woolding

[Silver]

i plan on trying to do some woolding on a small mast, i have found some instruction on how go about it. there is one or two things i'm not sure of. the first is the instuctions say to put a leather button under the head of each nail, is the button a washer in shape to keep the rope from working up the nail and freeing itself, or something else? the other is the nailing method as you progress along, my instuctions say "every turn when hoved tight is fastened with a leather button and nail, each nail being regularly below the other to the middle turn, and then above." can anyone break this down for me. thanks, also i don't have an illustration, one would be great.

[Dutchman]

i plan on trying to do some woolding on a small mast, i have found some instruction on how go about it. there is one or two things i'm not sure of. the first is the instuctions say to put a leather button under the head of each nail, is the button a washer in shape to keep the rope from working up the nail and freeing itself, or something else? the other is the nailing method as you progress along, my instuctions say "every turn when hoved tight is fastened with a leather button and nail, each nail being regularly below the other to the middle turn, and then above." can anyone break this down for me. thanks, also i don't have an illustration, one would be great.

[Dutchman]

double post- oops.

silver, the leather buttons serve that function as well as add a material layer between the iron nail head and natural fibers of the rope which keep them from rotting as quickly- much the same way a ship becomes "iron sick". of course it doesn't do anything for the core of the rope. as far as the rest of the description, i have no idea but i have seen nails placed every turn of the line. it appears to describe their placement. i'll talk to some of the old duffers at the museum this weekend and see what we cant find for you.

[Silver]

double post- oops.

silver, the leather buttons serve that function as well as add a material layer between the iron nail head and natural fibers of the rope which keep them from rotting as quickly- much the same way a ship becomes "iron sick". of course it doesn't do anything for the core of the rope. as far as the rest of the description, i have no idea but i have seen nails placed every turn of the line. it appears to describe their placement. i'll talk to some of the old duffers at the museum this weekend and see what we cant find for you.

thanks dutch for the clarifcation on the buttons. i found the instuction on the "historic naval ship asso." website under mast and rigging. most other hits on the word was about putting a rope around someone forehead and tighting it until their eyes popped out. p.s. the string on the wright flyer is still used. we had them on the navy F-14, we used parachute cord.

[Dutchman]

ahoy silver. i got nothing forya on this one. I'm headed to the Marinrs Museum in the next few weeks to work on a project with them. i'll swing by the boat shop and see what they may know.

[Silver]

took in harborfest today, was aboard the "kalamar Nyckle" they have woolding around their main mast. the buttons are placed in a row one above or below the other with 11 turns of rope in each woolding with six wooldings spaced out on the main mast. i thought the buttons might have been staggered guess not. the "Godspeed" was there from jamestown, one of the interpetors was wearing a nice looking sun ring around his neck, said he got it in the gift shop at jamestown, i'll have to check it out.

[Dutchman]

from a research paper I ran across surveying various ships rigs up to 1720 , admittedly I can't confirm primary sources but this paints a pretty good picture.

" the mainmast, foremast and bowsprit were usually "woolded"; that is to say they were strengthened by being bound round with rope at intervals. The number of these woolding was variable.......Probably eight to ten on the mainmast and one or two fewer on the foremast will be a fair allowance. The wooldings were usually evenly spaced with the uppermost about half the height of the masthead, or a little more, below the trestle-trees and the bottom one two or three feet above the deck."

the technique......

what i'm able to piece together adds to what L. Silver has already described.

The woolding is served the same as whipping the end of a line with the exception of a woolding stick is used on the wrappings to create a mechanical lever to tighten them. The ends are then tied to block and tackle to tighten. The ridge is then beat down with the woolding stick and then secured as L. Silver described. I have also seen metal bands at the top and bottom of the woolding. These bands are not on every example, but are seen pretty often in dutch paintings. I have no documentation as to their purpose but can imagine to reinforce the finished woolding.

I'm hoping to do a pictorial this weekend to post.