Tying off a Turk's Head Knot

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Mark, in this modern age, I would imagine that it is politically incorrect to tuck in the ends of anyone's head, even that of a Turk.
:eek:
I guess you can tell from my stupid answer that I have no idea.....:rolleyes:
 
Mark

Eric would be the one to ask what he did. Unfortunately I did not get to try this. I once again went and bought the thread and even went on another forum to learn to tie other knots. But again life got in the way and it hit the back burners. It is still on my list because I have some nautical pens I want to make.

Now with that said I do not see any harm in CA the ends. Better safe than sorry. A pen will take quite a bit of abuse. Ope you fulfill this quest. Good luck.
 
Once a turk's head knot is snugged up, it should stay tied. I saturated the knots with CA glue on the pens referenced for the same reason one puts a finish on anything - to protect the surface from wear and dirt.

As Clifford Ashley (of Ashley's Book of Knots) remarked, if anybody asks "what did you do with the ends?", the proper response is "I cut them off and threw them away".

I hope that helps,
Eric
 
Sylvanite said:
Once a turk's head knot is snugged up, it should stay tied. I saturated the knots with CA glue on the pens referenced for the same reason one puts a finish on anything - to protect the surface from wear and dirt.

As Clifford Ashley (of Ashley's Book of Knots) remarked, if anybody asks "what did you do with the ends?", the proper response is "I cut them off and threw them away".

I hope that helps,
Eric
Click to expand...

Thank You! :smile:
 
FWIW, a 3-turn turk's head knot can be plaited to increase the number of bights. If you tie a 3-turn/5-bight turk's head, you can plait it to make a 3-turn/8-bight knot, and plait it again to make a 3-turn/11-bight knot etc. In fact, the method of tying a 3-turn/5-bight turk's head is to tie a 3-turn/2-bight knot and plait it once.

If you start off with a 3-turn/4 bight turk's head (which is actually a variant of a carrick bend), you can plait it to make a 3-turn/7-bight knot, and plait it again to make a 3-turn/10-bight knot, etc.

With either start, each time you plait the knot, it increases the number of bights by 3.

There is another method of expanding turk's head knots that increases both the number of turns and the number of bights by 2. It too, can be repeated provided that you never wind up with a number of turns and bights that have a common denominator (which is impossible for single-strand turk's head knots). For example, the first pen in http://www.penturners.org/forum/f24/photography-basics-composition-125808/ has a turk's head knot that started as a 3-turn/5-bight knot that I expanded to 5-turns/7-bights and then tripled in 3 different colors.

If you're interested, I can try to explain the process.

Regards
Eric
 
Oh, kewl ... so that would be why it's better to use unwaxed thread, rather than the waxed variety .... so that the CA will penetrate the knot better for preservation. :)
 
Well, the real problem I had with waxed twine, is that the wax is sticky and it collects dirt. The first time I tied a turk's head knot on a pen, I didn't wash my hands first. By the time the knot was worked down into place, it was already grungy.

Since then, if I use waxed twine, I (wash my hands thoroughly and) rinse the knot in acetone to remove as much wax as possible before snugging it down. In essence, I de-wax the twine.

Thin CA glue will wick into the knot and secure it in place whether or not the twine is waxed. It may, however, dissolve some of the wax along the way. That really isn't good though - either the wax winds up on the surface (where it will collect dirt), or it gets suspended in the finish.

I hope that helps,
Eric
 
Sylvanite said:
If you're interested, I can try to explain the process.

Regards
Eric
Click to expand...

Thanks Eric.

I'll see what I can work out. I have several projects ahead of me that I'd like to finish, but I appreciate the offer. I may resurrect this thread if I need more info.

Others however, may want more details?
 
The Turk's Head was invented back when the only glue onboard was black tar. And thanks for the Ashley quote. My hero.
Knots are in such disrepute about 9 years ago I invented a way to tie the 3 lead 4 bight turk's head starting from the clove hitch. Ashley never even figured that one out, but I've never had one person interested in learning it.
 
TurtleTom said:
The Turk's Head was invented back when the only glue onboard was black tar. And thanks for the Ashley quote. My hero.
Knots are in such disrepute about 9 years ago I invented a way to tie the 3 lead 4 bight turk's head starting from the clove hitch. Ashley never even figured that one out, but I've never had one person interested in learning it.
Click to expand...
Yep. Where we use waxed polyester twine today, sailors originally used tarred marline. They also used to paint over their turk's head knots whereas I finished mine with CA glue.

I'd be interested in seeing how you tie a 3L4B turk's head starting with a clove hitch. I tie mine as a pretzel knot (ABoK 2283) a.k.a. double coin knot.

Although Ashley's Book of Knots is a remarkable compendium of knots, it is by no means complete. For example, ABoK 1452, which is commonly referred to as "Ashley's Bend", is an outstanding knot. It is stronger and more secure than all the commonly known bends, yet is still easy to untie. Ashley's method of tying it, however, is (as he himself admits) "more complicated than could be wished". What Ashley didn't realize, is that this knot is simply a 2-strand footrope knot (ABoK 783) with the standing ends pulled apart to make it into a bend. I discovered this tidbit a while back when I was exploring true-lover's knots. Oh, and this knot (which I call the "footrope bend") is a true-lover's knot.

Regards,
Eric
 
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