[MarkJerling]

The new stuff is often cheap crap, however much they charge for it (speaking from experience), whether synthetic or otherwise. The answer is to string them with plain white marine-grade polyester. I’m amused you have double-hung sash windows down under, but I suppose the design was taken there by Europeans. Apprentice joiners aren’t even taught how to repair them here nowadays, however much the conservationists love them.

Most Victorian and Edwardian homes used double hung sashes and many modern homes benefit from their clever design too, although new ones don't use weights and cords. Thanks for the hint with marine grade polyester.

The Dutch loved using vertically sliding sashes too so when I worked on 1700's homes in South Africa many of those had really big sash windows but, customarily, only the lower half slides up, the upper half is fixed in place and never slides down.

Not my image, but I've done much work in and around this building, amongst many others.

[bertwert]

Okay, I think you're talking about a trucker's hitch which is based on the sheepshank and is a fine method of tightening down a tarpaulin or ropes holding a load down on a truck – hence the name. It's not something you'd use to hold a heavy load in place for some time because it stresses parts of the hitch much more than the rest of the rope and it's not completely secure under severe loading. I've used it often when load straps weren't available.


If that's what they were using (and only if) then it wasn't the best choice for the job.

Very true of using the right knot or hitch for the right job... and in the case quoted above would have most likely failed with whatever rope used, synthetic or natural...

Also, that's a weird trucker's hitch... I use one a lot for setting up shelters, or securing loads as you mention. More suited to hold a load down, than to hold a vertically held load - as it's a tensioning knot. If it's in critical use, I'll thrown a safety knot on the free end requiring that to be untied first before the hitch can be.

[StiffLegged]

Ah yes, the dowel fix! Some sashes rather cleverly have the access panel accessible without needing to remove the trim. Often, the easiest is to cut a new access panel using a multitool type saw with a nice fine blade.

I used to occasionally see windows with particular fittings to hold the trim or baton rod in place so it could be removed easily.




Most joiners just nailed the things on and then most owners slapped on the paint without a second thought. At least in those days they didn't use nailguns ...

Getting the sash weight pocket open? Good luck, mate.

[StiffLegged]

... that's a weird trucker's hitch... I use one a lot for setting up shelters, or securing loads as you mention. More suited to hold a load down, than to hold a vertically held load - as it's a tensioning knot. If it's in critical use, I'll thrown a safety knot on the free end requiring that to be untied first before the hitch can be.

The advantage of the sheepshank-based trucker's hitch is it's very quick and easy to set up. A more secure version would use an Alpine Butterfly for the fixed loop you pass the end back through before pulling on tension. BTW, the Alpine Butterfly is a splendid thing and easily untied even after a shock load has pulled it very tight. If you spend time in the mountains using lifelines in avalanche country it's a must.

Alpine Butterfly Knot - How to tie an Alpine Butterfly Knot | All Knots Animated

[bertwert]

The advantage of the sheepshank-based trucker's hitch is it's very quick and easy to set up. A more secure version would use an Alpine Butterfly for the fixed loop you pass the end back through before pulling on tension. BTW, the Alpine Butterfly is a splendid thing and easily untied even after a shock load has pulled it very tight. If you spend time in the mountains using lifelines in avalanche country it's a must.

Alpine Butterfly Knot - How to tie an Alpine Butterfly Knot | All Knots Animated

A very practical know I have used for that very purpose, at least for roping together on a glacier for crevasse safety.

It's my go to loop to tie in the middle when you don't have the ends of a rope

[JimJohnson]

Ah yes, the dowel fix! Some sashes rather cleverly have the access panel accessible without needing to remove the trim. Often, the easiest is to cut a new access panel using a multitool type saw with a nice fine blade.

Let me clarify, to get to the access panel hiding the counter weight, and to attach the replacement rope, it is typically necessary to remove the lower sash. That sash is typically restrained by a piece of trim on either side of the sash. That trim in any but the cheapest construction is not rectangular; rather it was created by a plainer knife - a shape unlikely to still exist 115 years later. The trim typically is the length of both upper and lower sashes. Further the trim may have been built to be removed via screws, but those screws are buried under repeated coats of paint or varnish/shellac, not to mention sealed into place by the finish.

The access panel forms the 'wall' along which the sash slides. Realistically the finest saw blade is going to still going to have some kind of kerfs the width of the saw blade - and depending on how the access panel was designed, cutting it may prevent the replacement. For our windows, that painted in place square stop between the sashes also has to be removed to get to the access panel. The few ropes I have replaced have typically required slow careful work over multiple days to make the job look 'as good as new' when done.

Such a project makes finely finished dowels very acceptable.

[MarkJerling]

Let me clarify, to get to the access panel hiding the counter weight, and to attach the replacement rope, it is typically necessary to remove the lower sash. That sash is typically restrained by a piece of trim on either side of the sash. That trim in any but the cheapest construction is not rectangular; rather it was created by a plainer knife - a shape unlikely to still exist 115 years later. The trim typically is the length of both upper and lower sashes. Further the trim may have been built to be removed via screws, but those screws are buried under repeated coats of paint or varnish/shellac, not to mention sealed into place by the finish.

The access panel forms the 'wall' along which the sash slides. Realistically the finest saw blade is going to still going to have some kind of kerfs the width of the saw blade - and depending on how the access panel was designed, cutting it may prevent the replacement. For our windows, that painted in place square stop between the sashes also has to be removed to get to the access panel. The few ropes I have replaced have typically required slow careful work over multiple days to make the job look 'as good as new' when done.

Such a project makes finely finished dowels very acceptable.

Agreed.

Usually, the sashes are 45mm thick and the sash weight between 40-45mm square or round. So, the "easier" way to do it is to slide the lower sash up as far as it will go and prop it in place. Then, cut out a top and bottom cut for the access panel, hard against the parting bead and hard against the inside trim bead, and angle the top and bottom "horizontal" cuts so that when you put the access panel back it can't push "in" to the sash weight "box". It is, of course, not possible to only do this because to fit the new ropes you need to get the sashes out, and to do that you have no choice but to remove the parting bead and inner trim beads so as to be able to do that. But, at least it avoids removing the architrave on the inside which often was the only way to access the "box". The better windows had pre-made access panels in the sliding area but often they're painted shut. the cheaper windows have no access panels and you need to remove the whole inside "face" which is a royal pain. At least, with painted timber, it's easier to hide these repairs.

The nicest sliding sashes I've seen don't use ropes, but chains which last practically forever, never stretch and never need replacing.

[lesmore49]

I tie a mean square knot, that's about it.
Seems like one of the gang got into knot tying not too long ago. #2 maybe?

That was me #1. Good memory you have.

Last Xmas my wife got me a book on knots and some nice rope ...two different coloured ropes..to learn and practice tying a variety of knots.


All this stuff comes from Lee Valley, a Canuck store, that we patronize a lot, as it has so many interesting and useful items, that are hard to find elsewhere.

The Book:

https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/home/books-magazines-and-dvds/55730-the...-book-of-knots


The Rope and the Ring...to practice what I've learned.

https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/home/storage/ropes-bungees-and-tie-down...e-and-ring-set

Part of the reason my wife got me this book of knots and rope and ring, was to work on my dexterity, strength, coordination after my shoulder replacement surgery of the past year. I can sit in my Easy Boy recliner, while watching TV and work away at different knots.

Keeps my mind active and my hands busy.

As they ....and my wife say....'Idle hands are the devil's playthings.'

For this coming Xmas, we bought our kids....son and daughter and their significant others....as stocking stuffers.... this clamp that can be used for securing rope....to tie things up, without using knots. They have busier lives than us, working hard, all sorts of activities, a grandson to take care of, etc...and this will enable them to use ropes to secure, without tying knots.

https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/home/storage/ropes-bungees-and-tie-down...rope-tensioner


When I was a boy, I was a Cub Scout and was pretty good at tying knots in ropes, etc. Later on, I would use ropes to tie articles onto my motorcycles' parcel grid(s) and even later, to secure our 17.5 foot Old Towne Freighter canoe to the rack of our station wagon, etc.

If I don't say myself I wasn't bad at tying different knots, although I do have a few favourites.

But I'll save that for another time, as I seem to be digressing at quite a speed right now.

[StiffLegged]

…. That sash is typically restrained by a piece of trim on either side of the sash. That trim in any but the cheapest construction is not rectangular; rather it was created by a plainer knife - a shape unlikely to still exist 115 years later…

I think you’d be surprised how many of these moulded sections can still be made. A competent machinist with a spindle moulder could knock out yards of the stuff with just a little care and time. Router bits to replicate the profiles are also widely available, but don’t try that at home without proper training.

The real problem is when trying to replace the timber like for like to maintain an authentic stained or oiled finish. Red deal of equal quality is hard to come by hereabouts and other species widely used a century or more ago are like hen’s teeth. Yellow pine was often used for internal joinery and just isn’t in the timber merchants’ catalogues any more. Pitch pine was felled almost to extinction: a number of commercial plantations should have reached maturity by now but if sir has to ask, sir is most unlikely to afford. And yet the staircase and the 10”x2.5” floor joists in my last house (late Victorian) were all pitch pine.

Me, I’d strip the decades of leaded paint back and refinish those windows once I’d overhauled ‘em.

[savoche]

Seriously, if there are useful knots which don't work with synthetic rope I'd like to know, because I don't know any like that and there's no excuse for not knowing useful knots.

It seems Dyneema rope is so slippery that people use splices rather than knots unless the knots are stitched or taped.

But even in the Ashley Book of Knots you find hints for e.g. the bowlne knot:

#1010 "Properly tied in ordinary rope, there is little or no danger of a BOWLINE KNOT'S capsizing before the breaking point of the rope itself is reached."

and

#1013 "The DOUBLE or ROUND TURN BOWLINE is put into stiff or slippery rope [...] It holds the BOWLINE together in such a way as to lessen the danger of its capsizing, which is liable to occur when a SINGLE BOWLINE is carelessly drawn up."

--
As for knowing useful knots, I've found several in this collection: Notable Knot Index

[Racer X 69]

If it is so much bother to take leave without pay you should have taken it with pay.

I roll over each year on the anniversary of the day I was hired, July 25. On that day the vacation and sick leave accrued is added to by personal time off bank. Since I had planned on retiring just after the first of the year, I had carefully planned out the use of the accrued vacation. In fact, this week is one of those ‘vacations’, the other being the week before Christmas. After that I will have 1.3 hours of vacation time left.

The sick leave is also earmarked, for some surgery I anticipate just after the first of the year.

No worries regarding time off without pay, as I have been drawing my state pension since September one.

It’s all good Tim.

[Racer X 69]

Racer, where in Nebraska did your mom grow up? Not many of the old sod houses left…

Arnold, about 40 miles northeast of North Platte.

[savoche]

The advantage of the sheepshank-based trucker's hitch is it's very quick and easy to set up. A more secure version would use an Alpine Butterfly for the fixed loop you pass the end back through before pulling on tension. BTW, the Alpine Butterfly is a splendid thing and easily untied even after a shock load has pulled it very tight. If you spend time in the mountains using lifelines in avalanche country it's a must.

Alpine Butterfly Knot - How to tie an Alpine Butterfly Knot | All Knots Animated

Indeed very useful. Here's an alternative way to tie it, very hard to get wrong, easy to remember.

Youtu.be

Youtu.be

[Racer X 69]

It could need a lick of paint.

One would not want to lick the paint, as it is likely lead based.

[savoche]

He's not getting out of that hole too easily!

Probably somebody wanted to make sure of it

Matobo/Matopos is a spectacular place, though. I can see why he liked the place.