Pictures are coming..... reeeeeel soon!
Haven't gotten to the "doubled" pics yet, but here's a quickie "tutorial" for you:
DOUBLED FULL MOKU
Look at the pics for the single "full moku", now just after you've stropped the two lines
to the top of your work, strop two more to the BOTTOM of the work at 180 degrees
(directly opposite the first lines) and then work from right to left around the piece... ([1]
top) halfhitch RIGHT, ([2] top halfhitch LEFT, ([3] )bottom halfhitch RIGHT, ([4] ) bottom)
halfhitch LEFT, and continue around and around and around and.... (Sorry, I got dizzy!).
Keep the lines in that order (1,2,3,4 and be sure you get the directions right... working
underneath can be a bit of a "pain in the neck", but the finished product will be worth the
effort.
In the double full and half mokus it is VERY important to be sure you snug down each
turn AND push all the lines up into contact with the previous turn to get a nice, tight
appearance, AND to help prevent "precessing": A natural problem since EVERYONE is
stronger on one side than the other and, over a distance, the stronger side will pull lines
tighter, leading to the crossing points tending to move toward that strong side. A centre
line down the work will give you a guide, but snugging down and fairing up will go a long
way to a straight run. Also, snugging up and fairing up presents a more solid surface
that, once preserved, will produce a far more watertight surface.
WEAR GLOVES!
DOUBLED HALF MOKU
The doubled half-moku is a bit trickier to start: Strop all four lines at the same time, with
two at the top (0 degrees) and then one at 90 degrees and one at 270 degrees, or two at
12:00, one at 3:00 and one at 9:00. The idea here is to have the moku go from 12:00 to
9:00 (3:00) and then reverse itself and come back to 12:00, so you're starting two lines at
3 and 9 to make the effect look like a continuous coxcomb. Start this one at the 9:00 and
halfhitch RIGHT, then at the 12:00, take the THIRD line and halfhitch LEFT, THEN the
SECOND line and halfhitch RIGHT and then the fourth line at 3:00 and halfhitch LEFT.
Snug all down well, and continually fair things up AS YOU GO. This one is unforgiving of
any errors (A-HA! NOW we know why I haven't done the pictures, innit?) and it gets VERY tight VERY fast, so
don't let more than two turns pass before fairing things up.
If this works for you, you'll wind up with crossing "X" patterns at about 10:30, 12:00 and
1:30 and reverse points at 9:00 and 3:00. It is, by any standard, the very best of the
coxcombs for "gripping factor" as it provides so many diamonds, but it is also the most
infuriating of them all to make look really good.
WEAR GLOVES!
NOTES
One thing to remember, MOST people will NOT notice a slightly off-line "X" point, but
they make my teeth hurt. If you're doing this for a "wannabee" boater who just wants a
"pretty" for his wheel or walking stick, then don't get your panties in a bunch about small
"oopsies", but if they know the value of a fine coxcomb, try your very best to get it as
right as you can.
Practice on a 1.5" OD piece of PVC (local hardware store) with some 3/8" line or VERY
small clothesline before attempting the curved surface of a wheel... Or, get some #15B
line from MARTY COMBS
and use that... it's a nice cotton line that handles well and you can use it for a multitude
of knotting projects.
DON'T FORGET THE "DUMMY RUN" to determine how long a line you need to do the job
and keep the line either "hanked" up (I find that this tangles at my feet) or get some
small mesh net bags to keep the coiled line in to prevent tangling and keep the line
clean.
FINISHING UP
Finishing depends on your taste. If you want the "Old Navy" look, one coat of orange
shellac and then two coats of a LIGHT colored varnish will darken it up nicely. Just the
light varnish will darken it much less and give a golden colour, clear polyurethane floor
finish will essentially only darken it a bit, but you should experiment to find your own
colour scheme and suit the finish to the line used (nylon or dacron, stay away from the
varnishes and stick with poly; cotton lines you can really have fun with, but
EXPERIMENT!
Turksheads: apply your turksheads AFTER you have completed the coxcombing and
have preserved it however you have chosen. Once applied, preserve them the SAME
WAY you did the wheel/rail/stick/whatever. This prevents water creepage under the
turkshead and potential rot/rust/corrosion.
Oh: you can always PAINT the work as well.... some very pretty wheels have been done
with white on the wheel and alternating red and blue turksheads (if you have a six
spoked wheel) and I once did a German vessel's wheel with the wheel in yellow and
black and red turksheads. (We drank a LOT of schnapps that nite! I don't think I'll ever
hear the "Deutschland Lied" again without a small headache. )
SO: clear as mud, no doubt: Feel free to ask ANY questions and thanks both for the
email AND for reminding me that I've got to get back to updating the site.
Enjoy.
Tie knots.
Improve.
WEAR GLOVES!
If you have comments, suggestions, questions or want to do a tutorial for the site, please EMAIL ME and let
me know!
Love to see pictures of your projects, both under construction as well as finished!
Fair Winds!
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| COXCOMBING Four-line "DOUBLED" Half and Full Mokus |
| Last updated Nov 02 2010 |
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