Rope

[Hibernicus]

Some pics of one of our soldiers making a hank of rope.
3 ply braided, 3 twist... ends up being about 1/2" / 12.7mm

[Aetius Helvius Merula]

Cool! What sort of raw materiel did he start with? I have a vague idea of the process, but nothing else.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

I would imagine the Romans had a fairly advanced rope making industry, it is a fairly ancient process, and we still use hemp rope today!
It doesn't slip as easily as modern synthetic ropes.

[brennivs - tony drake]

It is a great way of knocking up useful rope.I make mine in the staff room at work,although I can not get anyone to sit down on a chair to act as a weight while I am doing it :lol: :lol:
Regards Brennivs

[Hibernicus]

The material is hemp, 3 ply twisted then braided.

Strong stuff

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

The material is hemp, 3 ply twisted then braided.

Strong stuff

you're not supposed to smoke it....ohhhhhhh ok STRONG stuff :roll:

[M. Demetrius]

Round braid, I'm guessing?

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

is it twisted braid? or braid as in a fraulines pigtails?

[Hibernicus]

Each strand is a 3 ply twist

These three strands are braided, the shape is more oval than round

[M. Demetrius]

I was just asking, because you can do either with three strand braiding. It depends on whether you roll the cord around, or lay it flat. That sling picture I posted has both round and flat--round for the "cord" and flat for the "pocket".

[scythius]

In the photos, Vitruvius is making a flat braid rope, which is handier for some applications.

I generally make a twisted rope - generally a double reverse overhand twist or triple reverse overhand twist.

For general utility cordage I use hemp, although for a project I hope to have done by Lafe I am using palm fiber.

[M. Demetrius]

It's kind of cool that now you can buy hemp cord at most craft stores. Jute and sisal used to be the only kinds available, jute is not very strong, and sisal seems to come untwisted and get "shaggy" too much. Hemp is better in every way for ropemaking.

Did Romans ever make use of some variation on the Boy Scout rope machine, that puts the twist on three cords with a crank mechanism? (I know I got the chronology of those two backwards.)

[scythius]

I believe that is post-period for us - I have a book on the history of rope somewhere in my library, and I'll see if I can find it.

There are some simple tools, like a swivelstick that I remember as being in use in our time oeriod.

[M. Demetrius]

Thanks. Those machines are pretty easy to make, and it would be another fun demo that we could get kids to do some hands-on at events, you know?

At least the technology and the crank wouldn't be foreign to Romans, but whether they used that system, I don't know.

[scythius]

I am thinking that the crank machine may be circa 1200 CE - and so wildly inappropriate for a demo.

I made 10 meters of rope in about an hour and a half )not counting breaks) and people tend to be more interested in handwork during demos anyhow...