Rope Fender

Hello there... I'm back. I took some time off to do a little "production" work (tie things already published here, but for family and friends), and also to pursue another hobby. As the temperature had dropped here in Maine I've been getting the urge to get back into new knotting projects. In this case, it's more like finish a knotting project as this has been sitting in my drawer since the summer.

This is a rope fender, or more aptly a waste rope fender that I made from some dog leash left overs.It was fairly common practice "back in the day" to utilize old rope to make boat fenders. In this case I am using 1/2" poly-prop lobster pot warp line. The fender is probably only big enough to be effective on a dinghy, but it is is certainly something that could scale up. I also think in this day and age I'd stay away from mooring a fancy expensive yacht with a rope fender as I would be concerned about scratching the paint. The fenders sure can look nice though.

The project was adapted from the book The Marlinspike Sailor by Hervey Garrett Smith. It has a rope core crown wrapped in the 6 strands that come from a looped piece of 3 strand rope. At the bottom the strands are walled back up into the fender. I also whipped the loop with a 4 lead by 3 bight turks head. Could probably be a little neater, but the poly pro is a bear to work with and keep tight. A simple and fun little project. Thanks. 

Loop Lanyard using 3 Pin Spool Knotting/Knitting

This is a loop lanyard I made using a single strand sinnet tied using a technique that I understand is sometimes used in knitting.  Traditionally this kind of sinnet has been done tied with a wooden spool and nails.  There are plastic kits that can be purchased, and there are any number of home-grown spools that folks have used make this sinnet.  To tie the sinnet I made a "spool" from a short piece of 3/4" PVC pipe, electrical tape, finish nails and a zip tie to hold the pins secure at the top of the piece of pipe.  For me this spool was very inexpensive and efficient (particularly considering all of this stuff was in my garage).  I also made two more spools, one with 2 pins and one with 4 pins so I can tie different kinds of sinnets.  After tying the sinnet, I secured it to the snap with cow hitches and ran the ends back up into the sinnet and melted them in place.  To cover the melted ends and dress the knot I used a 4 lead by 3 bight turks head around each end.  You can find Stormdrane's video of 3 pin spool knotting/knitting here.  I also attached an excerpt from the Ashley Book of Knots which shows this technique along with some other sinnets that can be tied with spools.