Fibre Ropes, Knots,

Hitches
Fibre Ropes, Knots, Hitches
• Fibre rope is a commonly used tool which has many
applications in daily hoisting and rigging operations.
• Readily available in a wide variety of synthetic and natural
fibre materials, these ropes may be used as
• slings for hoisting materials
• handlines for lifting light loads
• Taglines for helping to guide and control loads.
• There are countless situations where the rigger will be
required to tie a safe and reliable knot or hitch in a fibre rope
as part of the rigging operation. Fastening a hook, making eyes
for slings, and tying on a tagline are a few of these situations.
Fibre Ropes, Knots, Hitches
• Characteristics
Fibre are either natural or synthetic. Natural fibre ropes are more
subject to deterioration from rot, mildew, and chemicals.
• Polypropylene
• most common fibre rope used in rigging
• floats but does not absorb water
• stretches less
• affected by the ultraviolet rays in sunlight and should not be left
outside for long periods
• softens with heat and is not recommended for work involving
exposure to high heat
Fibre Ropes, Knots, Hitches
• Nylon
• remarkable for its strength
• considerably stronger than the same size and construction of
polypropylene rope
• nylon stretches and hence is not used much for rigging
• more expensive, loses strength when wet, and has low resistance
to acids
• Polyester
• Stronger than polypropylene
• Not strong as nylon
• Have good resistance to acids, alkalis, and abrasion
• Do not stretch as much as nylon
• Resist degradation from ultraviolet rays and don’t soften in heat
Fibre Ropes, Knots, Hitches
• NOTE: All fibre ropes conduct electricity when wet. When dry,
however, polypropylene and polyester have much better
insulating properties than nylon.
Inspection
• Inspect fibre rope regularly and before each use.
• Check for external wear and cuts, variations in the size and
shape of strands, discoloration, and the elasticity or “life”
remaining in the rope.
• Untwist the strands without kinking or distorting them.
• Check for broken yarns, excessively loose strands and yarns, or
an accumulation of powdery dust, which indicates excessive
internal wear between strands as the rope is flexed back and
forth in use.
• If the inside of the rope is dirty, if strands have started to
unlay, or if the rope has lost life and elasticity, do not use it for
hoisting.
Inspection
• Check for distortion in hardware. If thimbles are loose in the
eyes, seize the eye to tighten the thimble (Figure 2.1). Ensure
that all splices are in good condition and all tucks are done up
(Figure 2.2)
Working Load Limit
• The maximum force that you should load a component is the
working load limit (WLL).

You must never exceed the

Working Load Limit.
Care
• To unwind a new coil of fibre rope, lay it flat with the inside
end closest to the floor. Pull the inside end up through the coil
and unwind counterclockwise.
• After use, recoil the rope clockwise. Keep looping the rope
over your left arm until only about 15 feet remain. Start about
a foot from the top of the coil and wrap the rope about six
times around the loops. Then use your left hand to pull the
bight back through the loops and tie with a couple of half-
hitches to keep the loops from uncoiling ( Figure 2.5).
Care
• Remove kinks carefully. Never try to pull them straight. This
will severely damage the rope and reduce its strength.
• When a fibre rope is cut, the ends must be bound or whipped
to keep the strands from untwisting. Figure 2.6 shows the
right way to do this.
Storage
• Store fibre ropes in a dry cool room with good air circulation –
temperature 10-21°C (50-70°F) humidity 40-60%.
• Hang fibre ropes in loose coils on large diameter wooden pegs
well above the floor (Figure 2.7).
Storage
• Protect fibre ropes from weather, dampness, and sunlight.
Keep them away from exhaust gases, chemical fumes, boilers,
radiators, steam pipes, and other heat sources.
• Let fibre ropes dry before storing them. Moisture hastens rot
and causes rope to kink easily. Let a frozen rope thaw
completely before you handle it. Otherwise fibres can break.
Let wet or frozen rope dry naturally.
• Wash dirty ropes in clean cool water and hang to dry.
Use
• Never overload a rope. Apply the design factor of 5 (10 for ropes
used to support or hoist personnel). Then make further allowances
for the rope’s age and condition.
• Never drag a rope along the ground. Abrasive action will wear, cut,
and fill the outside surfaces with grit.
• Never drag a rope over rough or sharp edges or across itself. Use
softeners to protect rope at the sharp comers and edges of a load.
• Avoid all but straight line pulls with fibre rope. Bends interfere with
stress distribution in fibres.
• Always use thimbles in rope eyes. Thimbles cut down on wear and
stress.
• Keep sling angles at more than 45°. Lower angles can dramatically
increase the load on each leg (Figure 2.8). The same is true with wire
rope slings.
Use
• Never use fibre rope near welding or flame cutting. Sparks and
molten metal can cut through the rope or set it on fire.
• Keep fibre rope away from high heat. Don’t leave it
unnecessarily exposed to strong sunlight, which weakens and
degrades the rope.
• Never couple left-lay rope to right-lay.
• When coupling wire and fibre ropes, always use metal
thimbles in both eyes to keep the wire rope from cutting the
fibre rope.
Use
• Make sure that fibre rope used with tackle is the right size for
the sheaves. Sheaves should have diameters at least six –
preferably ten – times greater than the rope diameter.
Knots
• Wherever practical, avoid tying knots in rope. Knots, bends,
and hitches reduce rope strength considerably. Just how much
depends on the knot and how it is applied. Use a spliced end
with a hook or other standard rigging hardware such as slings
and shackles to attach ropes to loads.
• For knot tying, a rope is considered to have three parts (Figure
2.9).

• The end is where you tie the knot. The standing part is
inactive. The bight is in between.
Knots
• Following the right sequence is essential in tying knots.
Equally important is the direction the end is to take and
whether it goes over, under, or around other parts of the rope.
• There are overhand loops, underhand loops, and turns (Figure
2.10).
Knots
• WARNING – When tying knots, always follow the directions
over and under precisely. If one part of the rope must go
under another, do it that way. Otherwise an entirely different
knot – or no knot at all – will result.
• Once knots are tied, they should be drawn up slowly and
carefully to make sure that sections tighten evenly and stay in
proper position.
Bowline
• Never jams or slips when properly tied. A universal knot if
properly tied and untied. Two interlocking bowlines can be
used to join two ropes together. Single bowlines can be used
for hoisting or hitching directly around a ring.
Bowline on the Bight
• Used to tie a bowline in the middle of a line or to make a set
of double-leg spreaders for lifting pipe.
Pipe Hitch
Reef or Square Knot
• Can be used for tying two ropes of the same diameter
together. It is unsuitable for wet or slippery ropes and should
be used with caution since it unties easily when either free
end is jerked. Both live and dead ends of the rope must come
out of the loops at the same side.
Two Half Hitches
• Two half hitches, which can be quickly tied, are reliable and
can be put to almost any general use.
Running Bowline
• The running bowline is mainly used for hanging objects with
ropes of different diameters. The weight of the object
determines the tension necessary for the knot to grip.
Figure-Eight Knot
• This knot is generally tied at the end of a rope to temporarily
prevent the strands from unlaying. The figure-eight knot can
be tied simply and quickly and will not jam as easily as the
overhand knot. It is also larger, stronger, and does not injure
the rope fibres. The figure-eight knot is useful in preventing
the end of a rope from slipping through a block or an eye.