Redes

Nets can be made either by making knots along precut lengths of lire or by ‘knitting’ mesh row by row. They are not only useful for fishing. A Gil net can also be hung between trees to catch birds and a purse net, made from twine can e placed over animal burrows. Use the same techniques to make a hammock from strong twine.

Make this from parachute cords or from two thicknesses of twine. Parachute cord consists of an inner core of fine line whitin an outer core. Pull the fine inner line out and cut it into manegeable and equal lengths (or cut lengths of thinner string). Their length will determine the depth of your net wich can be about 3/8 that of the length of line.

Decide how wide you want your net and set two poles that distance apart. Tie a length of parachute cord outer (or thicker twine) between the two. Cut a piece of wood about 3\_5 cm across. Use this as a gauge to space out the thinner vertical threads(inner core).

Another use for netting is to make stuff sacks / net bags, to contain, organise equipment e.g. clothes etc. A net bag starts with a foundation ring as shown in figure 4.2.4, a loop of nylon cord onto which the first row of loops are tied. These loops are formed around the mesh stick and locked in place using a series of clove hitches. Note, the tail of the first clove hitch needs to be about 1m long as it will be used to join each mesh row into a ring, the number of loops formed determines the bags width. When the required number of meshes minus one have been formed the head and tail cords are tied together using a reef knot, re-enforced by tying an overhand knot in the nylon cord. The final mesh is then formed by joining the head and tail cords together using an overhand knot. In this example the foundation ring is formed from ten loops. The next row of meshes is tied onto the first row using a basic sheet bend, again the final mesh is formed by tying the head and tail cords together using an overhand knot. This is repeated until bag reaches the required depth. The final row is re-enforced by forming a double row by knotting the cord back round the final row. Finally a nylon draw string is feed round the top row.