| THE STAR-KNOT with Doubled Crown Centre |
| Last updated Oct 27 2015 |
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The Starknot has long been accepted as one of several knots considered
as "Sine Qua Non" of the knottyers demonstrable skill
set. It is done here as a six-strand knot which is what I use to end items like
the Chesapeake Lifesaver or, if eight-strand, to end my shackle pulls, as
they are in a much smaller polyester line.
So: To start, take three pieces of whatever line you may want to use and
"middle" them... That is, find the center point of each piece and run your
small fid point through the line. I will presume you are using a three-strand
"Z" laid rope, so pierce and insert so as to pick up ONE line on top and
TWO lines on the bottom when you run the second line through,
A better view of the "Under One Over Two" piercings. [You will find that
using SuperGlue on the end of the line (about 1-1/2") will more than pay
you back in the ease of feeding the line through all the narrow little
passages we will encounter. I use about 2 quarts of superglue in a year,
more if I have bracelet contracts.]
ALWAYS work over a disposable surface when using superglue as it will
ruin a rug, or a hardwood floor or your marriage... DAMHIKT!
Tighten the center point so all three lines touch, then take any line and
make an underhand loop going to your LEFT (in this case) as shown.
It MUST be an UNDERHAND loop. The direction you start with will
determine whether your finished starknot will be left-handed or
right-handed... It matters not a whit which you prefer, but as with so many
things in life, you can't change the direction midway through or you wind up
with a real mess.
I usually work from LEFT to RIGHT when doing the cast loops, so lets do it
MY way, OK?
Take the next line to the LEFT and make an underhand loop just like the
first, but tuck the end of the line UP and THROUGH the already made loop.
Continue along for the rest of the lines and when you've come full circle,
tuck the end from the first loop UP and THROUGH the loop just made.
You will have something looking like "D" to the right. Just tighten the lines
up a bit to produce something that RESEMBLES the picture... Note that
this is a LOOSE makeup. As you progress, you will naturally begin to make
your initial loops and tucks a bit tighter and use you awl or fid to open lines
and spaces, but for now, I advise you to work loosely so as to take
advantage of the glued and snipped tips of your lines.
You will also note that I am just as verbose in the large picture's annotations
as I am here. Sorry... I was born at the Mattell factory.
Here are pictures of some tools and of
my fid...
Note that the awls are $4 DULL Great Northern
scratch awls with some prettifications added
and pocket sheaths.
The other fid is hand-turned work and similar
work is available HERE from the maker, PeeJay.
E-1 shows that once you've done such a lovely job on sticking the tails of
the lines through the loops of their adjacent brethern, you now must
CROWN those tails over to the RIGHT as shown in the picture. The line
comes UP, OVER to the right and DOWN, then the next line to the RIGHT
repeats the process until eventually you have all six lines up-over and
through the RIGHT-HAND loop.
E2 shows this neatened up and ready for the next step...
Remember, this is the FIRST time for most of you so don't try getting things
real tight yet. Work as this is.
F shows the first of the critical round turn tucks. Get these wrong and you
have a handful of jumbled line. Get them right and you STILL have a
handful of jumbled line, except now it makes sense.
Take any line, lead it to the LEFT over the line which crosses IT and back to
the LEFT UNDER it's body as shown.
NOTE in G-1 how the line parallels the line to the LEFT of it... and then it
goes down and out thru the "Rabbit Hole", which the loop formed by the line
TWO positions from it.
(OK: YOU'RE so smart, YOU try concocting verbiage which clearly defines this idiocy...Dare ya!)
(ahem.)
I believe this step is the basis for this sketch...
At this point, due to the inability of my WYSIWIG programme to cope with
more than three things at once, we need to go to the
NEXT PAGE!!!!
as "Sine Qua Non" of the knottyers demonstrable skill
set. It is done here as a six-strand knot which is what I use to end items like
the Chesapeake Lifesaver or, if eight-strand, to end my shackle pulls, as
they are in a much smaller polyester line.
So: To start, take three pieces of whatever line you may want to use and
"middle" them... That is, find the center point of each piece and run your
small fid point through the line. I will presume you are using a three-strand
"Z" laid rope, so pierce and insert so as to pick up ONE line on top and
TWO lines on the bottom when you run the second line through,
A better view of the "Under One Over Two" piercings. [You will find that
using SuperGlue on the end of the line (about 1-1/2") will more than pay
you back in the ease of feeding the line through all the narrow little
passages we will encounter. I use about 2 quarts of superglue in a year,
more if I have bracelet contracts.]
ALWAYS work over a disposable surface when using superglue as it will
ruin a rug, or a hardwood floor or your marriage... DAMHIKT!
Tighten the center point so all three lines touch, then take any line and
make an underhand loop going to your LEFT (in this case) as shown.
It MUST be an UNDERHAND loop. The direction you start with will
determine whether your finished starknot will be left-handed or
right-handed... It matters not a whit which you prefer, but as with so many
things in life, you can't change the direction midway through or you wind up
with a real mess.
I usually work from LEFT to RIGHT when doing the cast loops, so lets do it
MY way, OK?
Take the next line to the LEFT and make an underhand loop just like the
first, but tuck the end of the line UP and THROUGH the already made loop.
Continue along for the rest of the lines and when you've come full circle,
tuck the end from the first loop UP and THROUGH the loop just made.
You will have something looking like "D" to the right. Just tighten the lines
up a bit to produce something that RESEMBLES the picture... Note that
this is a LOOSE makeup. As you progress, you will naturally begin to make
your initial loops and tucks a bit tighter and use you awl or fid to open lines
and spaces, but for now, I advise you to work loosely so as to take
advantage of the glued and snipped tips of your lines.
You will also note that I am just as verbose in the large picture's annotations
as I am here. Sorry... I was born at the Mattell factory.
Here are pictures of some tools and of
my fid...
Note that the awls are $4 DULL Great Northern
scratch awls with some prettifications added
and pocket sheaths.
The other fid is hand-turned work and similar
work is available HERE from the maker, PeeJay.
E-1 shows that once you've done such a lovely job on sticking the tails of
the lines through the loops of their adjacent brethern, you now must
CROWN those tails over to the RIGHT as shown in the picture. The line
comes UP, OVER to the right and DOWN, then the next line to the RIGHT
repeats the process until eventually you have all six lines up-over and
through the RIGHT-HAND loop.
E2 shows this neatened up and ready for the next step...
Remember, this is the FIRST time for most of you so don't try getting things
real tight yet. Work as this is.
F shows the first of the critical round turn tucks. Get these wrong and you
have a handful of jumbled line. Get them right and you STILL have a
handful of jumbled line, except now it makes sense.
Take any line, lead it to the LEFT over the line which crosses IT and back to
the LEFT UNDER it's body as shown.
NOTE in G-1 how the line parallels the line to the LEFT of it... and then it
goes down and out thru the "Rabbit Hole", which the loop formed by the line
TWO positions from it.
(OK: YOU'RE so smart, YOU try concocting verbiage which clearly defines this idiocy...Dare ya!)
(ahem.)
I believe this step is the basis for this sketch...
At this point, due to the inability of my WYSIWIG programme to cope with
more than three things at once, we need to go to the
NEXT PAGE!!!!
