Sailmaker's Whipping
Notes and Resources:
This is the gold standard for finishing rope ends; attractive and very secure, a good Sailmaker's Whipping will last as long as your rope does and never slip. You'll want a fairly large needle and a thimble (if not a sailmaker's palm) if you're going to do more than a few of these.
There are three main methods I've seen of performing a Sailmaker's Whipping:
1) Where the needle is passed through each strand of the rope diagonally under the whipping. This is the style I prefer; it is most secure, and not much more effort than the others. Frustratingly, it seems to have been abandoned by makers of online knot tutorials. (let me know in the comments if you find one)
2) Where the needle is passed through each strand above/below and parallel to the whipping, as shown here and here. This works with longer whippings than you can perform with method (1), but I'm not sure what advantage that set of choices would have in a bondage context.
3) Where the needle is only passed between, not through the strands of the rope, as shown here. This is less secure, and if you don't want to deal with pushing the needle through the rope, this whipping is a better choice.
Ashley identifies methods 1 and 2 as #3446 and #3447 respectively, and gives the interchangeable names Sailmaker's Whipping and Palm-and-Needle Whipping for them both.
Here's another video for method 1. He specifically calls out the Ashley #s, which is handy --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_uDVNUdrBE
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The first part of that video shows a reasonably good version of method #2; but the second part is just completely wrong -- I can see that they are maybe trying to follow the diagrams for #3446, but what's shown in the video is not correct at all, and even worse than what I list as method #3 above.
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to be honest there seems to be great confusion regarding the #3446. Would we be able to see at least some pictures of method 1?
This section and the next confuse me, perhaps some review is prudent. Here you state method 1 is the favorite and ashley #3446, but the next has your favorite as 3450.
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Method 1 above (Ashley's 3446) is my preferred method between the two true Sailmaker's Whippings (3446 & 3447). It's what I would use if I require maximum security.
The Quick Sailmaker's Whipping (Ashley's 3448) is a substantially different technique that looks very similar, but is faster and somewhat less secure. It's my everyday go-to whipping and what I use on most of my rope kits, but is not a proper Sailmaker's Whipping.
Ashely's 3450 is the French Whipping, which I do not recommend.
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I'm a little confused. How am I supposed to learn how to do method #1? You don't provide any instructions or videos.
A lot of silks don't do well with needles and will break instead of be pushed out of the way. Very sharp needles can help avoid this (and there are needles made specifically for silk, though they are smaller gauge), but method #3 might be more successful with that specific material.
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There are some good tutorials online for Sailmaker’s whipping.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OJDCC7dCSyg
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I found this variation of the sailmaker's whipping very easy to tie and just used it on a set of 6mm jute ropes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0l8Vfx3xkM
I used #4 whipping twine: https://www.knotandrope.com/products/4-whipping-twine
Formally it looks like that twine is recommended for slightly larger ropes, but it's what I had at hand.
For my next trick, I'm going to see if I can tie the knot inline (without pulling the loop over the working end of one strand) so that I can use it for midpoint marking or see if I get neater lays working inside a stopper knot or taped end.
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1 (which is ABOK 3446) is a point of confusion in the vanilla community, too. It's more commonly called the "Palm and Needle" whipping today, probably partly because ABOK 3446, 3447, 3448, and 3449 are ALL called the sailmaker's whipping, but only 3446 really needs a palm (or at least a hard surface). 3447 is easy to do without a palm on 6mm diameters, but it's still traditionally also called "Palm and Needle" whipping, in addition to "Sailmaker's Whipping".
You can find a (kind of lazily tensioned) video at the youtube link below. Just make sure to tighten the wraps much tighter than the guy in the video is tightening. Although Ashley doesn't mention tucking the standing end, and the video leaves it left alone, it is much more secure to take the standing end and tuck it towards the end of the rope, then to make your whipping over it. Ashley's drawings seem to indicate this, even if they don't mention that step explicitly:
https://youtu.be/9zyhKABgkPw
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Hello!
I’ve been using the sailmaker’s whipping on Animated Knots purely because I didn’t want to deal with needles (although I’m reconsidering 😅). Would it be possible/advisable to use this whipping to mark the center point of the rope for easier locating? I’m not sure if it’d be bad for the rope to be split/worked in the middle like that, or if it’s a possible comfort or safety risk or similar.
Thanks!
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