Thank you ,for your kind evaluation . It's hard for people who are not in the hobby to understand what it takes to get the most historicial accurate reproduction possible .I've been in the hobby for decades and look forward to punishing you with some "How I did That " threads . I finally learned yesterday how to post pics here ,and the sharing of knowlege and ideas has kept my interest in this great site . As all builders know you will work on set-up and design of gig or pattern for 4 or 5 times what it takes to do the job .
On the rope questions . I took a quick look at the links listing here ,could not find any selling 4 strand hemp . I've hunted this rope down since about 1995 . It is made by Langman Touwfabriek of Netherlands . This company has made rope since 1638 for shipping ,certainly though the Civil War . they still do natural ropes for the Tall Ships . Please treat your self to some of there historic manufacturing films available on You-Tube . They started making this natural hemp available in the US.
www.rwrope.com in New Bedford , Mass.
Order the 1 1/8" natural hemp 4 strand [ cannon prolonge ] ,and the 4mm hemp for marline covering the splices . Untreated is what I used to promote drying as splices have been known to rot . The jojoba oil or mink oil can limit this . Bob Dollar is the man to deal with on ordering ask and he will send you a copy of instructions to make 4 strand eyes .
The metal thimbles came from
www.riggingproducts.net in Portland Or. part number 920-30160 1" gal round thimble . The width works fine for the rope but plans require reducing Dia. to about 1 1/8" inside +or - . the rest of the metal is 3/8 or 1/2 stock for rings . however the d's and hook require drawing out the thicknesses or latheing down before bending .
Tom
