Making the Strands

 

Twisting the strands


  1. • Fix the strand yarns to the hook of the drill

  2. • Keep them stretched and maintain an even tension throughout the whole process

  3. • The tension should be “just enough”; too much tension would conflict with the shortening of the yarns as they get twisted

  4. • The yarns are sufficiently twisted when the strand tries to kink when tension is slightly released.


Once the strand is ready, move it from the drill hook to one of the mobile unit hooks for temporary storage while you twist the other strands. Be cautious, as you need to maintain the tension so that the strand doesn’t kink. Make also sure you have a good grip on it, as if it slips away, you’ll end up with a mess and you’ll have to untwist the strand at least partially, re-stretch it and twist it properly again.













Repeat the process for the other two strands.


All strands must be of equal length and tension.







Preparing the yarns to make the strands


The yarn is stretched between the two sets of hooks.


The Mobile Unit is set at the desired distance from the fixed hooks. Make sure it doesn’t move as you add more yarn on the hooks (that’s when the bricks or bottle crates come in handy). You can use masking tape on the floor as visual references for the two positions you need:

  1. • the one for laying the yarns

  2. • the one for storing the twisted strands


At the end of that process, all yarns should be of equal length and tension, an essential factor to make good rope.


To determine the required length of yarn, see here

To go back to “Steps”, click here

Next Step: Laying the rope, click here