Rope Hanks Conquered!

[David Lester]

I have always struggled making rope hanks. I've tried every method I can find on this forum and on YouTube, but it always boils down to the same problem. Every method seems to work for me until that point at the end when it calls for "a small dab of glue." Well, for me diluted PVA glue never seems to hold and a small dab of CA glue never seems to hold the whole thing together either. So I end up using enough glue to hold everything together, but the result is usually the glue wicking into the line, darkening and hardening it and it generally looking terrible. The best I have ever been able to do is to try to minimize this effect, which means that at least half of the hanks I make for every model end up in the garbage and I'm only somewhat happy with the ones I do use.

 

So here is the result of my experimenting yesterday and I think it just might be a good solution to my problem. I was trying (for the umpteenth time) the method outlined by Tom Lauria in his YouTube video. I was having the best luck with this method of any of the others I've tried, but still having the glue problem at the end, so here's how I adapted his method to try to avoid the glue problem.

 

I wrapped the line five times around three nails - two at the top, with a narrow space between them and one at the bottom. The distance apart is the length I need excluding the loop that goes over the belaying pin; in this case 3/8".

 

Tom outlines a perfect oval with a series of closely spaced nails, but I found it's not necessary to do that. The hank comes out more or less the same with the three nails as it does with several. Many methods only use two nails anyway, one top and bottom. However I found it necessary to have a space at the top, hence two nails at the top.

 

Then I wrapped a length of matching sewing thread around the coils at the top and tied a knot. I'm not worrying about the loop for the belaying pin at this point. This knot around the coils ensures that they will not come apart and it's actually easy to get a small dab of CA glue on this knot without touching the main line. The glue only has to hold the knot; the thread is holding the coils.

When the CA glue was set in a couple of moments, I trimmed the threads off, leaving just the knot.

 

Then I pulled one of the long ends of the line underneath the coil at the top and up through the centre -

 

Made a loop out of it and pulled the end back through underneath the coil at the top -

And then, just like Tom Lauria did, I secured the loop with a drill bit in a previously drilled hole and pulled the loop snug against the drill bit -

Here I took a length of matching sewing thread in a needle and stuck in down through the middle of the line on one side of the loop and through, at least part of, the coil below -

 

Then I transferred the needle to the other end of the sewing thread and did the same thing on the other side of the loop -

 

This ensures that when I tie the two ends together, the knot will be on the back of the hank -

Then I just tied the sewing thread into a knot on the back side of the hank. Just like before it's easy to put a small dab of CA glue on this knot without touching the main line.

 

When the CA glue sets, it's just a matter of trimming off all the lines -

 

This hank cannot come apart because the coils are tied together in a bundle and the loop for the belaying pin is sewn directly to the hank. There's no glue visible on the surface and the sewing thread is completely invisible. I think this is the best hank I've ever made and the process didn't end up with the garbage men wondering  "what's with all the gluey coiled thread coming out of this house?"

 

So that's my good news for this weekend.

 

Happy Thanksgiving to the Canadians out there! ( or should I say "Happy Hanksgiving?")

David

[druxey]

A very neat solution, David! Well done and a happy Canadian Hanksgiving to you also.

[Dsmith20639]

I have a similar history of attempts as you’ve experienced. Next time 

I’m going to try your method.

 

Thanks for your post.

 

Don

[GGibson]

Nice work, David!  And excellent tutorial!  Coincidentally, I have been working on rope hanks for my Ballahoo, using both the 2-nail method and the "bunch of nails in an oval" method, and honestly was not really happy with either, but I settled.  Have one more to make and I may give your method a shot, as well.  Appreciate the info.

[CPDDET]

Thanks for the tip and great instructions, Dave

[BenD]

I've made some of the Tom Lauria stile rope hanks and liked them. Yours look just as good. Sewing them together makes them solid, Now you don't have to worry about them falling apart.

 

Here are some test ones I made years ago using that method. They were the first ropes I ever made, Lumpy and left-hand laid... 

 

[David Lester]

Those look beautiful, Ben. Did you glue them? If you did, I don't understand how you did it without the glue being evident.

D

[BenD]

9 minutes ago, David Lester said:

Those look beautiful, Ben. Did you glue them? If you did, I don't understand how you did it without the glue being evident.

Thanks! I used diluted white PVA glue for the making them, It was about 60/40 Water/PVA. After that is dried I use watered down matt varnish (same dilution) over the whole hank, Then used a small weight to help shape it around the belaying pin and rack.

Edited October 10, 2022 by BenD

[wefalck]

If you use a fast-drying and solvent-based lacquer instead of glue, this will solve a lot of the problems, as any knots and hanks can be softened and adjusted just with a drop of solvent ...