Three Legged Furling Machine

[ducksterman]

I've seen a powered furling machine with 3 hooks plus the central power hook.

What is the third "leg" hook for?......perhaps used when one wants to add another type of thread????????

[JohnScott]

... for starting this thread.

I was thinking about the three legged furled leader in terms of a Walton's Engine yesterday and wondering how the third leg is configured and what effect it has.

Follow the link for pix of Walton's Engine and some brief comments by the vendor. In a previous thread it was noted that the three legged version has some advantages and is more uniformly round / tapered, but there was no explanation nor description how to set up the material before twisting.

http://eclecticangler.com/?p=94

Hopefully someone will come along with some clear explanations how to use a three legged furling machine.

John

[Ron Eagle Elk]

John,

When I have used a Walton's Engine, it was to furl up snoods of horse hair to make lines with. The snoods are usually made with multiples of three hairs, one for each hook or "leaf" for lack of a better term on the engine. The lines I have seen and made tapered from the tippet end witih three hairs to a heavier section of six hairs, then nine hairs and finally twelve nearer the rod tip. When constructing lines of snoods, each snood is about 24-30 inches long and knotted together, forming the tapered line The horse hair lines are pretty dang tough considering they're made of hair, surprisingly stretchy to protect light (one hair) tippets, and are nearly invisible in the water. Should you decide to attempt a horse hair line make sure to use the white hair from the tail of a lusty stallion, nothing else will suffice.

The same procedure can be done by hand, but the Waltons Engine makes the job much simpler and very uniform once you get the hang of it.

REE

[kbproctor]

Ron, is there any other kind of stallion? If a stallion isn't lusty, you might as well geld him.

[knucks]

Duck
The two outside hooks are to twist the two stands, and you put them on the middle hook to furl the leader. The middle hook turns in the opposite direction.

knucks

[ducksterman]

Thanks, knucks, but note that I said 3 hooks PLUS the central power hook....the total number of hooks is 4.

[knucks]

Duck

My bad. Need to go back to reading class.

knucks

[EclecticGuy]

Hi folks, I am Michael Hackney - The Eclectic Angler. Although my main interest is reelsmithing and teaching people how to make reels, I also make Walton's Engines and Production Furling Machines. Several of the commercial furled leader makers use my machines. Here are some photos of them:







These have the four hook configuration and here is the explanation!

Furled silk lines were typically 3 strand furls. This provides a tighter furl that is rounder in cross section than a 2 strand furl and results in a line that is less springy and slightly stiffer. On a long line, each strand is laid out individually, put on the machine and furled. This is typically done on a "rope walk" - simply a long area where you can furl the entire length. I make 30' to 90' furled silk lines and use my back yard to lay them out and furl. On lines these long, you do need to power furl - hence the middle hook. It rotates in the opposite direction from the planetary hooks and on my furlers, at 1/3 the speed. This gives the furler a little more control of the furl, but you could simply forego the center hook and use one of the planetary hooks and reverse the motor. At least one of the porduction furled leader makers uses my 4 hook machine to make 4 strand furled leaders. I have a few and they are very nice. They are trickier to lay out than a 2 strand but once you have done it once, it is straight forward.

I have written a tutorial on 3 strand line and leader furling as a PDF file. It is not 100% complete yet but I would be happy to send to anyone that wants a copy and agrees not to post it anywhere or give it to anyone else (just direct people to me and I'll be happy to give them their own copy). You need to have some experience furling to make sense of this tutorial since I have not completed the section on the actual furl and using a spreader. But, I have a design for a 3 strand furling board that can be used to make leaders or long lines, and three recipes for different types of tapers.

I am currently working on a less expensive Delrin gear and aluminum (but with full bearing like my production machines) for personal use. These will be limited to 1000RPM in use. They will be about $100 less than the full production machines.

Regards,
Michael