Turkshead / Rope Mat layout tools

[MorganTyre]

I recently produced the following two charts for use in my shop and thought I'd share them here. These are to produce a regular over one/under one weave in as large or small a turkshead or mat as you'd like from one continuous piece of line. A description of use follows each picture:

We pretty much all know how to tie the most common turkshead - the 3 bight x 5 lead in hand but what other sizes are possible? To use this chart, read the bights across the top then follow down the column to the number of leads you are looking at. If the space is blank then this is a possible turkshead. If the space is shaded out then it is not. For example, Lets say you are tying a particularly wide turkshead over something relatively narrow such as a tiller so we figure something about 4 bights by 24 or so leads. A look at the chart tells us that a 4x24 is not possible but a 4 x 25 is so that's what we'll do.

This chart shows you the basic over under weave pattern for turksheads and mats as big as 16x24 (which according to our first chart is not actually a possible combination) The easiest use of this chart is to print out or duplicate a section of this chart that contains the turkshead we're wanting to make, wrap it around the item in question, pin the bights, and then make the knot directly over the picture following the over/under sequence illustrated. I'll do a small mat tutorial showing these two charts in use this afternoon.