The InterKnot Newsletter of the International Guild of Knot Tyers North American Branch Year 2012 March Issue 1 IGKT-NAB Officer Nominations ========================= It s time for IGKT-NAB officer nominations. For those of you who receive the InterKnot via e- mail I ll attach the form. If anyone else would like to have a separate copy, please let me know and I ll send it by e-mail too. IGKT-NAB Officer Nominations ========================= International Guild of Knot Tyers- North American Branch Nominations of Officers 2012-2013 Current Officers: President-Vacant Secretary/Treasurer- John Burke Board Members at Large (6) Kay Burke Don Burrhus Loren Damewood John DeWilde Skip Dickens Glenn Dickey Nominations: Please verify with member nominated that they will accept the position that they are nominated for. Nominations Due by May 31, 2012 Send all nominations via E-Mail to knottyrope@prodigy.net Subj: Line IGKT-NAB Nominations please. Or mail to IGKT-NAB, Nominations, 4417 Academy Street, Dearborn Heights, MI 48125-2205 InterKnot March 2012-2012 International Guild of Knot Tyers North American Branch Pg 1
The knot board shown was made by Dr. Wayne Johnson who is the Scout Master of Troop 630, Trapper Trials Council, Francis Peak District. Wayne has been thinking about this for years and finally had the time to make it happen. There are 78 knots on the board and he is thinking about adding two more to make it an even 80. Wayne said he loved every minute spent working on it. Details of the knot board and display box are as follows: Center section is 36 x 30. Backing is a matting board (used in picture framing) which allows Wayne to easily change a knot or add one if needed. Knots were laid out on the matting and holes were poked around the knots. Small gauged wire was used to tie the knots to the board. Velcro was used on the back to hold it to the box. Labels for the knots were made on a ½ label maker. Cordage used was 5/16" braided nylon. Smaller diameter cord was used for the 7 bight, 5 lead Turk s Head allowing it to fit properly on the dowel. Some knots were sprayed with a varnish to help them keep their shape. The pattern for the fleur-de-lis was taken from Skip Pennock's book and took the longest to tie. As everyone knows, you don't find your mistakes until you are almost done. It took Wayne four times to re-tie the knot with each session lasting four to five hours. The rest of the knots went a lot faster and probably took about 10 hours. Total time for the knot board was easily 60 hours. InterKnot March 2012-2012 International Guild of Knot Tyers North American Branch Pg 2
Currently Wayne is using the knot board to help his scouts see the possibilities of knotting. It has been a great motivator for the scouts. Because of Wayne s work they have taken a greater interest in knot tying and are practicing on their own now. Knots on the board are: Albright Knot, Alpine Butterfly Knot, Blood Knot, Boom Hitch, Bowline, Bowline on a Bight, Carrick Bend, Celtic Button, Chinese Lanyard, Clove Hitch, Constrictor Knot, Double Bowline, Double Figure Eight, Double Figure of Eight on a Bight, Double Fisherman s, Double Grapevine, Double Knife s Head Lanyard, Double Overhand, Double Sheet Bend, Drooper Loop Knot, Farmer s Loop, Fiador Knot - Turk s Head (4 bight, 3 lead within one strand), Figure Nine, Figure Eight, Figure Eight on a Bight, Fisherman s Knot, Flat Lozenge Shaped Knot, Flat Square Knot, French Bowline, Good Luck Knot, Granny Knot, Halter Knot, Hackamore Knot, Heaving Line Knot, Jacobs Ladder, Jug Knot, Klemheist, Knife Head Lanyard, Lark s Head, Man-O-War Sheepshank, Manharness Knot, Mastheads Knot, Mathew Walker, Mauretania Knot, Monkey Fist, Mooring Hitch, Mountaineering Bowline, Ocean Plait, Overhand, Oysterman Knot, Painter s Bowline, Portuguese Bowline, Prusick, Quatrefoil, Round turn Bowline, Sheepshank Sheet Bend, Simple Simon Over, Slip Bowline, Spanish Bowline, Square Knot, Stevedore, Surgeons Knot, Taught Line Hitch, Thief Knot, Threefold Overhand, Timber Hitch, Tugboat Bowline, Turk s Head (3 bight, 4 lead), Turk s Head (4 bight, 3 lead), Turk s Head (5 bight, 3 lead), Turk s Head (5 bight, 4 lead), Turk s Head (7 bight, 5 lead), Twinnie, Two Half Hitches, Two Hearts That Beat As One, Vice Versa, Water Bowline, Water Knot, What Knot, and Zeppelin Knot. Scouting Corner continued ========================= From IGKT member John Staley: I am Section Leader, 81st Hamilton Scout Troop (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada). Just dropping a line to say hello, share some pictures, activities and update you on the staves. First the staves... still working on them! Had other pressing issues arise that the scouts had to prepare for and implement. [ Editor s note: An article on the staves will in a later issue. ] A couple of weeks ago we had our annual sleep over and church parade. Since we have a national scout jamboree in August 2013, another leader and I decided to make dragonfly broaches to give out at the church service. The theme was based on the symbolic good luck of dragonflies. Apparently, if you see a dragonfly it means life sustaining water InterKnot March 2012-2012 International Guild of Knot Tyers North American Branch Pg 3
Scouting Corner Continued ================================ is near. Anyhow, another leader and I made 100 dragonflies. We had the scouts hand one out to every woman parishioner and we also put out a donation jar. We raised $300.00 towards the Jamboree and got 20 orders for dragonflies. While visiting our scout shop I did a Bruce Turley; I gave the lady who runs the scout shop a dragonfly broach. She now wants us to make some to sell at Scout shop. Needless to say, we know what project I'm going to be working on for quite a while! For our Spring church flea market I will be making dragonfly earrings. I hope they sell well. Last weekend I took our scouts camping. In the spirit of "Be Prepared", I booked a lodge in case the weather didn't permit outside camping. On the Friday evening we got rain and very high winds. The camp area was flooded out so I decided to have the kids sleep inside. Having anticipated that the weekend might be a washout, I took all of my knot tying gear with me just in case it rained all day Saturday. I also had a very ambitious work schedule for the kids which included a little knot work. By Saturday morning the rain had stopped but we still had high winds. That morning the kids were off to participate in a 1/2 day workshop to earn their forestry badge. After an in-house lesson, armed with buck saws, axes and rope, we headed off into the bush to clear trails blocked by fallen trees. We came upon a 60 foot, 10'' diameter white Pine that had just fallen over in the wind storm. The kids trimmed off some branches and then cut out a 10 foot section lying across the trail. Once the log was cut, the instructor asked the kids which knot would be used to tie around the log. Although he was thinking timber hitch, one of my younger scouts hollered out, "round turn 2 half hitches! The instructor asked the scout if he would do the honors and tie it. The scout secured the log in seconds. The instructor, impressed, started to call the kids "knot Nerds" (a name that they are very proud of). On the way back to camp, the kids had to climb up a very steep, slippery hill. A female leader could not negotiate the slope so, using the Scouter as a "victim", we demonstrated the correct way to toss a lifeline, told her to secure a bowline around her waist, and then hauled her up. Later that day, all the scouts learned how to coil a rescue rope, toss it to a "victim" and how to tie a one-handed bowline. After lunch the kids went outside to build some temporary shelters out of cardboard. The plan was to sleep in them overnight. Unfortunately, the wind kept blowing the shelters over, thus it was decided to remain inside for the remainder of the evening. As I stated earlier, I had a full itinerary of activities planned but without any prodding, they all started InterKnot March 2012-2012 International Guild of Knot Tyers North American Branch Pg 4
Scouting Corner Continued ====================================== tying knots. They asked us to teach monkey s fists, Portuguese sennets, double overhand stopper knots, turksheads and more! Eventually, they figured out on their own how to utilize their existing knowledge to fashion their own monkey fist bracelets. I hardly got any of the planned activities done but they were just having too much fun tying knots. As you are aware, I have been "gently" coaching them on the Six Knot Challenge. They can tie almost every knot blindfolded and relatively fast. This is the first leg (of my training plan) before we start concentrating on speed. What I didn't expect is that they would develop a passion for knot tying. That was an unexpected, but pleasant, by product. Knot tying is alive and doing well at the 81st Hamilton. Talk to you later, John Staley Facebook has a knotting group called Mateloteurs. A lot of knotting activity is being done by this group. Here's one of the best examples of Macrame' I've seen. This piece was knotted by Leonid Koifman of Macrame' Israel. InterKnot March 2012-2012 International Guild of Knot Tyers North American Branch Pg 5
Working a show ================================ By IGKT member Richard Wilcox. The third Saturday of October I had the privilege to work with Dan the Knot Man (Dan Machowski) at the Georgetown wooden boat show in Georgetown, SC. Dan has worked a knot-tying booth at the boat show for the past 18 years. The Significance of this can be seen in the advertising for the boat show. Every advertisement or article I saw on the Wooden Boat show mentioned that Dan the Knot Man would be there. I kept busy all day with mainly two activities. The First is called insecure shackles item 2613 in the Ashley Book Of Knots. I was at a toy store in Helen, GA this summer and the clerk was selling this trick by having customers try the trick. Two ropes about 6 ft long have running bowlines tied in each end. It is important to select two compatible people to try this trick. Husband and wife, Boy and Girlfriend, sisters, brothers, close friends etc. make a point of the fact your selecting compatible people. One rope has each running bowline put around each wrist of one person. The second rope is inside the loop made by the arms and rope of the first person and then each end is looped around the wrist of the second person. The object is for the two people to detach themselves from each other without removing the loops from around their wrists. People will step inside each other s loop or bring the loops over the head. They will get into all kinds of contorted positions. I try to solve the trick with a little razz-ma-taz - like clapping hands or something similar to distract others from seeing the solution. To solve the trick make a bight on one of the ropes and thread the bight from the arm up and under one of the running bowlines and over the hand. Bring the loop out from under the other side of the hand and they are free. This trick was particularly good at a Show when you have a booth among many booths. If you can find a couple that really tries to get loose they are moving in many directions and bringing in people to see what is going on. Continued on next page InterKnot March 2012-2012 International Guild of Knot Tyers North American Branch Pg 6
The second trick was being sold at a craft fair by a toy vender. It requires a 2 inch steel ring and a 36 inch long ball chain made into a loop. The chain is the type used on a light or a ceiling fan. You can use a smaller or larger ring. I like the 2-inch ring because it is easy to use and visible. Drape the chain over the thumb and index finger. Drop the chain through the ring and spread your fingers so the chain is just a little wider that the ring just above the ring. Hold the ring with your index and middle finger on the bottom and the thumb holding it at the top. Keep the ring as close to the tip of the fingers as possible. Now release the ring by lifting just your thumb. Let the ring flip itself and the chain will catch it with a ring hitch or cow hitch at the bottom. Generally with just a little encouragement most everyone can accomplish this trick. Which means they leave feeling very good about themselves and knot tying. There are a lot of rope tricks out there. Both of these can be found in books. Some tricks you may not want to tell the secret. These two are easy to learn, easy to try with others and therefore very good for getting people interested in knot tying. Good Luck InterKnot March 2012-2012 International Guild of Knot Tyers North American Branch Pg 7
Membership Questions should go to IGKT-NAB Membership Secretary, 4417 Academy Street, Dearborn Heights, MI 48125-2205. This is a reminder to update address, telephone numbers and e-mail when making a change or relocating. Send e-mails to knottyrope@prodigy.net SUBMISSION OF ARTICLES & PICTURES FOR THE InterKnot Please submit written articles in MS Word Document or convertible document. (I can also accept MS-Publisher documents.) If sending instructions for tying a knot please include black & white sketches or electronic drawings. Motion arrows would be easier to understand. Pictures are welcome but try to make sure they are high-contrast photographs in jpeg format. You may be asked to send the pictures separately so they can be more easily incorporated into the publication. Printed copies will be grayscale pictures to save cost. Please send submission items to alexd_3@juno.com Include IGKT article on address line. Membership Dues IGKT-NAB membership dues are $45 for an individual per year. Your membership expiration date is shown on the return address line in each Inter- Knot sent by regular mail. E-mail expiration date will be in the cover letter. InterKnot March 2012-2012 International Guild of Knot Tyers North American Branch Pg 8 IGKT-NAB InterKnot C/O 4417 Academy Street Dearborn Heights, MI 48125