered for sale at theBirthday Celebrations in Fareham next May, however, a small quantity will be availableon a first come first serve basis for delivery in time for Christmas 2001, price £7.95plus post and packing. Contact - Nigel Harding for details

35

Portrait of a BranchThe Pacific Americas Branch

by lindsey Philpott & Joe Schmidbauer

I saw in the 199617 MembershipHandbook that Philpott wasnewly listed as the local contact forSouthern California. I had a pn:vi()usinttere:,t in to start a local GuildBranch but nothing much came ofit. So 1wrote Lindsey a letter 1 would beinterested in helping himsomething going anyway. Lindsey rangme up few later to tell me thatwas an organising meeting for a futureBranch of the Guild and would I beinterested in joining?

That first meeting was held at theLos Maritime Museum in SanPedro, California. Some fifteen peopleshowed up to talk knots and the groupgoing. It was a fun and lively time. Inthe end. Dan'ell McNurlan volunteered tobe President, Lindsey Philpott became theTreasurer and Joe Schmidbauer took thejob as Se<;retary

Several months of planning anddiscussion followed this initial onhow to best set up the Branch. At itfelt like it would never off the ground.Finally, on Friday June tllePacific Americas Branch of theInternational Guild of Knot Tyers wasformally established with the ofthe Bylaws and election ofOft1cers. [TheIGKT Council officially ratified the PABin September 1997.1 We thenext day by holding our 1st Annual Knot

36

nhmb,v and Demonstration on the frontlawn of the MaritimeMuseum. brought a knotted

and knot tips to trade.

Knot Board" as a showpiece for futureshows and lect:ures.

then the Branch has grownto some 70 members. We stretch from

to and wehave members in most of the WesternStates. There is a sprinkling from theEastern Slates. We also have a memberin Vel!1ezuela!

We hold meetings at LosAnlTl'!,es Maritime Institute (which is nextdoor to the Museum) on the secondTuesday of the mont1l. arevery One ofthe highlights was a lecture by Brion Tossin 1998: Spun Yarn to Spectra ~

How Knot's Kee-p Pace U

We also had the current Guild President,Brian Field, out as our Juneof 2000. He was topleasant talk about Medicine,Mc,nk(;y's Fists & A BriefLook a 200 Years of Knotting."

Branch members also do outreach tolocal Scout and Yacht Clubs. Wealso do a display and demonstration at the

Tall Ships Festival in DanaHarbor here in Southern Califc)rnia.

Here is a picture from our very first AGM in June 1998. This is on the frontlawn of the Los Angeles Maritime Museum in San Pedro, California.

From left to right is:Erin Rittenhouse, Sean Vattuone, Darrell McNurlan, Lindsey Phi/pott, Tom

Gergen and Joe SchmidbauerSecond row standing is: Mark Sherman, President of the International

String Figures Association.

CAN YOU HELP?Tam looking for digital photographs of knot work from around the world to make amontage at the TGKT 20th birthday exhibition. Twill put these on CD and produce, aslide how of "The World Tied with KNOTS". Now for the practical bit, yourphotograph' can be in PC format Jpeg or Gif images. Can you please send them to meingly (my download is very slow) as an E-mail to howard@hdenyer.fsnet.co.uk or by

floppy disk or CD to:

Howard Denyer,19 Broad Street,Guildford,Surrey GV3 3AQ.ENGLAND.

37

More on the History of Knot BoardsBy Joaquim Paulo Escudeiro

D es Pawson's article (KM70)raises some interestingquestions. It seems to be correct

because there is written evidence for it.In the book, Official Catalogue ofObjects,sent to the Industrial PortugueseExhibition held at Porto City (CatalagoOfficial dos Objectas Enviados A'Exposicilo Industrial Portugueza.Cordenado Por Jose' Candido Correia,Lisboa 1888) we find that 500 objectsbelonging to the Lisbon Admiralty NavalSchool were sent for exhibition.

The following significant words arefound. First: Single Study Objects (pI9,Objectos de Estudo), there are all sorts oflarge items held on a single floor. Forexample - sheers (pI9, Obj. No. 57,Cabrilha). Then the word "table" withmaster model of the school... (p22, Obj.No. A32 Mesa com modelo de urn mastropara a escola... ) and, Table for riggingstudy for the school ... (p27, Obj. No. B IMesa para Estudo de aparelho, destinadapara a escola...).

Next, Frigate model for the study ofrigging (p7, Obj. No. 30 Modelo de umafragata para estudo de apparelho... ) and,Ship Head Nose for the Study of riggingwith the bowsprit and the foremast (pI7,Obj. No. 48, Proa de navio para 0 estudode aparelho corn gurupes e mastro detraquete...). Also, Transverse section ofarmoured ... (pI8, Obj. No. 11, Se<;ao

38

transversal no courayado...).

So the study systems are - singleobjects of study, tables, models, sections,as the first used.

But more interesting is that in the bookwe find - a cupboard with the followingmodels for study, (p9, Obj. No. 46, Urnarmario contendo os seguintes modelospara estudo...).ln this cupboard classifiedas a single object, there were 121 works!So I think that these should be theminiatures, and fixed on wood because ifit was otherwise they would not havetransported them as an individual unit,being still a large cupboard to go fromLisbon to Porto City in those days!Moreover some works are repeatedelsewhere as single objects, as for exampleanother tackle (p23, Obj. No. A40,Estralheira).

In this cupboard the works are dividedinto: four blocks (cadernais), II strappedblocks (moitoes), three snatch blocks(patescas), six topsail buntlines rib(lebres), one sister block (pole), threestirrup (andorinhos), two plump block(sapatas), two truck (borlas), four blocks?(cayoilos), six deadeyes (bigotas), I1tackling (talhame), two coach whip (rahosde raposa), five launching drags (bo<;as),16 rope end knots (pinhas), five knots(nos), five turns (voItas), six splices(costuras), three sennits (gaxetas), twopointings (rabichos), three strops

(estropos), two slings (lingas), threebeckets (als:as), two shroud knots(unhoes), two lizards (mixelo), two mats(coxins), two manropes (cabos de portalo)and eight several different works(trabalhos diversos).

Elsewhere in the book, we find awallboard (pl7, Quadros) board withmaterial used in submarine war ... (p 17,No. I Quadro com material empregado naguerra submarina ... ) and an unequivocalsentence - "these boards are used forauxilation of the practical teaching" (p17,"Estes quadros servem de auxiliar para 0

encino pratico ...").

This is a clear statement, amialthough we do not know exactly whatwas on this wallboard, we can have an ideabecause we find in the book - Instructionmanual for torpedo (manual instrus:ao parauso da escola de torpedos, coordenado porJose Cesario da Silva, Lisboa 1880) The

torpedo in those days was a fixedexplosive object placed under water atstrategic points. On p74 we read sentenceslike - "whipping of twelve tarred lines" ­"Sennit on top" - "between cables make aknob on top of the end" - to pass a botonof marlin - by the middle with six turnseach one put with one knot and the lastwith a right knot - with twine by themiddle - gives a false knot (pp 79,80,96).- Flax tarreu cable with outside six leg ofiron wire strands around - make an eyesplice with a thimble"

So we can see that on thiswallboard there was some knot workapplied to the lines.

In conclusion, I believe that it isproved that wallboards have come fromthe necessity ofpractical teaching and alsofor showing complex naval work topersons outside of admiralty schools, asin this case an exhibition.

39

The Origin of Nylon

The request in Knotting Matters 71by Graham MacLachlan for thetrue meaning and origin of the

word 'Nylon' caused a flurry of activity.The material itself came about as the

result of a programme of pure researchlaunched by the chemical company DuPont in 1927. The company hired a 31 yearold Harvard instructor Wallace HumeCarothers to lead a team of scientists andtechnicians to study the subject ofpolymerisation. The first nylon fibre wasdrawn on February 28th 1935, from abatch of polymer known as 6-6, so calledbecause its constituent molecules,hexamethylenediamine and adipic acid,each had six carbon atoms. The new fibrewas announced to the public in October1938.

Early on, the fibre from polymer 6-6was recognised as a replacement for silkin the women's hosiery industry. During1930, the sale of silk for Americanwomen's stockings earned Japaneseexporters about $70m. The alternative,'artificial silk' or rayon, exuded second­rate cheapness, it was vital therefore thatthey had a new word for a new substance.

Although first adopted as a substitutefor silk, during WWII it was soon realisedthat nylon's properties of strength,resilience and resistance to mildew andsalt water made it superior to silk for manywartime applications. Nylon was used forparachutes, glider tow ropes, bomber tyrecord, in self-sealing fuel tanks for aircraft,flak jackets, clothing for the humid junglesof the Pacific theatre and even mouldedmachine-gun parts.

40

Percy Blandford (Stratford-upon­Avon, England) recalls:

I was in the Royal Air Force duringWorld War 11 and towards the end of thewar I was with a unit training Army gliderpilots for the invasion ofEurope. We wereusing hemp towropes, which were onlyallowed a limited life. Then we receivedwhat must have been some of the firstNylon ropes in England. They were givenan almost limitless life, but their stretchwas almost unbelievable. A tug aircraftwould go tearing across the airfield; whilethe military glider loaded with troopsstayed put for a long time, then after therope had almost doubled in length, itstarted to move and took off.

I was told then that the American firmDu Pont invented the material andpatented it in New York (NY) and London(LON). They put these initials together asits name. Now, let's hear the other stories.Of course we could always ask Du Pont!

Neil Coates (Rose bay, Tasmania) andThomas Simpson (South Shields,England) submitted this entry from TheOxford English Dictionary, (2nd edition)Volume X, p618:

'There is no evidence to support thederivations frequently given for this wordin popular sources. Cf. [compare] thefollowing quotation.

1940, Women S' Wear Daily, 9 Febmary[page1 22 the du Pont letter, written byJohn W. Eckelberry covers the generalstatus of nylon as follows: "The word is ageneric word coined by du Pont Co. It isnot a registered name or trade mark. ...We wish to emphasise ... that the letters

n-y-I-o-n have absolutely no significance,etymologically or otherwise ... Becausethe names of two textile fibres in commonuse-namely 'cotton' and 'rayon', end withthe letters 'on' ... it was felt that a wordending in 'on' might be desirable. Anumber of words ... were rejected becauseit was found they were not sufficientlydistinct from words found in thedictionary, or in lists of classifiedtrademarks. After much deliberation, theterm 'nylon' was finally adopted."

Len Cusack (Hobart, Tasmania)submitted the following information fromAmerican Plastic - A Cultural History byJeffrey L. Meikle, Rutgers UniversityPress:

"The issue of naming the syntheticfibre that researchers were calling Rayon66 (for lack of anything better) firstsurfaced in January 1936. B. M. May ofDu Pont Rayon Company questioned"whether it is wise or unwise todenominate it rayon." He suggested that"to call it something else might be better"because it was superior to anything"Comprehended underthe word 'rayon'."

In December 1937 a call went outto upper-level executives throughout thecompany to conceive a name with whichto present Fiber 66 to the world. A list ofmore than four hundred suggestionsranging from Adalon to Yarnamidrevealed a variety of baptismal motives.Responding to the list, Vice PresidentWaiter S. Carpenter, Jr., offered variationson the company name with Duponese andPontella. President Lammot du Pont, onthe other hand, avoided reference to thecompany and preferred Neosheen,Durasheen, and Delawear, the latter hisown pun. Nylon, the eventual choice, didnot appear on the list.

41

How the company abandoned suchextravagant names as Duponese andDelawear in favor of the neutral genericnylon is unclear. Several improbableexplanations surfaced later. One rumour,repeated as late as 1982 derived that namefrom New York (NY) and London (LON),wrongly claimed as sites of nylon'ssimultaneous discovery. The mostpersistent rumour asserted that Du Pontintended nylon as an acronym for thecontorted challenge to the Japanese silkmonopoly: "Now You Lousy OldNipponese !"

An in-house memo first revealedthis choice in October 1938 about twoweeks before Du Pont publicly announcedthe new synthetic fiber. The memo statedsimply that "the word nylon has beenadopted for the base material heretoforedesignated a '66. '" Since "nylon" wouldbe used "in a generic sense," it would be"unnecessary to capitalise it, put quotationmarks around it or otherwise create anyimpression that it is anything but acommon noun." And since no definitionof this "common noun" existed, the memoprovided one: "Nylon is the generic namefor all materials defined scientifically assynthetic fiber-forming polymeric amideshaving a protein-like chemical structure;derivable from coal, air and water, or othersubstances, and characterised by extremetoughness and strength and the peculiarability to be formed into fibers and intovarious shapes such as bristles, sheets,etc."

So there we have it. As Grahamsuggested, through Knotting Matters wehave finally got to the bottom of how thename nylon came about. It just goes toshow that someone somewhere canunearth the truth.

BranchLines

Solent BranchThe Solent Branch held their second

meeting on TLle~da: 24th r\pril at theRoval \;aYal .-\'""oclatlon in Gosport,kindl\" an'an~ed h\ Jinl \Yabh. There were19 n1

w

enlber; pre~('nt \\ lth t\\'o apologiesfor absence. Don BellanlY opened themeetin~ \\,tth a \\ elconle. especially to thet h re e ~1 e \\ nH~ nl be r ~ that had bee nrecruited at a recent eyent in Portsn10uthNaval Ba~e. The Branch have beeenin vol \'ed in ~e\'eral events during thesumn1er. including. Fareham's Saturdayby the Sea on 26th May. The QueenElizabeth Country Park Fair. on 7th and8th Julv. The Earl of Southampton's Showat Tichfield Abbey on 21st July and TheInternational Festival of the Sea. atPortsmouth ~a\'al Base. over the AugustBank Holidav \\·eekend. Bob Pearce hasa talk to ~i\'; to the Park Gate WL whileNick Wilde ha~ been invited to talk to themembers of the Lymington Town YachtClub.

Terrv ~1eaden. was the ""Profile ofa Knot Tye;" \'ictinl. Terry explained howhe went fron1 the Royal Navy to theMerchant Marine and came ashore toteach navigation at the Fijian University."'Prof' Terry is now "our nlan" in HMS

Warrior 1865. Jack Bell spoke about hisexperiences with the Spanish Ring Knot,praising Ron Edward's book "KnotsUseful and Ornanlentar' which explains

42

in a nutshell what Jack has spent 20 yearstrying to solve. Chris Pain brought some

netting from the roof lining of an oldRover car, which he is in the process ofnlaking a facsimile of to fit in therefurbished vehicle. The next nleetingwill be held on Tuesday 26th June eitherat the RNA Gosport again or alternativelyat the Fareham Fire Station.

Gordon Perry

Kent BranchThe typical knot tyer spends most of eachyear feeling as isolated as a lighthouse.So a gathering of Guild membersorganised by Derek Chipperfield, forSunday 8th April 2001. at Chatham'shi storic dockyard beside the Ri verMedway. once again proved a popularevent. The 25 of us who attended, comingmainly from Kent and Essex (where theirown meeting place is temporarily closed),

included IGKT President Brian Field andVice President Frank Harris. A fewtravelled further to arrive fronlHampshire, Bedfordshire andNorthamptonshire,

In a room within the 19th centuryAdmiral's House, generously lent to us bythe dockyard's "Friends' - following aninitiative by Jill Jenner - we were treatedto instructive denlo 's and displays ofmacrame (Geoffrey Budworth), fender­making (Derek). tying a cruciform Turk'sHead in the hand (Frank), and lanyard

design (Jill). More pleasurable still - asalways - was the time available forconlpanionable free association, and

exchange of ideas, as we consumed ourown sandwich lunches and over numerouscups of coffee, tea and biscuits courtesyof the organisers.

Reporled by our Stringer in the south-east

Pacific-Americas BranchJoe had gone off on his annual

vacations and asked me to drop a lIne ortwo about our recent e\'ents thIS year.Most recently I have completed anotherclass of marlinespike sean1anship. Tillieand Yvonne (Easton and Chang) havebeen seen again on television, talkingabout Chinese knots. We had a display atthe KelpFest in Santa Monica for theBaykeeper organization, and exhibited adisplay for the Europa Festival of the "'RedBalloon" for kids in San Pedro, inconjunction with MGM Studios. In Junewe had our annual exhibition anddemonstration on the lawns of the LosAngeles Maritime Museum. I visited theFriends of the English Regency. Welooked forward to our display at theToshiba Tallships Festival in Dana Point- more news on this later, also our AnnualGeneral Meeting in San Pedro.

Fair leads to all!

Lindsey PhilpottPresident, Pacific Americas Branch, IGKT

Surrey Branch ReportIt \\'as with great pleasure that we madeGlad Findley our President at the SurreyBranch AGM. Glad was the founding

43

Chairman of the first branch of the IGKT.when she turned her macrame teachinggroup into the Surrey Branch, at first itconsisted of all woman then slowly menjoined and I hope helped to broaden thepractical knotting base. Glad has servedas Chairman and on the Committee andit's largely through her hard work that theBranch is successful today.

After the AGM we studied a videoprogramme about trebuchets (a medievaldevice for propelling rocks at castles) andDavid Monk led a discussion on how wecould make one of these devices. On arather wet June Saturday a trebuchet wasbuilt at our local Scout campsite. Thiswas about three meters high and aftermany fine-tuning shots we managed tothrow a 0.7-kilogram rock 80 meters. Isthis a Guild record?

We Were There!

We had a very successful Bank holidayweekend at the Crick Boat Show, whichis one of the biggest inland waterwayshows in Britain. Although not many ofthe Surrey branch travelled north we werevery ably assisted by Ken Nelson, ColinGrundy, Bemard Cutbush and Bill Meakinour thanks to them. Apart from meetingmany old friends we entertained the publicwith a display of knot work andoccasionally made of a piece of rope. Wewere part of the children's passportscheme that involved the kids going to atleast five different stalls this gave us theopportunity to teach at least one knot andgive away many copies of the Surrey SixKnotting card to them and their parents.

Howard Denyer

PostbagThe views expressed in reader's letters do notnecessarily reflect those of the Council. The Editorreserves the right to shorten any letter as necessary.

Grocer's KnotIn repl~ tu Pctcr Coulthur~t. KM 70 p47~

I ha\ e "l.~l.~n ~thullt .35 years ago. thisoperatIon In ~t hard\\ are store in Rome.No\\ I dl) It l)nl~ \\Ith natural fibres (nosynthetIc" I I \\ rap the twine around myleft hand \\ Ith t\\ U turns. after I make abight \\ here I pa~'1 the working end assho\\ 'I 111 the dra\\"lng. I hold it all firm'xith the thul11h. then I wrap the right hand\vith 2-.3 tU1l1'1 al1d hold the twine firm withthe thulnh. The ~pace between the handsis about f,OCI11 . I bnng the hands togetherand gl \ e a Jerk and the twine break at thepoint .r\.. If you are not sure wear glovesor n1ake the \\ rap around a wooden board.a plank. a chair back. etc. It is possiblecut t\A"lne uf 1-2 n1nl diameter.

Gino Pietrollini

Mentana, Italy

Origin of a KnotAccording to the information on the coverof the Ashley Book of Knots - CliffordAshley spent 40 years gatheringinformation of knots and their uses - anda further II years to put it into book form.

The book was first published inAmerica in 1944~ but who can say whenhe actually drew the Chinese button knotin question? I don't think we will everknow!

One thing I do know~ I was in theStates at the time (1944) loading timberin Philadelphia, but I didn ~t know aboutthe book until 1948, when it wasadvertised in the UK daily press.

I saw it in Southampton on the firstday it was on sale. The price was half aweeks pay for an AB~ so I delayed mypurchase until December 1949 and it wasmy Christmas present to me.

It was a very good buy - I've still gotit - and have had many years of enjoymentand entertainment from it.

Bob Stroud

Dover, UK

- ----

Left Hand

44

Right Hand

Further on 'Origin of a Knot'1 am replying to Mr. Sten Johan~~on'",

question in his article "The OrigIn of aknot" published in Knotting Matter", I~",ue

70. He asks if anyone has any ide~h ahoutthe Chinese Button knot tied on the finger'"and thumb.

I recently spent several year", In HongKong where 1"'discovered" the anL'Ient artof Chinese Decorative Knottln~. andbecame thoroughly addicted tt) 1t a" \\ ell'I learnt how to tie seyeraI different t: pe"of Button knots on the finger". InL'llldin~

the example illustrated In \ Ir. Johan ""~ )11""

article. using an alnHht IdentIcal IllethodI am 100c;( sure that nlY Chinese teacherhad never seen the Ashley Book ofKnots.nor the Finnish Book of HouseholdKnowledge! This is a Chinese traditionalmethod handed down by Chinese womenfrom generation to generation. and notrecorded on paper until sometime in the20th century.

1 would imagine that Ms Ropponenand Mr Ashley had both at sometimeindependently seen those drawings in abook or paper on Chinese knotting.

Incidentally I \\'iII soon be publishinga book on Chinese knotting with SearchPress. It will probably include the "finger"method of tying the button knots. as wellas lots of other Chinese knots. with veryclear step- by-step drawings andinstructions. and projects for using eachknot.

Suzen Millodot.Tel Aviv, Israel

45

Drawing KnotsThere are many different ways of drawingknots and directions for tying knots. I usefreehand drawings and computer "tarted'drawings in my handouts that I leave withgroups after doing teaching.

However 1 now want to send articlesto KM and 1am not happy with the qualityfor publication. Please. would anyone whohas either a good draw package fornl ani puIat in g scannedin fre eh anddra\\'ings or for drawing "on the mouse'a", It \\'ere. contact me with the name andre\ Ie\\ of your favourite package.

\1: ...,nail mail is in the book. but mye-Illai I IS \\'izardscrafts@lboggs.fsnet.co.uk.

Waiting in knots.

Lonnie BoggsKidlington, UK

An AppreciationA belated appreciation of the distinctionbestowed on me at the start of the year.

I should like to thank (shades of theOscars!) The Principle Officers. theCommittee and Members. particularlythose Members in the UK. USA and ofcourse New Zealand. who conspired (Ithink that' s the word!) to bring thi s signalcourtesy to fruition. Thank you one andall most sincerely.

I am. of course most conscious of thedouble honour afforded me. by my. beingvery first recipient of the PresidentsCertificate of Honour which. with its 0 l­01-01 date. sits in a prominent place onour living room wall.

Also I should like to thank President

Field for getting up so early (0530 UKtime I think) to talk to me by satellitetelephone at the ceremony most ablyorganised by our NZ President TonyFisher. Brian may like to know that Tonyhad organised a link of the phone (by sometechno-magic) to a loud speaker system,and Brian's sepulchral tones echoedthroughout the lower hold of our (80 tonlift) floating' crane headquarters! Thesmall. but select group of guests were mostimpressed.

Once again thank you one and all.

Sincerely.Roger Carter

Plimmerton, New Zealand

Get KnottingIf you see me walking down the street witha piece of string in my hand and a strangelook on my face, do not dismiss me as anutter. I'm not~ I'm a knotter, nutting outa knot not ever before been knotted. Pleasedo not tell me to get knotted. I had thatsmall operation years ago.

David BloggTaradale, New Zealand

The Bowline DebateThe Name~

As Owen K. Nuttall rightly quotes, thebowline was the line leading from thebridles on the leading edge of a square sailto the bows of the vessel.

The object being to hold the sail firmwhen sailing on a wind. and to helpprevent the sail fluttering and spilling the

46

wind. also to help prevent the sail beingtaken .... aback·' with the possibleconsequence of dismasting. Because the""Knot" which for identification purposesI will call # 1916. because it's an easynumber to remember. (and because Ashleyuses it in conjunction with the bridles) wasmost used for the job.

Over the decades. the name was. as isoften the case, transferred from the lineto the knot. The English language at thattinle was not set in the concrete ofdictionaries. Those few people. who couldwrite (other than Clerics.) tended to spellwords phonetically. So the BOLINS ANDBOLINGS were. in fact the phoneticspellings of regional dialect. and accentedpronunciations, which did in fact becomeset in the concrete of common usage. tothe extent that today how one pronouncesthe word at sea? separates the Sailors fromthe Lubbers

The Knot~

Owen K. Nuttalrs "True Bowline'.p29 KM67, is in fact an abomination firsti]] ustrated by that father of mostarguments on knot names, the infamousTom Bowling. This is the nom de plumeof an as yet unidentified author/illustratorwho published the first book in the Englishlanguage devoted entirely to knotting.Unfortunately for enthusiasts of oursubject. his dedication of the book to HRH Prince Alfred. a son of Queen Victoriaand a Captain R N and it's acceptance.gave the book a respectability that it richlydoes not deserve. He shows a Reef Knotthree different times under three differentnames for pities sake and the book hasonly 21 pages and three plates ofillustrations.

Tom Bowling~ incidentally was acharacter in a sea song written by thefamous English composer/writer CharlesDibden (1745-1814) who amongst otheraccomplishments is said to have helpedNaval recruiting considerably dunng theNapoleonic Wars with his patriotic ~ong~

to the extent that "Tom Bowling' hccaI11ethe name for the 'ideal sailor'.

So with the Royal bles~lng, anJ theArchetypal Naval nan1e, he couldn't gowrong. Therefore anyone ebe \\ ho fancieJhimself as a knotter coulJn't go \\ rongeither by cop~ Ing good old 'ToI11' \\ hopublished in 1876. The first was Ton1Burgess (as Owen quoted) who publishedin 1884. His book was then revised asrecently as 1946 by Capt. J Irving whoperpetuated the sin,

It takes but a moment's reflection torealise that Bowling's 'True Bowline' willtake all the weight of any given job, onthe seizing! Further, imagine if you willthat you are out on the yardarm of thetopsail in a gale, securing the bowline tothe bridles, Are you going to mess aboutseizing the working end of the line througha figure of eight to the standing part~ orwill you quickly throw a # 1916 into theline? That knot didn't get its name fornothing.

Further circumstantial evidence that#1916 is the TRUE BOWLINE can besought by viewing illustrations of #1916in the following books: Steele 1794, DarcyLever 1819, Biddlecombe 1848, R, HenryDana, 1879, All except Dana, prior toBowling, and Burgess, and all illustratingthe Ashley # 1916,

I feel that there is little, if any question

47

that the True Bowline is in fact Ashley's# 1916, i.e. "Out of the hole~ round the treeand back down the hole. Dammit, it's atradition!

Roger CarterPlimmerton, New Zealand

Wicking?Tricia Brown here in the USA and a friendof lTK. I have a wonderful newfoundcousin over there named Roy Fozard.

I an1 looking for patterns orinforn1ation on tying decorative knotsusing wicking. It is like crochet.

Can you direct me to someone whocan share this craft with me?

Tricia BrownVia e-mail

A'Mouse'Is it possible I could look to you for ananswer to a problem that has been buggingme for months.

Having seen references to a "mouse'in past copies of Knotting Matters~ Icannot for the life of me begin to imaginewhat a 'mouse' is.

Could you please enlighten me?

Des WilsonLeeds, UK

Des -A mouse is a raised knob (Ashley#2768) or a raised knot. See the articleon page 14 of this issue by James L.Doyle - Ed.

Non-members£49£22£15

KnottingDiaryAGM's & 1/2 YEARLY MEETINGSIGKT Half-yearly MeetingEllesmere Port, Cheshire13th October 2001Contact: David WalkerTel: 01244 682117E-mail: getknotted@appleonline.net

IGKT 20th AM & Birthday CelebrationsFareham, Hampshire20th - 25th May 2002Contact Ken YaldenTel: 023 9257 8603E-mail: kennethyalden@lineone.net

IGKT Half-yearly MeetingHanover International Hotel, Bromsgrove,Worcestershire11 th-13th October 2002Contact: Bruce TurleyTel: 0121 4534124E-mail: 106077.1156@compuserve.com

BRANCH MEETINGSWest Yorkshire Branch18th SeptemberBeulah Hotel, Tong Road, Farnley, LeedsContact David PearsonTel: 0113 2572689East Anglian Branch22nd SeptemberMuseum of East Anglian Life, Stowmarket,SuffolkContact John HalifaxTel: 01502 519123West Country Knotters29th September, 24th NovemberScout HQ, Almondsbury, Gloucestershire at 1400Contact: Derwent (Tug) ShippTel: 01275 847438

48

EVENTSVon Hundepints, SchweinsrOcken undNeunschwanziger Katz, Seemannsarbeitenaus Tauwerk.(Pointing, Cockscombing and Cat 0' Ninetails and sailor's Ropework) by Karl BarethurOctober - DecemberKoloniaalmuseum Veendam, Netherlands'Spliterati 01'West Ox Art Gallery, Town Hall, Bampton,Oxfordshire28th September - 21 st October 2001Contact: Jennie Parry, 21 St Philip's Road,Leicester. LE5 5TR

SECRETARY:Nigel Harding16 Egles Grove,Uckfield,Sussex, TH22 2BYTel: 01825 760425E-mail: nigel@nigelharding.demon.co.ukGuild Annual Subscription rates:Juniors £5Seniors £16Families £20Corporate by arrangementPayable by castVcheQue Eurocard, Mastercardor Visa. Taxpayers in UK - we would prefer acovenanted subscription.

EDITOR:Colin Grundy4Hanwood Close,Eastern Green,Coventry CV5 7DZTel: 024 7646 8603E-mail: colingrundy@lineone.net

Advertising Rates:Members

Full page £32Half page £19Quarter Page £10

Guild SuppliesPrice List 2001

Supplies Secretary:- Bruce Turley19 Windmill Avenue, Rubery, Birmingham B45 9SP

email 106077.1156@compuserv.comTelephone: 0121 453 4124

Cheques payable to IGKT, or simply send your credit card detailsPS Dont forget to allow for Postage

Item PriceGeoffrey BudworthKnotlore a miscellany of quotes from fact and fiction £2.50Much Ado About Knotting history of the 1st 10 years of the Guild £2.50 *The Knot Book £3.99

Brian FieldBreastplate Designs £2.50Concerning Crosses £1.50

Eric FranklinTurkesheads the Traditional Way £1.50 *Nylon Novelties £2.00 *

Stuart GraingerKnotcraft £3.60 *Ropefolk £1.30Turks Head Alternatives £2.20 *Creative Ropecraft Hardback £9.95Knotted Fabrics Hardback price includes UK postage £9.00

John HalifaxSomething Different with over 50 Button Knots £3.20 *

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

IGKTKnotting 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 details

Printed by Gipping Press, Needham arket. Tel: (0449) 721599. Fax: (0449) 721372