I have a question about how you might seize the ends of knotting ropes if exceptionally short of time.
Now, if I was making this rope for myself, I would probably put a nice tidy sailmakers whipping in the end, but in this instance I am working with a group of Cub scouts, and this is where it becomes complicated.
The problem comes when we are making ropes with a large group of cubs. We sometimes have had a team of people whipping the ropes as fast as they come off the rope machine, but it is not often practical to spare the people to do that, and if the process takes too long
So, what clever ways do people have of fixing the end of a short knotting rope such that it can be used straight away for simple projects?
The options I have so far are as follows :
Tape the ends: this is quick and simple, and guaranteed to fall off almost immediately.
Simple whippings: Perfect if you have the capable people sitting around doing nothing who can help out. With scouts, this is what they learn to do themselves, but to do this with cubs is not possible.
Electrical heat shrink: This is my latest discovery. The heat shrink I use has glue inside, so it tends not to slide off once shrunk on. That said, it is still a relatively slow process to apply, although it does not require the same amount of practice to apply as a whipping does, but it does require a heat source to shrink the tubing as an extra bonus for the risk assessment.
Thanks, Iâve never heard of it before, and it sounds like it would be ideal.
I donât think it will work though. On what I think is their website it says
FAST & EFFECTIVE - Quick-drying formula ensures your ropes are ready for use overnight, minimizing downtime
a polyester yarn constrictor knot?,
then trim ends, melt down with flame, and flatten them.
theyâll snag on things,
but as with any set-up or product,
of
Itâs what I would do without thinking on a rope that was about to lose its whipping.
I wonder howlong it could be made to last.
I guess I am tending to wanting quality and speed in this instance, because itâs for use at special events, whereas normally I would go for the affordable, quality option of a nice neat whipping.
Since time and quality are the prime considerations, the heat shrink tubing ( an adult controlling the heat source! ) is a choice. But I personally would go with knotting. Constrictor, Strangle, common whipping, all easy to do and easy to add multiple wraps to. Assuming you are using natural fiber rope.
Great question @S.Cropp, and I can see some great suggestions already, and I second the suggestion of the Constrictor Knot for any rapid whipping job.
Boa knot
Another knot option with a bit more âwidthâ to it is the Boa Knot, essentially a doubled Constrictor, tied in the hand as two overhand loops twisted into a figure 8 and folded in half, then passed over the end of the rope you want to whip, and then tightened/worked a little till neat. (Sorry - text tying instructions doesnât really cut it, I will have a look for a good diagram of how to tie this, or Iâll make some photos)
Images from Wikipedia (for easy and permanent access from the forum in case of link rot)
A very quick (and very dirty) solution is to control the ends of the rope with any knot - eg. a Constrictor, Strangle or Clove, then feed in a little bit of low viscosity CA glue (=superglue, cyanoacrylate) which soaks into the fibres and usually goes off within seconds. The low viscosity or âthinâ CA glue works best for this as it has a viscosity similar to that of water, and soaks in readily. Regular CA glue is more viscous and doesnât soak quite as well, although it will work. If itâs taking too long to go off then CA Activator can be sprayed on for an instant set.
Once the CA glue has gone off, the surface can be a bit hard and rough and might need trimming or otherwise fairing. The knot used to control the end is likely to be glued into the end permanently, unless you used something very smooth like Spectra monofilament or PTFE!
for a really dirty way of making a âwhippingâ on a petroleum base rope i used to do this is to burn the end off until it turn in black goop the thing will harden after cooling down but donât breathe the fumes it generate not to good for health.
Like @pacharanero as said CA glue seem to be the best way if you donât have the time to tie knots/whipping properly.
CA glue will also work on both natural and petroleum base rope.
Yes, I think there is an art to melting the ends of ropes just the right ammount such that they donât cut up your hands when you go to use them. This is something I am woefully bad at when I am using paracord and the like.
In this case I am using mainly jute twine, so some of the other suggestions are going to be best to explore. I might try the CA glue with an activator and see if that can give me the rapid results I need without attaching the new ropes to childrens hands.
I am going to have to have a bit more of a play with the constrictor knot. It has always been my go to in an emergency to stop a rope unravelling when a badly tied whipping came loose, but I never considered it as a longer term option.
I am also going ot have to look up the boa knot.
Iâve updated my post above with more info on the Boa knot. Wikipedia had a good series of photos on how to tie them in the hand, itâs super simple when you get the hang of it, can become almost a reflex.
whipping takes only a bit more time than constrictor?, but for a lot lot more quality,
a better, safer finish;
and rope care is part of it all âŚ
(i have just been looking at grampsâ roll of 5mm cotton cord, dusty and minor stains, which couldâve been avoided with investing 20 seconds just putting it in a bag )
i might have found a alternative i should have thought about it because i use it a lot to hold stuff together when i do complicated rope work.
The knot i am talking about is the gunner knot aka the â constrictor â knot.
Ashley in is book basically say that he invented the âconstrictorâ knot but Tom Bowling in is work of 1866 The Book of Knots as the gunner knot which is the same as the basic â constrictor â knot and Tom Bowling as borrow it from the french book : TraiteĚ de lâart de la charpenterie by EĚmy, Amand Rose 1841 i donât remember the exact page anyway that for a other story.
back to the subject so i use the modified version of the gunner knot that Ashley as done in is book quote :
â 1252. An extra turn may be taken in the Constrictor to provide a permanent whipping.â
So i manly use #1252 as a quick permanent whipping but you have also the number just below #1253 which can be use also as a permanent whipping i found it a bit harder to tie than #1252 but not by much at least for me.
quote again form Ashley book :
â 1253. Another knot that will serve well as whipping. To tie follow the right-hand diagram. â
i highly recommend that you get a copy of Ashley if you can.
I totally agree, I would always want to end up with a proper whipping of some form on any rope that I was using, but with these cub sessions I get such a short amount of time to get through making ropes with a chord of children that I do not have the two minutes it would probably take me to finish the ends properly, and I have to also take into account the fact that a young leader press ganged into operating a second or third rope maker is not going to be able to work as fast to finish the ends, and a rushed whipping often fails.
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