Pointing of ropes

  
Permanently to prevent a rope`s end from unlaying, it is finished with a backsplice or a pointing instead of a whipping.  

Pointing of a rope`s end is the most ornamental method of ending a rope which is intended to pass easily through blocks or small eyes.


"The word Pointing likewise is used when the strands at the end of the cable are untwisted about two foot from the end thereof, therewith to make sennit of the rope yarn; and to lay them again one over the other , braiding it lesser and lesser towards the end, and at the very end making them all fast together, with a piece of marline or the like.

This work, I say, is termed the pointing of the cable; and the use thereof is sometimes to preserve the  cable from ravelling out; but especially keep it that none of the ends be cut off and stolen away."  From: Boteler`s Dialogues

How to lay a point the early way

Put a temporary whip on the rope at 4 to 6 inches from the end, which will leave about the length for pointing, unlay the rope to the whip, then unlay the strands, sort out a convinient number of ropeyarns and make two nettles out of every yarn (a nettle is made by laying up the yarns with the finger and thumb left-handed). When the nettles are made, stop them back to the temporary seizing and form the point with the rest of the yarns, by scraping them down to a slim and proper size with a knife, then marl them down together with twine. Now devide the nettles, taking every other one up, and every other one down; hitch a length of twine, called the `warp`, with a couple of turns very taut round the part where the nettles seperate. Proceed now, by laying every alternate nettle up and down, as before, and passing the warp. Repeat this process until the pointing is of sufficient length and then finish. The ends may be whipped and snaked with twine, or the nettles hitched over the warp, and hauled taut. The temporary seizing must be snaked or covered by a taut Turks Head. Rubbing the nettles and warp with beeswax before laying the point is recommended.