This was started a few weeks ago (pre-Pennsic)and I just got to writing it up.
Making a rope from spun flax tow:
Mt 2nd attempt at making rope with the Schacht Incredible Rope Machine (https://woolery.com/schacht-incredible-rope-machine.html). this device comes close to mimicking the ropewalks of medieval Europe, but not quite. The 2nd twist with the rope machine is put on behind the anchor point instead of being wound from the starting position. There is also a little difference in scale. I hope to make a proper rope walk at Grimmsfield sometime soon, but not today.
I did work on spinning more of the tow left over from the purchased flax that I worked into linen. This was spun single ply on my Ashford wheel. once the batch I had spun was unwound from the bobbin I ended up with 33 wraps around the niddy-noddy at 60 inches a wrap = 1980 inches, or 1980/ 12 = 165 feet. This amount of fiber should result in roughly 13 3/4 feet per strand for a 12 strand rope. . I am hoping to end up with a roughly 1/4 in rope at least 12 feet long.
The first step was to set the stationary end and measure off roughly 13 feet. The winder end was then set at that location. The fiber was attached to the winder and run to the stationary post and back to the next hook. This was done till there were 2 loops on each hook and the remainder tied to the hook where i started.
The crank piece was then removed from the support and the crank turned until the twist appeared to be at roughly a 45 degree angle. this angle should produce enough reverse twist to crate the counter twist that makes the rope.
Here is where a 2nd person comes in handy. The 3 strands are then slowly pulled in the opposite direction from where the twist was added. As it is pulled off the stationary point, the rope twists upon itself. A 2nd person is needed to keep tension on the crank handle and give a few twist of the handle in the opposite direction.
This created roughly a 1/4 inch thick rope that seems to be holding together well. the ends were tied off to prevent the rope from untwisting. The finished length came out to be 12 ft. 6 in.
Thus ended my rope making for the day. When I get the tow from the material that Lorelei and I create I will make rope on a proper walk.
