5 ROPEWORK Palm and needle whipping


This one will never let you down but you will need a sailmaker’s needle and – ideally – a palm (available from chandlers) to push it through. With a little ingenuity you can manage without the palm. This whipping was originally intended for 3-strand rope but the principles can be adapted to braided ones as well. It employs what’s known as ‘frapping’– diagonal turns that cinch the whole whipping together.


1


2


3


4


5


1 Thread your needle with waxed twine. With 3-strand, it’s important that the rope doesn’t unlay so start a good three diameters from the end.


2 Take a double pass through one of the strands to anchor the end of the twine then, as with the common whipping, whip against the lay for a length equal to the diameter.


3 Once satisfied with the length, identify the same strand you started with at the bottom, and push the needle under it, this time working with the lay – that’s to say, back in the opposite direction.


6


4 The next stage is really the heart of the whole splice. Your needle will have emerged at end of a ‘score’ – the valleys between the strands. Follow the score down to the other end of the whipping, pass the needle under the next strand and return to the top. Repeat this process with each strand in turn until all three scores have a double frapping.


5 & 6 The last frapping turn should bring you down to the bottom of the whipping. Take a half hitch around the adjacent strand and pull it tight. As a final belt-and-braces precaution, take a couple of extra stitches back and forth through the rope before snipping the twine off close.


38


RYA Seamanship for Sea Anglers


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120