Home furnishings giant collection of Atelier BLINK
http://www.atelierblink.com/en/prodDesign.php?idSubsection=45
Do you think they made it from the ball of string below?
http://www.ridingtherhino.co.uk/Portals/0/Knots/Reg%20Jones.jpg
That looks like the fid next to the rigger that they used to splice the eyes. I have seen a similar fid like that at the Northwest Seaport, in Seattle. They had no idea what that thing was. I called it a deck fid. Is there another name for that tool?
Pat
I have been told that it is a “sailmakers” fid. They would use it to “size” grommets sewn into a sail. Used much in the manner of a jewelers “ring sizer”. Perhaps the use in the picture above was to “size” the eyes &/or stretch to allow insertion of the thimbles??? (As Pat suggested.)
Thanks Jimmy,
That matches up with Lindsey’s comments in post# 11 about the pic Bud posted of a giant fid with a flat end in post# 9.
Dan Alaska posted some more big fids here:
http://pineapple.myfunforum.org/about1068.html
It just goes to show what a novice I am!!! When I posted the picture, I thought the rope was something to do with a munitions factory and there was a shell in the foreground as an ornament or something.
Knot chairs made by design students:
I’m seeing a new use for JD’s rock sling video… on a much bigger scale…
The big fid (and that’s a medium-sized one, trust me!) is a “Commander”. There’s a really big one up at Mystic Seaport in the sailmaker’s loft building on the first floor, just behind the entry door. Most folks have no idea what it is.
Sailmaker’s fids are about 12 to 14" long and taper from appx. 1.25" to a needle-ish tip. They are primarily used for rounding out rope grommets prior to sewing them into the clews of a sail or wherever. Most times a real sailmaker could reproduce the same size grommet over and over and the fid was just an insurance of sizing. (See Louie Bartos’ book for a great method of making grommets!) http://marinersails.alaskamade.com/book/index.html
Funny story (to me, anyway): I lucked into a half-dozen never-used sailmaker’s fids made for the USN in '41, all boxwood and never touched. They were made by Victor Industries on Stenton Ave in Philadelphia… about a mile from where I live. I got 'em in Indiana in 2006.
Go figure.
It’s funny how words change as they cross the Atlantic, the British word for commander is a large wooden mallet, a fid is a fid,it may be a standing fid or a setting fid, but it is still a fid. Look at ‘Sailors Word Book’ by Admiral W.H. Smyth.
Ken
I notice that the rope is coiled up so that both ends meet, is this so that when the rope unravelled it prevents knotting and twisting?
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_6944408b0100k6s6.html
Click through for a 3 story tall pan chang knot
Adding the picture as a test of attaching pictures to posts, also the direct link Johnny posted didn’t render for me… (still just really, really slow?) Picture size 86kb on disk.
I have put it here as the page above can be rather slow to load
http://static1.photo.sina.com.cn/middle/6944408bt8bf8b8c19930&690