Pineapple Knot

[skyout]

Another one for my better half. She loved it!

A 4 strand sennit secured into the 5/8" wooden ball with a 12part X 12bright, 2 pass, Type 1 pineapple knot.



I was asked several times how I secure the sennit to the core so I thought I'd share how I did it here: The wooden core came with a hole thru the center. I gathered the 8 strands together and put a constrictor knot at the base of the joined braid. I then was able to get the size (diameter) of the 8 strands together so I could redrill the hole to the correct size (just a little bigger). Don't try holding the wooden ball with your hand while drilling, use pliers or a vise for safety. Then push all 8 strands thru the top and out the bottom of the wooden core, making sure the constrictor knot is buried inside the hole and just out of view. I cut the strands coming out of the bottom off leaving about 1/4" sticking out. Grab the bic lighter and set it on fire. Turn the ball around and around so the strands all burn together evenly. Once it reaches the bottom of the hole I use the smooth surface of the lighter to blend it out smooth by pushing on the melting cord. With a little practice you kind of know when to start smoothing it out, it needs to cool down just a little bit after you blow it out. You want it to burn inside the hole a little and out bigger than the hole so it will hold good.Any big lumps get remelted and smoothed out again with the lighter. I have not tried it because remelting works good but I think you could use a hand file to smooth any lumps, too.

My second shark tooth trophy PK (the red and black one shown on the previous page) I had to drill two holes, one out each side because of the tooth in the bottom. It worked OK. I used the melted nylon cord to fill where the drill got too close to the surface and came out (ripped the ball) before the end of the hole.

Please see a safety concern from my good friend SS369:

Good explanation of the securing of the braid.

If you were to take the next sized drill bit and enlarge just one end of the finished hole, you will have a counter bore for the melted blob to pull back up into and that might save your finger or keep you from possibly melting the plastic lighter.
Not sure what the safety rating of those throwaway lighters are but there has been some news of people doing weird things to their faces with a disposable lighter mishap.

Better safe than disfigured I always say.

[Barry]

How Do Rick 

Very Nice looking work, and a good explaination of your loop attachment method, the flower's quite pretty too
Thanks for sharing.

Take care,
Barry

[skyout]

Thanks Barry.

The orchid, like her new key fob, is one of my wife's favorites, too. LOL

It has 2 blooms today and when all the buds bloom together it is quite spectacular.

[skyout]

I made a tutorial/grid that Brian posted at KHWW in the tutorial section.
It is for the 16 part x 16 bright 2 pass Type 1 Pineapple Knot.
This one is from a base 9px8b Turks Head with a 7px8b Turk's Head
interweave, which gives 3 zigzags in the finished knot.
I hope everyone enjoys it. Just click the link below.

http://khww.net/articles.php?article_id=145

This is one from 5/32" line from Home Depot still on a 1 1/4" dowel in University of Florida colors. Go Gators!


KHWW.net is in a rebuild stage and all the tutorials aren't up yet, but if you join Leatherworker.net (a great site) you can still view this tutorial here: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?app=gallery&image=7662

[Untangling]

This is a beautiful not.. Probably one of my favourites I've really only ever used this for practical reasons but I really like the two colour designs! I'm off to make one now!

[Rrok007]

Rick, did you dye those ropes yourself?

[DEE]

Math is not my strong point. I can't count to 21 unless I'm naked. I have never  been able to fathom the chart on page 234 ABOK and could never understand the formula for THKs. I have just tied my first successfull PK thanks to your chart. It is being tightened up on my thumbstick. It will definitely not be the last. I have some beach rocks {perfect egg shapes} to experiment on next. Many thanks for making it clear to me after all this time. I use foam pipe insulation in the middle of a paper roll and then stuff the hole with strips of a kitchen sponge. It works for meD
P.S. Please don't start a seperate thread on this but it appears that the million dollar roll here in Canada is slightly smaller than yours. I had to use the paper towel roll.   D

[skyout]

Sorry for the late replys; we've just recently recieved another new grandson in the family.

Thanks Untangling,

Post a pic sometime for us.

Hi 007,

I think the only thing I've dyed were Easter eggs. lol The blue and orange is a 5/32" line I found at Home Depot here in FL. It's a little big for PK key fobs, but I've used it on ship's wheels and Xmas ornaments.

Hi Dee,

I am really happy to hear that, it was my pleasure as I just wanted to give something back after all the help I've recieved here and other sites mentioned earlier. Thank you so much for posting the results of your PK. We'd love to see a pic sometime, too. Tom Hall's book mentioned (with links) several times in previous posts of this thread has grids for smaller PKs that will help with learning to tie this beautiful knot. You may also want to go to the Pineapple Knot Forum and try Dan Alaska's great tuts (also mentioned earlier with links) where you tie them on mandrels without a grid. He has great pictures and comments/hints and it's how I learned the "rules" so you won't need the grid. His tutorials are the next best thing to having someone show you in person how to tie a PK. JMO

Wow, it never crossed my mind that other countries might have different size TP tubes. If you would like the grid sized to CA TP specs I would be happy to do it for you. I usually resize them in Adobe but you can also resize them in Microsoft WORD. I've also just taken a cereal box, cut it to fit the grid size and then just tape it up into a tube. Resizing the grid and using the cereal box method is handy when you know the core size you want as it cuts down a lot of time when "dressing" the knot.

[EyeHunter27]

Found this old thread and started using the grid this weekend.  Not sure what I will put them all on, but will find a use.



Increased the size to 150% thinking I could make a beer coozie out of cord.  Junior found the pattern and came up with a better plan.  Nailed it flat and started weaving.  Not sure how it will turn out, but a cool idea.



Glad I found this thread, it has been very helpful.  Thanks.

[4ever_SaGa]

Greetings all,

Sam Garza here, new member with what I hope won't be too newbie a question. So, are there set rules for PKs? I recently tied a doubled 4b13p TH and decided to try my hand at a PK interweave. What I ended up with looks right, but I didn't have to split pairs as the gentleman whose tutorial I followed demonstrated. So, is it a PK or something that resembles one?



Sincerely,
Sam Garza

[Wed]

Welcome!

I'd call it a TH with 4 passes in the centre section. While the colours fit the bill for a PK, the pattern does not. If you tied it with only one colour it would show a "under one, over one" pattern that is the TH. Your black base knot has two passes, as has the red interweave. But they are all synchronized into one part.

The PK has a "under two, over two" pattern. In textiles, it's called "twill".

As I have made up my own terminology, many of the classic words have gone me by. But the interweave should have been shifted one part. That way, it will not only be more stable, it will also dress better on irregular surfaces.

[4ever_SaGa]

Thanks Wed,

I see it now. Still learning and having fun. Not to beat a dead horse, but I was wondering if you, or anyone else reading this thread. could give me some direction in terms of books to read. I already own:

Creative Ropecraft  by Stuart Grainger
The Complete Book of Decorative Knots by Geoffrey Budworth
The Maarlinspike Sailor by Hervey Garrett Smith

I'm interested in PKs and interweaves in general.  Any thoughts? Forgive me if I missed other threads regarding this subject.  Thanks in advance.

Sincerely,
Samuel Garza

[Wed]

A new thread would be appropriate ...

I "cracked the code" in my own way after several failings. It has been my meaning to write it down for a long while and present it to the public. But there are other things in the queue before that one comes to surface.

I don't know if this short description will make sense to you:

• At the end of the base knot, thread your interweave under a crossing. FOLLOW the base part that aligns the neatest (it will feel like just adding passes at first).
• At the other end, go under the crossing and follow back in the same way.
• Every time you encounter an interweave part, INVERT the threading.

These are the simple rules I follow. But granted, I wouldn't get it myself without clear pictures. Some of my knowledge stems from the late Dan "Alaska" Callahan. See what you can find of his legacy on the net.