How to Make Rope the Old-Fashioned Way
Watch a man named Ozzie make rope using a very simple hand-cranked machine. The real magic happens starting at about the 12-minute mark, where the three strands of the rope come together — my mouth actually fell open at this point. It’s amazing what you can do with just a simple machine that cleverly leverages the laws of physics and the material’s own properties.
You can order one of these rope making machines from Etsy.
See also How Rope Was Made the Old Fashioned Way, i.e. how rope was made in Edwardian England. (via book of joe)
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Have you seen this video, Building the Last Inca Rope Bridge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm3rp4nRNa0? They don't use a machine and the process of creating rope, plus how they create the bridge, is pretty amazing.
There is an Oregon Field Guide episode about a rope maker in Southern Oregon that used horse hair. She was 98 years old and still making rope when the episode was made in 2016.
https://www.opb.org/television/programs/oregon-field-guide/article/mecate-rope-makers/
Now I'm curious how they make the twine for the rope.
I already went down that rabbit hole:
Survival Guide: Make YARDS of natural cordage in MINUTES
Making rope was actually a part of the Boy Scouts Pioneering merit badge so lots of us had this experience. Turns out all the materials are on line here: https://pioneeringmeritbadge.org/making-rope/
Includes plans and videos to make your own simple rope making machine . Plus the site has lots of classic materials on lashing, splicing rope, and knots of course. Surprised at how much of this I remember 50 (!) years later.
@kottke two of my girls came home from a fair the other day with their own ends of rope and they were proud AF at having made them themselves. A spree of trying to tie everything up and knot learning followed
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