Knots and Rope Making

Low-tech Magazine has an interesting article on the history of rope making. One process of rope making described in the article is "rope walking":

The ropewalk method - which was also in use in China - is very simple. Describing it is a little more difficult. I came across many lengthy and sometimes puzzling explanations, but the one I found in the book "Handbook of Fibre Rope Technology" makes it quite clear (the accompanying illustration comes from the same source):

"At one end, there is the jack, which has three hooks that can be rotated. At the other end, there is a carriage with a single, rotatable hook. In stage one, three sets of yarns are pulled off bobbins and are held along the length of the ropewalk."

"In stage 2, an assistant turns the crank handle of the jack so that the yarns are twisted into strands by the rotation of the three hooks on the jack. Twist causes the lengths to contract, so that the carriage has to move along the ropewalk, under the control of the ropemaker."

"In stage 3, the hook on the carriage rotates in order to twist the strands into the rope. In the usual mode of operation, the initial strand twist is made as high as possible without kinking. When the single hook on the carriage is released, the high torque in the strands causes the hook to rotate, and this, in turn, cause the three strands to twist together and form the rope. The ropemaker controls the production of the rope by continually pushing back its form of formation to give a tight structure. Meanwhile, the assistant continues to rotate the crank to make up for the loss of twist in the strands."

That article links to a different article (also at Low-Tech Magazine) on knots, including a list of on-line references about knots. One of particular note is a PDF of a knot-tying guide from the International Guild of Knot Tyers. You may also find the "Animated Knots by Grog" web-site to be useful.