Our boat has lots of marlinspike–wonderful ropework done (we think) by the US Coast Survey crew over the years that the Gyrfalcon was a government boat. Sections have disappeared or are cracking off, and need replacing.
My first attempt (Nancy) at serious ropework was last summer. Katie W taught Jessica and me how to make Turk’s heads during our trip around the San Juans. Jessica was the better student (which is why we have a Turk’s head around our bicycle pump to this day). I was the remedial learner.
Since then, I have watched innumerable Youtube videos (over and under, then under and over and under….). I wouldn’t say I have internalized the Turk’s head, but I have gotten good enough to make a passable knot.
Next step, finding the right size cotton line so that the new marlinspike would blend in with the old. I measured the line in the broken marlinspike and made my best guess at what size line I needed to buy. I was SO far off. Two orders later, I finally hit on the right size. It only came in 1000 ft lengths, but each Turk’s head and the line underneath takes about 20 feet.
Next step, actually making a Turk’s head on top of French hitching. This was much easier in theory than practice. It was much harder making a knot on the vertical pole compared to the piece of PVC pipe. Finally, I got it done. Next step: shellacking. The traditional approach is to shellac the line to prevent decay/mildew. The ropework can be left with just shellac, or one can paint over the shellac. Here is my first repair with 3 coats of shellac soaked into the rope.
I was pretty pleased with my knotwork. In retrospect, I should have spent more time tightening up the knot before shellacking.
After shellac, I painted. It didn’t look quite as good painted as it did shellacked due to a couple of places where there was a gap between the parts of the knot. No worries–a little caulk to hide the gaps, and my first Turk’s head repair was complete! I’d say it looks pretty damn good, even if I say so myself.
This is great! and I never knew how intricate these knots are. Why are they called Marlinspike? something to dowith the fish?
Very nice. Your next step could be to incorporate the Turks Head into the French Hitching with single line. Using a spool of netting line pull out your 20 or so feet to tie the TH, then continue with FH (with spool) to near end and take another 20ft for final TH. A bit cleaner.
Marlinspike rope work is named that because one uses a marlinspike when tying the knots. The spike is used to work the various sections of line over and under the other sections, and to tighten the knot once it is tied. I was also struck by Nancy’s use of “marlinespike” in place of “knot” or “turkshead” as I would not have heard it used that way when I was in the Navy 50+ years ago, but word usage changes over time and it may be perfectly normal now. We always called it “fancy work”.
Thanks for the comments. I’m not sure my work is very fancy yet :). Maybe I’ll stick with the word “knots.”
Thanks for the comment! As I pull off the TH knots that have degraded under paint, I’ve found that the TH knots are tied on top of French hitching, rather than the FH ending in a TH. What I ended up doing was replacing the FH, then just making a TH on top with the same continuous line. If there’s a better way to do this, I’d like to know.
At some point in the future, I’ll need to replace a whole section (TH to TH); I’m looking forward to the challenge. Before I get to that, I need to replace a TH that was made around a vertical pole that is bisected by a chain. I’m still struggling on getting the TH half above and half below the cross-chain. I am either 2 above/2 below on one side and 1 above/3 below on the other, or vice versa. I’m getting closer, but I’ve tied and untied the knot several times.
Hi Ricardo:
From Wikipedia: Marlinspike derives from the practice of “marling”, winding small diameter twine called marline around larger ropes to form protective whippings. The long-billed fish marlin is thought to be named after the marlinspike.
Oxford dictionary: Dutch: marlen (binding) >>English: marl (to fasten with marline)>> Marling spike >> marlinspike