Lock stitching accident

Treezybreez · Jan 19, 2018

Well, I was finishing up a splice tonight with lock stitching. Since I do not have a sailmaker's palm, I use the inside of a thimble to help push the needle through difficult areas in the throat of the splice. It's worked OK for a while until the eye of the needle went through the thimble into my hand. The sailmaker's palm will be in my cart the next time I order treegear. Any sewing tips are appreciated.

Tom Dunlap · Jan 19, 2018

Ouch!

Mend quickly.

I bought my palm at a chandlery in Portsmouth England. The beauty of the location made so much sense. Afterwards I took a tour of HMS Victory

Treezybreez · Jan 19, 2018

Wow, I love nautical history. Wish I could travel back in time to apprentice and bring back some lost knowledge and skill.

evo · Jan 19, 2018

I’ve never used a sailmakers palm. If using a standard needles I just toss a cutting board onto the table, work the tip of the needle in then flip it eye down onto the cutting board. Two hands on the rope and push down. Either that or use a speedy sticher, taking the needle out every pass (obviously the thread isn’t spooled in the devise)... however I am personally comfortable climbing on dense ropes and hard splices without stitching.

Treezybreez · Jan 19, 2018

Thanks Evo, I think that I will try that board suggestion.

evo · Jan 19, 2018

Treezybreez said:
Thanks Evo, I think that I will try that board suggestion.

It will get er done, some of the harder lock stitching I’ve done I don’t think a sailors palm would allow for enough force.

Tom Dunlap · Jan 19, 2018

Treezybreez said:
Wow, I love nautical history. Wish I could travel back in time to apprentice and bring back some lost knowledge and skill.

Have you read Patrick O'Brian's 'Master and Commander'?

After a battle was over or there was recovery time in a running battle Captain 'Lucky Jack' Aubreys first order was:

Put the men to knotting and splicing! I want a full report on my Surprise!

trees.urbanarbor · Jan 19, 2018

Treezybreez said:
Well, I was finishing up a splice tonight with lock stitching. Since I do not have a sailmaker's palm, I use the inside of a thimble to help push the needle through difficult areas in the throat of the splice. It's worked OK for a while until the eye of the needle went through the thimble into my hand. The sailmaker's palm will be in my cart the next time I order treegear. Any sewing tips are appreciated.View attachment 48995

I use this and do my own sewn eyes

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

SeanRuel · Jan 19, 2018

go ahead and stitch farther away from the eye. Lock stitch is to keep core/cover from moving independently, no need to kill yourself to do that

Burrapeg · Jan 21, 2018

Tom Dunlap said:
Have you read Patrick O'Brian's 'Master and Commander'?

After a battle was over or there was recovery time in a running battle Captain 'Lucky Jack' Aubreys first order was:

Put the men to knotting and splicing! I want a full report on my Surprise!

I read every one of those O'Brian books! Great stuff. Even went aboard HMS SURPRISE sitting in San Diego when the maritime museum down there bought it after the movie finished filming. Damn, really was hoping for a sequel.

MorningStar · Dec 20, 2018

Rather than using a sailmaker's palm I just use a heavy spoon with the handle bent to fit around my hand. And, as a finishing touch, I drilled a few shallow indentations near the center of the spoon. It was a little clumsy to manage at first but it works great.

Richard Mumford-yoyoman · Dec 21, 2018

SeanRuel said:
go ahead and stitch farther away from the eye. Lock stitch is to keep core/cover from moving independently, no need to kill yourself to do that

Ouch, that just hurts thinking about it, like stepping on a nail or falling on assault.
About the lock stitching. I just finished pulling a bunch of splices. (posted) I would say the lock stitching is just to keep things from moving around while there is no tension on the splice, it does next to nothing to prevent the core and cover from slipping independently while being loaded.

Pelorus · Dec 21, 2018

Burrapeg said:
I read every one of those O'Brian books! Great stuff. Even went aboard HMS SURPRISE sitting in San Diego when the maritime museum down there bought it after the movie finished filming. Damn, really was hoping for a sequel.

"Captain Blood" by Rafael Sabatini (along with others in his series) is another jolly good read about the late surgeon Peter Blood. He was a compassionate pirate, whose passing was mourned by many.

skygear · Dec 23, 2018

I like to use one of these craft rubber blocks or a steel block. All the local craft stores sell them.

ARLO · Dec 24, 2018

This entire discussion reminds me of the time I was using a big 50cc syringe and a slip-on18 ga hypodermic needle to flush out the brains of a chipmunk skull that I was preping for the museum. I pushed down hard on the syringe and the pressure blasted the needle off the syringe, through the top of the skull and into my index finger. Hurt like hell. Nothing to do with splicing I know, but just one of several times I have poked or cut myself when not being careful.

kiteflyingeek · Dec 24, 2018

Ewwwww!! (said in the Ernest Goes to Camp voice).

--andrew

moss · Dec 24, 2018

ARLO said:
This entire discussion reminds me of the time I was using a big 50cc syringe and a slip-on18 ga hypodermic needle to flush out the brains of a chipmunk skull that I was preping for the museum. I pushed down hard on the syringe and the pressure blasted the needle off the syringe, through the top of the skull and into my index finger. Hurt like hell. Nothing to do with splicing I know, but just one of several times I have poked or cut myself when not being careful.

Damn, nothing worse than chipmunk brains jammed into a finger wound. Reminds me of time I cut myself enough to get my first set of stitches, skinning a rabbit, I think I was 14 years-old at the time ;-)

When I'm pushing a needle through tough stuff I'll put the cordage on the edge of a cutting board and support it with a another similar width piece of wood, push the needle down through with a gap below. Although I already know I'm losing if I have to push a needle through that hard ;-)
-AJ

Burrapeg · Dec 24, 2018

We have a certain amount of friendly rivalry here on the island, depending on where one lives, North end or South end. A local joke:
Question: How many South-enders does it take to eat a chipmunk (or rabbit, whatever)?
Answer: Three. One to eat the chipmunk and one on each side to watch for cars.

moss · Dec 26, 2018

Burrapeg said:
We have a certain amount of friendly rivalry here on the island, depending on where one lives, North end or South end. A local joke:
Question: How many South-enders does it take to eat a chipmunk (or rabbit, whatever)?
Answer: Three. One to eat the chipmunk and one on each side to watch for cars.

I must be a south ender, when I was a kid my father would pull over to check an interesting road kill. If it was fox or mink or another interesting fur animal and very fresh, he's bring it home, skin it and send the hide out to be tanned. I continued the tradition, except with stuff I'd find on my adventures, usually squirrels and rabbits. They needed to be very fresh or I wouldn't go for it ;-)

The original post reminds me of a neighbor who I ran into on the street who'd just run a sewing needle through her finger on her machine. She backed the needle out, everything seemed fine except the straight-through hole ;-)
-AJ

Gymnast · Jan 2, 2019

Ouch! Hopefully you will make a good recovery from this. I might easily make same mistake.

To hold against the receiving end of the needle I often use a block of Cork like this (Price 3$): https://www.skindhuset.dk/produkter/58-almindelig-laedervaerktoej/267-kork-105x60x25mm/

I think a leather worker would love to do stitching this way with two needles and an awl. The awl i used to make way and reduce needle friction. https://youtu.be/aVKIcyj0U5E