Can anyone suggest an attractive (but simple! or at least with easy to follow instructions!) knot for a small leather thong tied through a handle. I’ve never tied thongy knots before, but a bundle of ~3mm leather (red and black) has come my way at the same time as a beautiful C19th fid/marlinspike with a hole through its handle. The two must be brought together, it seems to me, but the only knots I know for flat stuff are climbing ones that aren’t pretty enough.
By the by, I was just pondering the difference between fid and marlinspike when the Christmas KM arrived - very intriguing article by Des Pawson on the very subject within. I had always assumed that fid was wood, and spike metal (and that does seem to be the more recent usage) but Des shows clearly that this has not always been the case. One doesn’t want to put too much weight on pre-modern spellings (nor on the consistency of seamen), but ‘marling’ does seem to predate ‘marline’ - suggestive of a verbal, as opposed to adjectival, origin, but without further probing, I’m going to stick with a neutral ‘marlin’ before my spike!
a 4 or 6 strand round braid looks nice. depends on the hole size in the spike. either a terminal knot like a diamond type, foot rope, man rope or just braid the 4 into itself as an 8 strand an terminate.. some practice is in order.. right, nowadays fid is wood an marlin spike is metal. but the terms are still interchanged. i prefer fid is wood etc.
Ah! Would that I could squeeze a braid through the wee hole! I can only just get a single thong through, unfortunately. I’m really looking for something to tie it up at the end that’s more interesting than a Water knot- and have, for now, managed a Lanyard knot, but it’s a devil of a job keeping it all shiny side out. (Can I really tie Manrope knots, et al, in flat thong? Now I think of it, there’s no reason why not! I had assumed that flat stuff must have its own set of rules)
Thanks for the suggestion, but I’ve only got the two ends to play with! Any other thoughts?
2 strand mathew walker. keep it loose to start an work it up slow. same prob keep the hair side up. better, lash the two ends, making a small bulge(called a mouse) an put a small th over it or a pineapple. keep in mind, a single strand of lace wont be too strong
How about a 2 strand diamond knot (AKA sailors knife lanyard knot, MARLINGSPIKE LANYARD knot, etc. )? That is right out of Ashley’s book (#787)and pretty easy to tie. (Still gotta keep the sides oriented correctly, though, in flat stuff.)
I have plenty of thong, so I’ll try 'em all! Thank you. I’m not too worried about strength, because it’s not going to see a lot of active service - prettiness is all that’s required!