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This rope is made on a rope walk using old style (common lay) techniques.
Laid three, four, and six strand rope, in normal or reverse lay, is available up to 200 foot continuous lengths, with diameter up to 1.25", depending on the material. Value added rigging features like splicing or hardware inclusion are available.
Pricing depends on rope material, length, diameter, construction and quantity, and extent of value added services, like hardware or splicing, or other rigging. The rope for your product is made at time of order. Commercially produced rope can be used only if specified within your order.
Some Rope Product examples:
Bulk Rope and Cordage - Manually laid up three or four strand construction rope, cordage if you are talking diameters less that 3/8" in diameter. This style rope was how ALL rope and cordage was made before the early 1800s. The lay up principle remains the same, the technique may change a bit, whether making scale cordage for model ships or similar projects, or ropes to an inch in diameter for vintage hay hoisting apparatus.
Lariats - made in sisal or hemp, four strand hard lay construction, 3/8" to 1/2" diameter, length 20 to 50 feet (standard is 30-33'). For the Cowboy Crowd, a honda knot is added to the machine end of the rope. The lay at the far (bitter) end of the rope is made with a medium hard lay, to aid wrapping around the pommel. For the Civil War Reenactors, the honda at the machine end is an eye splice. These ropes come waxed, a moderate amount, for stiffening (aids throwing) and weatherproofing the rope. Keeps a much nicer loop with the wax.
- Have a pile of horse (mane and tail) hair? Get it turned it into a rope!
Picket Rope - The 1/2" diameter, 50' rope makes a good picket rope for horses. Make a manharness knot every five feet or so, to form a loop for tying off the horse lead ropes. Else, have your blacksmith make a metal figure-8 out of half inch stock, for a loop that can be placed anywhere along the rope.
Animal Leads - These range from quarter inch diameter, six foot leads for tiny dogs, to inch thick fancy horse leads ten feet long. Cotton, hemp, nylon, and polyester work well on dog leads. Hemp, sisal, or polyester work well for the larger animals. A variety of snap hardware is available, consistent for the animal to be lead. This hardware can be laid into the end of the rope, or added by splicing or knotting. Similar story for the other end - plain, whipped end, fancier stopper knot, back splice, or spliced loop.
What do you like about your current lead? What feature do you not like about your current lead?
The answers can be factored in when making new leads for you.
Livestock halters - Make a fancy rope into the halter shown. Size is dependant on the animal using this halter. Use soft 5/16 - 3/8" laid rope (three strand) for calves, sheep, goats, and llamas. Use 3/8" - 1/2" diameter medium lay for yearling cattle, colts, and ponies. Use 1/2" - 5/8" diameter medium lay for adult cattle and horses.
Starting lengths = 8, 14, 20 feet for the three sizes, to fit head and have suitable lead length left over.
Tent and Canopy Ropes - for the period Reenactor (rendezvous/fur trader, Renaissance, Civil War, Frontier, or other periods) or camping enthusiast. Made in a variety of materials - sisal, cotton, hemp, modern synthetics (polyester, nylon, polypropylene. Please specify what period you are reenacting. Ten ropes are made in three or four strand configuration. Hardware, such as rings, chain, or snaplinks can be added to the bitter end during lay-up. Otherwise, hardware, or an eye splice, can spliced into either end afterward. Generally, a medium hardess lay is used. Tensioning knot (i.e. tautline hitch) holding quality can be improved by making the rope in reverse lay- say the source twine or yarn is right hand lay, make the rope into a left hand lay, versus the normal (righthand) lay which follows the twist direction of the yarn. Reverse laid rope tends to be "coarser" on the outer surface, which enhances tensioning knot holding power. Diameters 1/4" to one inch, length eight feet and upwards. Rope ends come whipped unless otherwise specified.
Cargo ties, mooring lines, etc - Typically a length of rope with an eye splice added at the machine end. The bitter end is usually whipped. Three strand is standard, four strand is available, regular or reverse lay. Modern synthetics are more common unless doing a reenactment application.
SIX STRAND ROPES - Custom for a customer's specific application. This is not general purpose rope used for lashing cargo or making tree swings. It is six outer strands twisting around a center core (goke for the English!). The core is optionally a load bearing member in addition to it's specific duty to keep the six strands in position. Line up six coins around a seventh, all of the same diameter! Horse leads, bell pulls, ship's steering wheel to tiller, hoist rope for water well bucket, decorative wrapping for jacketed electrical cords, etc.
Bell Pull Ropes - Can you say "CUSTOM"? These are truly custom ropes. A thick, soft, grip section transitions to a thinner, low stretch, rope to the bell. The grip section would be cotton or hemp on the outside of the strands, converting to polyester filament only above the ceiling of the pull floor. The customer needs to provide a sketch or detailed description of the existing rope, along with identifying existing problems with current rope.
Balanced strand rope- For bigger diameter ropes that require more than 6 load bearing yarns to comprise a strand (color marker yarns can still be added, but don't count here). The yarns for the strand are pulled through a forcing cone and twisted while being drug down the rope walk to the traveler. This process balances the yarn lengths within the strand, such that loads are better spread among the yarns, resulting in a stronger rope for the same amount of material, as compared to the manual lay up process. This yarn balancing concept was patented in England in 1802! It became known as "Patent Lay", and is a fundamental concept for commercial rope produced today.
This site developed and maintained by Greg Davis. ©Copyright 2005.