Can u get shrink wrap rope's or dord's???

[mr dazzler]

Does any body know if it is psossible to get a type of rope or cord that will shrink a little with application of heat to get ultra tight joints on lashed items (eg blade to haft's on some axe type's)? Sort of a man made version of raw hide how it shink's tight as it dries/
Cheers Jonathan

 

[andyn]

will sinew do?

Or do you only want man-made?

 

[mr dazzler]

Yes andy, definately man made. I have got rawhide which I may use to make a cutting tool based on a native Americnm elbow adze. But I was just wondering about man made possibilities. I have made strings, cords, cordgae etc from various recycled plastic types including strapping bands off glass pallet's, eg to make bass string's for instruments and talking drums BUT I was wondering if there is a class or type of plastic that is known to shrink when heated BUT is also not stretcthy either (polythene will shrink wrap but still stretches afterwards) My umiak will be wood framed (Fir, ash, elm and some plywood) with a pvc tarp skin. I think a man made cord would not be out of place on that scenario to lash it up. The shrink wrap effect would be most useful to me on a axe or adze application, supertight, and not affected by moisture
cheers Jonathan

 

[Seagull]

Mr. D.

I am doubtful if there is such a beast as a man-made "rope" which shrinks enough (when heated) to give you an ultra tight lashing.......due to the shrinkage alone.

You could try honing your lashing procedure and perhaps look into the use of a heaving mallet......its just a simple lever.

With such a mallet, it is ridiculously easy to break natural fibre rope of washing line thickness.......that is an indicator of just how much tension can be applied.

Strangely, I was using just such a tool this afternoon.

Ceeg

 

[jojo]

I don't think that there are heat shrink ropes. I don't think either that it is necessary to shrink them on the frames of any skin on frame kayaks or on the frame of an umiak. Have a look here:http://www.skinboats.com/umiak.html for some good pics of a modern umiak being constructed. It's quite possible to lash joins very tightly without shinking the ropes, just gives you sore hands if you are not used to it!!

The lashing on my frames can be tight enough to cut into the wood of both the frames and longitudinals.

How big is the umiak you are planning to build?

 

[mr dazzler]

Hi Jojo
The main purpose I had in mind with shrink wrap was to join a blade to a handle so as it would be rock solid, not effected by water etc. I thought if you get the lash real firm, then a little heat to really take it in rock solid. I just got side tracked talking about the umiak However my plann is for a vessell about 9 feet long (depending what joinery grade they still have in the yard. I seen it there and couldnt believe the quality I hope someone hasnt snapped it all away ) Ash ribs (straight style) can get good logs from the fire man elm to make the head board's, ash or oak stem and stern posts, scarfed into a fir keel, fir strakers, lorry tarp skin, sealed polyprop lashings, something like that.

Seagull, thanks for the sudgestion about heaving mallet's . I can think of a few folk I'd like to see to with a "heaving mallet" can you show some pictures or do a demo of how it works to do a square lash up or whatever? Or a good link please?
cheers Jonathan

 

[jojo]

Haaa, in that case you could try heat shrink sleeves:
http://www.adtech.co.uk/HeatSrnkPage.htm That may work quite well for attaching blades to handles.

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

Does any body know if it is psossible to get a type of rope or cord that will shrink a little with application of heat to get ultra tight joints on lashed items (eg blade to haft's on some axe type's)? Sort of a man made version of raw hide how it shink's tight as it dries/
Cheers Jonathan

A thermo- set plastic.

Nick

 

[Seagull]

Seagull, thanks for the sudgestion about heaving mallet's . I can think of a few folk I'd like to see to with a "heaving mallet" can you show some pictures or do a demo of how it works to do a square lash up or whatever? Or a good link please?
cheers Jonathan

Offhand, I,d say I havent a clue about links.....such practical knowledge as I dohave is all in my gray cells and most of the time I dont have a link to that , either.

Let me muse awhile ,on how to give you a description.

But, to get you going; think along the lines of this:

Once youve secured the end, then instead of riving with your hands, take the lashing a couple of turns around a stout stick (not a broomstick, you will smash it), and just heave at one end of the the stick radially around the job,awhiles keeping the other end hard up, across the width of whatever youre lashing. ........

That you can use any old stick, if strong enough, makes it ideal for extempore usage.

The actual mallet ,is just a refinement on that; and is used to heave tight, "seizings" (short lashings) to bring together two parts of rope or wire.

The IGKT site may be the place to look for links about the "heaver"...maybe somebody has it posted on u-tube or something.

Ceeg

 

[mr dazzler]

Thanks for the tip seagull
I think I get the gist of it, just use additional leverage to draw it up tight. I want this mostly to make a join between axe or adze head and a handle. I gues if you had a sort of cord that would stretch as you levered it but would want to stretch back again it would effectively be like a giant elastic band as it tried to compress down. That would create some tension. I believe spool's on fishing reels have been known to crush under the tension of monofilament lines wound tightly onto them. I got plenty of air dry split ash/oak etc which is about as strong as it gets to make a lever In fact the idea you shared is a bit like how some broom makrs tighten the birch twig's into a bundle, except they use a loop and 2 lever's.
cheers Jonathan

 

[Seagull]

Thanks for the tip seagull
I think I get the gist of it, just use additional leverage to draw it up tight. I want this mostly to make a join between axe or adze head and a handle. I gues if you had a sort of cord that would stretch as you levered it but would want to stretch back again it would effectively be like a giant elastic band as it tried to compress down. That would create some tension. I believe spool's on fishing reels have been known to crush under the tension of monofilament lines wound tightly onto them. I got plenty of air dry split ash/oak etc which is about as strong as it gets to make a lever In fact the idea you shared is a bit like how some broom makrs tighten the birch twig's into a bundle, except they use a loop and 2 lever's.
cheers Jonathan

Yup, it looks like you do have it.
Just a couple of things though; youre better off just tensioning a couple of turns at a time, and slowly work right through the job..........and , for lashings other than seizings,it could be that a serving mallet would be better ( same principles, but a much smaller device).

Yup, almost all the man made stuff has some degree of memory.
The ever present "blue" rope has lots of it, and is very susceptible to UV degradation...I know I wouldnt use that stuff for an adze or axe.

IIRC, it was the old plastic spooled mitchell type multiplier reels, which were, if mis-used, much given to imploding under excess pressure from monofil fishing line.
Dunno about birch broom makers; we never got very many of them at sea

Ceeg