Rope-a-Dope

[redsetta]

Fascinating thread (pun fully intended ) Steve - thanks for sharing!

[oc1]

OK.  I got it now.  That spool of peach colored two ply stuff I'm starting with is the problem.  The tightness and hardness of the final product can only be as tight and hard as the two ply.  As noted above, my spool of two ply is very lightly twisted (soft).  If I separate the two ply into two single threads and then twist them tighter with the machine they come back together nicely. When the three groups of two are later twisted they come together much better too.

Separating the two ply is a bit tricky though.  The stuff was not designed for that and sometimes one thread will pull fiber from the other and weaken it.  If a thread breaks you can either throw it away and start over or tie it back together.  I tie it because I can't afford to waste another 100 yard piece.  When you tie it back together that thread will have a new bump and be several inches shorter than the other, so the other thread has to be shortened too in order to keep the same tension on both.

Each piece of peach two ply has to be gingerly separated, twisted tighter with the machine, then either put on a spool or parked someplace out of the way until all three lengths are completed.  It gets very tedious and takes about three times longer than what I was doing before.

Dominick, I've seen spools of thread that say "mercerized" but didn't know what it means and had to look it up.  From the interweb, "verb - treat (cotton fabric or thread) under tension with caustic alkali to increase its strength and give it a shiny, silky appearance."  Gulp.  I can't even clean a reel without getting oil and grease and cleaner and solvent all over myself and probably shouldn't be messing around with caustic alkali. The next thing said "The process is less frequently used for linen and hemp threads."  Whew.  For now, that's going to be my excuse for not Mercerizing my fishing line.  But still, it definitely deserves looking in to.  It's the same lye (sodium hydroxide) used to make pickles and I would hate to say I'm not careful and responsible enough to make pickles.

I know that linen fishing line was stretched under tension as part of the finishing process and it does no good to stretch it if it is not wet with something.  I've been leaving it stretched with about four pounds of tension overnight as the pine tar and turpentine cure.  Maybe it should be wet with pickling lye instead.  This says to soak in a 25% solution of sodium hydroxide for two minutes under tension followed by several washings and neutralization with 10% acetic acid.
http://article.sapub.org/10.5923.j.textile.20170601.03.html
-steve

p.s. Has anyone seen my avatar around here.  I just had it a few days ago.

[Keta]

You should take up raising tropical fish and plants.... 

[Decker]

Has anyone seen my avatar around here.  I just had it a few days ago.

I see it; you don't?  Try clearing your cache and reloading the page, or just ctrl+f5.

[oc1]

Thank you Joe.  That worked.  You found me Lee.
-steve

[Deepsouth]

WOW!!!!!!!!! I'm not sure what to say. COOL doesn't seem to be enough. How about AWESOME PROJECT.

[Keta]

I have a 50# drum of NaOH (lye, caustic soda) in the barn for several uses, one being soap making.  It also makes liquid plumber look like water when it comes to cleaning drains.  Wear eye protection, long sleeves ans rubber gloves when playing with lie and avoid the fumes.

If you want to play with it and have trouble finding lye let me know.

[oc1]

Thanks for the offer Lee.  I ordered a small jar on-line.  Probably better to let a  stranger send hazardous material through the mail.
-steve

[Keta]

Why would white powder in the mail cause alarm....