Gourds come in all kinds of shapes and sizes, and have many uses, such as a canteen to carry water or other tasty beverages.
I used a 30 foot hank of green 550 paracord to do some half hitching/needle hitching around the body of the gourd. I actually came up short and had to tie in another few feet of black paracord to complete the hitching around the bottom of the gourd.
I used about 9 feet of black crosslace cord for the 5 lead 4 bight 3 pass Turk's Head knot around the neck of the gourd. Another 7 feet of paracord was used for the jug/bottle sling knot for a carry option.
An online friend, Manny, sent me this gourd so that I might try some knot work on it. He also sent me some improvised paracord needles, made out of a Chinese chopstick from a dollar store. They worked fine for the hitching.
I think that the hitching would make for a neat stuff sack/pouch, if first tied around a bottle as a form then removed when finished, with a cord lock used at the top for a cinch type closure.
A lot of paracord and patience could go into making a sleeping bag stuff sack... I know I've seen mention of doing netting type knot work for projects like that, but haven't seen any actual examples done with 550 paracord. If anyone has links to such, please share them in the comments section of this post.
A couple of good knot books that I have found with examples of hitching, are 'Creative Ropecraft' and 'The Art of the Sailor: Knotting, Splicing, and Ropework'.
12 comments:
That is PRETTY!
beautiful work. My grandmother used to try and teach me to master this art form but i cldnt get it. it was a little confusing to me.
Yo Stormdrane....How about a tutorial for the half hitching/needle hitching?...that is awesome looking and I would love to do it on my paddles I make for my Navy and Marine Corps friends....I'm also on KHWW as fmf_corpsman. Anyway, would love a tut....you have always inspired me....rock on.
Allen
Awesome work my friend. I'm curious to know what it would have looked like if you had started out with more cord. Never the less... very cool.
Blazing Skies!
Awesome work as usual, I was wondering what is the name of the needles you use on knotting?
Needles used for knot work are sometimes called 'lacing needles', with some looking like over-sized sewing needles with an eye, and others are hollow with a threaded section to grip the cord, leather, string, etc...
You can improvise and use things like a nail, pen ink cartridges, chopsticks, copper tubing, etc... for your own homemade needles.
I'd be interested to see it done on a less perfect gourd... lol. That gourd in and of itself is amazing.
yeah a tutorial would be awesome i would love to try this.
Where did you get your needles from Storm?
I just ordered the TurksHead Tool and a couple extra needles from the maker of the TurksHead Tool, but I wouldn't mind some fancy needles like those.
The 'improvised' needles shown in this post are made from a Chinese chopstick, from a dollar store out in California.
Looks great!
You mention making a netted or hitched stuff sack for sleeping bag -- I would not suggest using paracord for that -- way too expensive, not to mention HEAVY. I suggest seine twine, instead The only dilema I would have is whether to use bonded or unbonded. Bonded is much stronger, but is very rough on your hands while netting it. May not be so rough if hitching, though, but I've never tried it.
One of the scout leaders in my sons' troop asked me to make him a BIG netted bag for storing his sleeping bag in the garage (we're talking LAUNDRY BAG SIZE), so that it would air out while in storage, but I never found that elusive "tuit" (sigh).
Best of luck, whatever you decide...
Hi Stormdrane
I saw the metal chopsticks used as lacing needles and it reminded me that larger aluminum knitting needles are usually hollow. So I've got a spare one cut and I'm seeing how well it works as a lacing needle. Keep up the good work your blog always makes for some good inspiration.
Post a Comment