Making A Rope Spinner

You will need to use a coping saw to make your rope spinner. To make a cutout in a

piece of wood, first bore a hole, 1⁄4 inch or larger, just inside the shape you want to

cut out. Remove the blade of the coping saw, slip the blade through the bored hole,

and replace the blade in the saw frame. With the blade thus “inside” the wood,

saw along the cutting line. Use the coping saw only under direct supervision of a

knowledgeable adult.

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Using binder twine instead of cactus fibers, Scouts today can make rope the same way. To make a rope spinner, start with a 12-inch piece of 2-by-4-inch construction lumber. The sides of the spinner are tapered to produce a shape with more weight at the bottom to aid in spinning. The knob at the top is shaped to hold twine and strands in place.

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1. Draw the outline of the spinner on the face of the wood, then cut it out using a coping saw.

2. Drill a 7⁄16-inch-diameter hole, positioning it 2 inches from the top of the spinner. The hole will be fitted with the handle.

3. For a spinner handle, use a wooden dowel 3⁄8 inch in diameter and about 10 inches long. Make a stop block for the handle from a piece of wood about 3⁄4 inch square. Drill a 3⁄8-inch-diameter hole through the center of the block, and glue the dowel end into the hole.

4. Assemble the rope spinner by slipping the handle into the hole in the spinner.

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Making a Ropemaker

Farmers a hundred years ago used binder twine with their hay balers. With a

little ingenuity, those farmers devised handcranked machines to twist the twine

into rope. The pieces for the ropemaker are cut from two pieces of 3⁄4-inch-

thick plywood about 4 inches wide, one about 20 inches long and another

about 15 inches long.

1. Cut piece A, the handle, to shape. (Do not drill the holes yet.)

2. Cut pieces B and C. Glue and screw them together to form the base.

3. Cut piece D, the separator paddle, to the same shape as the handle. (Do not cut out the notches yet.)

4. Mark holes in the handle. First draw a 31⁄2-inch-diameter circle (13⁄4-inch radius) on the handle. The center of this circle should be 2 inches from the end of the handle. The edge of the circle will be 1⁄4 inch from each of three edges of the handle. Then, using a protractor, mark the positions of the three holes for the turning hooks. Mark the holes on the circle at 60-degree intervals—the 3 o’clock, 7 o’clock, and 11 o’clock positions.

5. Drill the holes. Clamp the handle and the base unit together, as shown. Using a 1⁄8-inch bit, drill the three holes through both pieces of wood.

6. Make the hooks. Cut three pieces of coat-hanger wire about 8 inches long. Use pliers to make two bends in each wire to form an L-shaped end. Each bend should be about 11⁄2 inches in length.

7. Insert the three wires through the holes in the upright piece of the base, then bend the straight end of each wire into a hook.

8. Notch the separator paddle. The separator paddle will be used to keep the strands separated as they are being twisted into rope. To position the notches, place the handle (A) directly on top of the paddle (D). Push a nail through the holes in the handle and press down on the nail to mark the positions on the paddle. Remove the nail. Sketch the shape of notches that will touch the nail marks on the paddle. Using a coping saw, cut out the notches.

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