Sailmaker's whipping

Sailmaker's whipping
Category Whipping
Related West Country whipping
Typical use Whipping
ABoK #3446

The sailmaker's whipping is one of the most durable and stable of rope whippings known. According to The Ashley Book of Knots, "Palm-and-needle whipping, or sailmaker's whipping, is the most satisfactory of all."[1]

Technique

Palm and Needle Whipping

Using a needle, the twine (generally a waxed cord) is pushed through a strand of the rope at least two times to secure the end, then wrapped multiple times around the rope, to a width generally of the rope. Then the needle is pushed diagonally through each strand, then run once up the furrow between strands. This can be doubled by going around more than once, then finished with a final diagonal after which the excess twine is cut. Ashley also includes a technique to be used if the rope strands are too thick for one thrust of a needle to go through diagonally. The needle work makes it less able to slide.

Sailmaker's whipping

What Ashley describes as a superficially similar technique, visually, to #3446 is included in The Ashley Book of Knots as #3448. It has the advantage that it doesn't need a needle, strictly speaking. Multiple sources give this separate technique the term sailmaker's whipping. [2] [3]

The twine is first threaded diagonally through the rope strands, leaving an excess loop in the middle of the twine. The twine is wrapped around the rope and then the loop is fit over one of the strand ends, the rope having been opened, such that the loop fits into the groove between strands. The remainder of the twine is pushed through the open part of the rope and fit into the last groove, or in the case of a 4 strand rope, two loops can be used. Finally a reef (square) or a string of reef (square) knots is tied between the two twine ends. Then this string of reef (square) knots is pulled or worked through the rope to bury the ends under the wraps.

Alternatives

The West Country whipping is a quick practical method of using twine to secure the end of a rope to prevent it fraying. Half hitches are tied alternately behind and in front of the rope until the width of the band of twine approaches the diameter of the rope. It has several advantages: it can be tied without a needle; it is simple to understand and remember; if the whipping fails, the loose ends can usually be re-tied to temporarily prevent the rope's end from fraying.

Fusing The end of many synthetic ropes can be melted using heat, e.g., a flame. While this is simple and quick, it tends to fail in ropes subject to heavy use. Also, the rope and knotting expert Geoffrey Budworth warns against this practice thus:[4]

Sealing rope ends this way is lazy and dangerous. A tugboat operator once sliced the palm of his hand open down to the sinews after the hardened (and obviously sharp) end of a rope that had been heat-sealed pulled through his grasp. There is no substitute for a properly made whipping.

So, ideally, a rope's end should only be whipped.

References

  1. ↑ Ashley, Clifford W. (1944). The Ashley Book of Knots, p.547. Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-04025-3.
  2. ↑ Budworth, Geoffrey (1999). Ultimate Encyclopedia of Knots and Ropework: Knots and Ropes for All Pursuits from Sailing and Fishing. London: Anness Publishing Limited. p. 44. ISBN 9781859679111.
  3. ↑ "Sailmaker's Whipping | How to make a Sailmaker's Whipping | Knots". Animated Knots. Grog LLC. 2007. Retrieved 2017-11-30.
  4. ↑ Budworth, Geoffrey (1985). The Knot Book. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. p. 37. ISBN 0-8069-7944-5.
  • Grog. "Sailmaker's Whipping". Animated Knots. Retrieved May 5, 2013.
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