Making A Square Knot Belt 1

If you know me, you'll know that I'm no photographer! Still, in honour of a request I received from the Head Knothead of
Knotheads Worldwide, I have made the following tutorial on how to completely muck up a square-knotted belt.

                             DO click on the pictures for larger and clearer verzions!

I have further decided to reveal the abysmality of my ignorance by including text along with this. Allow me to apologize
in advance..

      (all pics shewn are are smaller GIF's to permit the page to load quickly:: click for a larger JPEG verzion)

                        AN EXCELLENT SOURCE FOR MATERIALS IS MARTIN COMBS (www.knotstuff.com)

My workbench currently is a hard-maple TV Table to which I
have screwed a crossbar (scrap maple deck stanchion end)
using a three inch wood screw and four washers between the
table itself and the bar to provide spacing for the skewers
which provide stability for the work. I also "clamp" the work
with another skewer which goes across the work and under the
lashings shewn to the left and right of the work in the picture.'
(The bucket holds ten pounds of "Sackrete" concrete mix
which keeps the table from tipping over onto me... you can use
that, dirt, water (not recommended) or a large cat, as you
prefer. (Pic. #0)

To begin a belt (for real), one would larks-head the number of
lines to be used around the fixed end of the buckle, being sure
that the tongue is in the proper position and that the larks
heads are all facing up. Here I have done this direct to a
skewer, since this is only a demonstration belt and have lashed
that on top of a piece of cardboard to provide a focal plane as
well as a bit of contrast for the pictures. (see below: Pic. #1)

Here also I show my "belly-hook" which is a piece of bamboo
(from a toast-grabber! If you carefully separate the legs of the
toast-puller you can get two legs! Such a deal!) to which has
been lashed and glued a 5" piece of round chopstick. By
making up the standing parts of the knots as though the
belly-hook were a dock bitt, you can hold up to six pair of lines
at a time. (See pictures of this here)

Tip: Clean your hands often, especially when using
white material, and clean your area often as well... dust
gets into the lay of the lines and dirty is quite apparent
on these belts.

Note: Most belters will work in a standing position with
the work level with their eyes and a long drop at their
feet. I prefer to sit down, (1) because I'm old and lazy,
(2) because my back hurts and (3) quite enough
Irishmen have stood at the edge of a "long drop", thank
you very much, indeed!

(Pic. #2) Shows the larks-heading of the lines onto the skewer
preparatory to the debac... I mean, starting the belt.

For a larks-head direct to the beltbuckle attachment, measure
out EIGHT times the desired length and then "middle" the
line into the larks-head.

For a belt where you will be attaching a buckle at a later time,
measure FOUR times the length of the belt for each line.
Allow some extra for the work of attaching to the buckle (about
a half-yard) and start your work FROM that allowance point.

(It's MUCH better to waste some material than to come
up short!)

(Pic. #3) To start the belt, take ALL the lines in
your RIGHT hand and drop the FIRST on the LEFT,
then hold the next two and drop the FOURTH and
FIFTH, drop the next two and so on, until you've
reached the other side.

TERMINOLOGY: Of any given set of four
lines, the OUTBOARD two are the working
lines while the INBOARD pair are the
"filler" or "standing" lines.

Smooth all the lines from the gripe toward your
belly and make them all up (as flat as possible) on
your bellyhook, just like you were making up to the
pier. (See Pic 1 and linked instructions.) You want
to get an equal (or nearly so) tension on all lines.

Right.

Now, there are those who say the only way to make a squareknot is to take the two lines and do the "Right Over Left and
... ahhh ... err ..." method, but I use the "Loop And Pull" method, which is much faster. Also, I don't get so confused by
all those "Lefts", "Rights", "Unders" and all that lot. (For picture clarity, and to preserve your (putative) sanity, I am
only showing ONE set of filler cords!)

Push the standing parts of Line Four (see the right
hand above in PIC. #4) up around lines Two and
Three and pull them through the bight you formed
with the LEFT hand. This should look like (Pic. #5).
(If you don't get this part right, just stop and work
at it until you do...) (Thank you, Uncle Doug!)