Alternative to Tarred Sein Twine for Turk's Head

General Discussion
1

Like many volunteer tall ship crew members, my son and I wear turk’s head bracelets. But we remain a little uneasy about the usual material - lengths of a ship’s tarred sein twine - since it’s petroleum tar, which isn’t supposed to be great for your health. The traditional material, cotton, isn’t a great choice, because it shrinks and even if pre-shrunk, gets really grungy fast. I’d tried pine-tarrred hemp on previous bracelets, but it shrinks and shrinks when it gets wet. I met a guy once who had one made of pre-shrunk linen cord, and am considering that, but would like to get suggestions: material, gauge, and whether it’s available by mail order.
Thanks

2

Hello Chris and welcome.

I would offer that waxed cord could be something to consider. It is used in the craft jewelry hobby and so would be safer to the skin than what you’ve been trying/tying.
It can be found at most hobby, craft stores and prolifically online. (Amazon has at least 20 pages listing various sizes, etc.)

Hope this helps.

SS

3

Thank you. Do you know if there’s more than one gauge, and if so, which do you recommend?

4

I’ll leave SS to answer that but you might like to try leather. Available on reels in many types and sizes incl twisted leather which is like cord. Tandy leather have a good range, I buy petmalok needles from the UK branch (they are US based).

Barry

5

I can recommend Heading Twine. It is the twine that lobster fishermen use to make the netting for their traps. It comes in many colors.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y18/asemery/6429bbfa-4b39-4cdc-9539-713892d8138f_zps4b013e61.jpg

You can purchase it at Commercial Fishermen’s Suppliers or on-line at
http://store.hamiltonmarine.com/browse.cfm/twine-needles/2,1102.html and many others

6

A quick browse and I see 1-5mm available. http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Awaxed%20cord
Size would be determined by what you like as the finished project.

SS

7

If you pull the core out of some paracord, you will get a nice soft material to work with. It’s nylon, so it will wear well, dry fast, and there are a lot of color choices.

Pat

8

Thanks to everybody. I think I might go with the waxed cord, provided I can find out what the wax is. I was also thinking I might just impregnate some cord in beeswax. Thanks again.

Chris.