I have just completed my first rope hammock, following the instructions in Stuart Grainger’s “Creative Ropecraft”.
I made it with materials other (silly) people have thrown away (seriously, who throws away rope that is not broken?). Anyway, the end result, though it fills me with some bride as I did it all by myself, does not look like a show-piece. But hey, its my first one and it is good enough for camping or in the garden. Basically it is a rope frame with some kind of netting in the middle (I used the double overhand netting) and two wooden stretchers.
This type of Hammock is a very simply design and therefore well worth learning and doing, but my final goal is to be able to produce a nice, traditional rope Hammock. I am missing some elements though.
Please have a look at the attached photos and let me know what knots/weaves are used here and where I can find instructions for them.
Can anybody help?
ABOK has hammock info on P580.
I have a book of full instructions for the woven [not knotted] hammock. I’ll dig it out and scan it to you later if you like. D
Four(4) pages ready. Pse e-mail me if you want copies of my copies. They are copies of copies, passed to me by a friend back in our old Navy days. They are from a book “Great Craft Projects of the Year” and I have no idea on copyright. PTYFNA. D
Lot of info here on Dan Alaska’s site, type in “hammock” and hit enter: http://pineapple.myfunforum.org/search.php?mode=results
The bottom link in the list has a nice instructional diagram from Nautile at KHWW for a clew.
The clew (so that is what they call the triangular bit at the top) is shown below and I think I figured out how to weave the bed by just looking at it closely (and paying attention to the “how its made - Hammocks” - Video on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKqd3sEvmoc). Basically it is going up through the loops in one direction, down through the loops in the other direction so that they interlink.
The side rope is tied into what JD calls the Caterpillar Sennit (I am sure there is another term for it) [Edit: its the Drummer Boy’s Plait, isn’t it]
found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QImm5vkf8To
and once the bed is woven it can be attached to the rope ends that come out of the stretcher bar using bowlines e.g.
I think I have all the elements together now
Thanks for all the help so far.
But keep posting, if you have more ideas (also for other types of Hammocks) so this thread can turn into a knowledge base for “How to tie a Hammock”.
The second picture I attached is not the hammock I made. That is what I want to be able to produce one day and the pictures show the knots and weaves that I was looking for.
Mine looks no where near it and I didn’t even get round testing it yet.
But thanks for the compliments, its the thought that counts.
And this page has a some more good information on materials and techniques: http://www.stairropes.com/hammock.html
They make the clew in such a way that not ends but loops come out of it, which are threaded through the
stay. These loops then form the first row of the net. Great idea!
Further question:
If you decide to go for a traditional net for your hammock as they do at Stonk Knots, do we have experienced netters here
who can give tips on how to keep the the diamonds of the net neat and even?
On the page above they mention that they use the netting needle for that purpose. Does anyone know how that works exactly?
The netting needle is the basic tool used to hold the twine being used. A gauge is also used to keep the meshes you tie uniform in size. In Stonk Knots case they use the width of a needle as a gauge. Check out the “Nets and Net Making” forum. http://pineapple.myfunforum.org/index.php?c=7
Here you will find sections for hammocks, tools of the trade, basic instructions, etc. Tony
I had a good look around at the netting section of the pineapple forum and found loads of good tips and tricks of the trade.
As far as I understood, the gauge determines half the diameter of each diamond of the net or in other words, each diamond will be twice
the size of the gauge, is that correct?
(see diagram below)
That probably means that you should resize your image before uploading it to a forum. I realize you may not know how to do this so if you will let me know what operating system you are using I will give you instructions on how to do this.
As for the hammock instructions you have, I would appreciate it if you could send them to my email address.
Okay… I’ve got four(4) pages of instructions scanned but I can’t post it. [I am knot knowledgeable enough about computers to be able to shift things around or change their format]. Does anyone want them? To use? To post? For the KYBO? or should I delete the scans and make room for something else? PTYFNA. D
I would love any pages of hammock making instrructions. They would also be a fine addition to the hammock section of the nets and net making forum. Tony http://pineapple.myfunforum.org/forum96.php
Thanks for scanning in the info and posting it here, much appreciated.
Together with the instructions posted earlier, we now have all the details we need to
make our own hammock.
I meanwhile tested my first hammock and I am pleased that it does the job.
It is perhaps a bit narrow (just enough for one (skinny) person), but the material was of limited supply.
If I get round, I will post a picture of this “Stuart Grainger Model” made of scraps.
One advantage of this type of hammock is that the stretcher bars are detachable.
You can then fold/roll the hammock and the whole thing then fits neatly into a backpack.
Good for outdoor activities.
The big hammock project will have to wait till summer, as I currently don’t have the space and tools
but that gives me plenty of time to practice netting, clew knots etc. and get the materials I need.
Lets see some pictures of home made hammocks. If anybody has done one, I would be delighted to see them here.
