How to make circular rope?

[tkay11]

I am at the stage of putting blocks on the bowsprit of my Sherbourne cutter (1763) to hold the various bowlines and yard braces. Going by Petersson's book on rigging fore and aft craft, as well as by the AOTS book on the cutter Alert, the strops require a rope to go round the block and the bowsprit and the middle section of the rope is spliced together and tied between the bowsprit and the block.

 

The following diagram from Petersson's book shows what I mean:
 

 

I've had a quick search through the forums and can't find a reference to how to make rope for such a purpose. I can't recall any discussion about it either.

 

So my question is how to make the circular rope? I have thought of butting the ends of a rope together and stitching or gluing, but that seems very likely to produce visible joins.

 

I'd be grateful for any suggestions as to how to go about this.

 

Thanks

 

Tony

Edited April 1, 2015 by tkay11

[tkay11]

Ha! Having posted the question, I came across a couple of suggestions in Longridge's book on the Anatomy of Nelson's Ships. On page 217 he suggests two methods.

 

The first is to wind fine thread three or four times round a dowel and then use a needle slipped between the dowel and the thread to serve the thread. The second is to make hoops of fine copper wire, silver-soldered, and serve the thread round the hoops.

 

All the same, should any one come up with other suggestions, I'd be very interested.

 

Tony

[Dziadeczek]

Try to make a rope grommet (your scale permitting), like this one:

 

Also see this link:

http://scouting1659.org/minnow/doc/minto/HOW%20TO-%20Make%20a%20Rope%20Grommet.pdf

Edited April 1, 2015 by Dziadeczek

[popeye2sea]

What you are describing is a strop, and you find them on all blocks.  They are essentially a long loop of rope, (or grommet).  One way to make them is to lay up a grommet as shown above, or another way would be to take a few round turns with some thread around two pins.  The distance between the pins will determine the length of the strop.  Next serve the thread turns together so that you have what looks like a single rope with an eye at each end over the pins. You now have a basic strop.  What you do with it next depends on where it is being used.  If you are stropping a block with an eye to go around a thimble or a yard arm, then all you need to do is take the two eyes of the strop and lash them together.  You now have a continuous loop.  You can make the whole strop more uniform in appearance if you wish by serving over the two eyes at this point.  Put your block, or block and thimble into the loop, position the eyes at the point where the seizing between the block and thimble will go, and clap on your round seizing.  You now have a perfectly served strop on your block and thimble.

 

A variation would be to seize the strop together at the top of the block leaving two tails with the eyes at the ends.  You can then take the ends around a yard and lash the eyes together on the other side.  If you go this route, I would finish the eyes by serving them first.

 

Regards,

Edited April 1, 2015 by popeye2sea

[druxey]

In real rigging there is a splice to make the loop of rope. This loop is called a strop. Its splice sits over the end of the block.  

 

For modelmaking, these strops are not too easy to make in small scales. Some modellers substitute soldered wire loops and paint them. If the loop is not too small, one could slightly unravel the ends of the line and glue them together.  Another method might be to knot the line, then hide this under the lashing beneath the block.

 

In a real splice, this area is slightly thicker than the line itself, so a slight bulge would actually look realistic.

[tkay11]

Thanks a lot, Dziadeczek, Henry and Druxey. All great comments and ideas. I'll start practising today.

 

Tony

[peveka]

Hiya

 

hope this helps

 

 

cheers

 

Pieter

[tkay11]

Thanks, Pieter. It's a great video. Funny enough I already had a link to Bender's original post but had totally forgotten about it (I had been looking at stropping blocks when making the cannon a year ago). It's at http://modelshipworld.com/index.php?/topic/1056-tying-blocks-to-yards-or-masts/#entry17489. I was looking for J Brent's excellent videos on this forum, as I remember he posted several of this type, but I can't remember his forum name.

 

Tony

[CaptainSteve]

Tony,

Jay is known to MSWers as Modeler12 ....

Edited April 2, 2015 by CaptainSteve

[tkay11]

Aaaah! Thanks, CaptainSteve. That's exactly what I wanted! He's been really helpful on a whole host of questions but I didn't know him as Jay Brent.

 

Tony

[jhearl]

I use a similar but slightly different method to the video shown above. I have some pics and descriptions on my website.

 

http://modelboatyard.com/stropping.html

 

Cheers -

John

[tkay11]

Thanks, John. Just like Modeller12's your site is something I had marked previously but had forgotten about. Thanks very much for bringing it to my attention again. The site is really great.

 

Tony

[qwerty2008]

For full size blocks the rope would be made into a loop as per the illustration in post #3.

For my models I fake it by hiding the overlap under the seizing.

 

 

 

 

Lextin.

[tkay11]

Thanks, Lextin. That's very similar to Modeller12's and the one I'll use as it allows for snug fits as well.

 

Tony

[wefalck]

When the strop is supposed to be served all the way around, one can also use a piece of silk-/cotton-covered copper wire and put the joint underneath the lashing, similar to what was shown in the above post. Such thread-covered wires are available from retro radio-stores and similar places, or sometimes on the flea-markets. 

[tkay11]

Nice idea, Wefalck. The prices for the cotton-covered wire are not bad either.

 

Tony