[Gabriele Becattini]

hello, i want to re-create a wire wrapping for my rapier's handle and i would like to have a turk's head knot on it, someone of you could tell me in wich way i can do that ? thanks

[Vincent Le Chevalier]

This thread might help you:

http://www.myArmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=201

Regards

[Sean Flynt]

It's easy once you can get your hands on a rope. Start with a big piece and gradually work your way down to wire. I actually found that a round-section electrical cord is a great way to learn! Try a headphone (not earbuds) cord or the cord for a device charger. See my iPod TH knot in the thread linked to above.

A diagram can help, but basically all you're doing is following a single strand of rope around a central loop. Think about tying your shoe. You first pass one end of the lace around and under another. Now imagine that the shoe isn't there. You have only the lace. That first move leaves a big loop. With a TH knot, you just keep doing that first around-and-under sequence with one end of the rope until you've looped the rope/wire all the way around that loop. Then, with the free end, you just follow the path of those initial loops three or four times. I found it easiest to use the end of the grip only in the first sequence, keeping the loop somewhat loose. Then I just held the growing knot in my hand, using needle-nose pliers to pass the wire under and around as needed. The pliers are also useful in flattening the loops of wire so that they stack straight up instead of slip behind each other. It's good to check your progress by trying the knot on the end of the grip from time to time.

My first try worked pretty well, but I was surprised how easy it is to lose track of where the wire is supposed to follow as you get into the advanced stages. Even when I was concentrating very hard, I got off track a few times. Even one mistake is obvious. Three pretty much requires undoing your work back to where you went wrong and starting over from that point.

[Sean Flynt]

By the way, you need to start by twisting the wire. Just roll out a length of approximately 14 feet, fold it in half and tie the free ends together. Drive a nail into your workbench or hold a nail in a vise and drop one end of your big wire loop over it. Bend a small nail into a "J" shape and use that as a bit in your electric drill. Hook the free end of your wire loop with that "J," pull the loop tight enough to bring the sides together, then start running the drill. Keeping light tension on the loop, run the drill until the twists in the wire are close enough together to match historical TH wires. Then just unhook the loop from the drill and nail.

Leave yourself lots of free-end when tying a TH knot and let the folded end of your original loop serve as your lead. It's MUCH easier to pass through all those wires compared to a cut end (which will fray) or a knotted end. In fact, what you have in the folded end is basically just a big needle threader. The design is inherently suited to passing between tight fibers/wires.

[Bryan Stancliff]

Here's a link I found a few months back when I was trying to get the turks heads down, http://www.troop54.com/knots/TurksHeadKnot/TurksHeadKnot.htm the best instructions I've found so far, simple and easy to figure out.


Bryan