Kinky Crafter Podcast

This week’s craft segment is finally here! I wasn’t able to put aside enough time to spin up a decent amount of bamboo thread so I used some handspun hemp that I had laying around. It’s left over from when I first started spinning hemp, so it’s not the prettiest or most consistent, but I think it gets the point across. I included a picture of the finished bamboo rope from this Monday for comparison.

Handspun bamboo fiber rope:

Handspun hemp rope, tonight’s project:

Bamboo fiber top:

Bamboo fiber and rope:

Spinning wheel, Ashford Joy model:

Yarn ball winder and handspun hemp balls:

Antique New Era Rope Machine:

Pulley system for maintaining constant tension on rope:

Portable suspension rig, to be covered on future craft segment, pulling temporary duty as a part of the tensioning system:

Bag-O-Tools, i.e. dead weight, about 30 lb.:

Carabiner with broken gate used for looping line around, attached to tensioning system and tied in place for initial setup:

Start of hemp line tied off and then looped back and forth between the carabiner and the hooks on the rope machine:

End of hemp line tied of at carabiner:

Lines set and ready to twist:

Lines separated and initial twist set:

PVC self-walking traveler set in place, leather strap used as brake line to slow movement:

Strands twisted to firm tension, carabiner untied to allow movement as rope shortens, traveler moves up to rope machine as the rope twists. Once rope is twisted all the way to the machine. the ends of the strands are moved onto the center hook then the entire rope is overtwisted to set twist:

Carabiner end of finished rope, still under tension:

Finished rope:

Any questions?

KinkyCrafter 20080430 - Handspun hemp rope [ 15:08 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1847)