Well this has been an interesting journey in the search of the mechanics for making furled leaders. I will not go into the wealth of scientific literature that I found only because I recognize that I would lose almost all readers and that is not my intent. Here, in a nutshell, is what I’ve found.


When we twist the fiber strands of each separate leg of the leader, we are creating stored energy in a bundle of fibers. When we twist too hard during this phase, for the amount of pull that we are applying on the long axis of the leg, the twisted bundle tries to untwist and that is what happens when we get a “Pig Tail”. My European and English cousins will probably appreciate more readily that this twisting of a number of strands into a bundle to store energy was used centuries ago in siege engines, such as the giant crossbows (Ballista) that used two bundles or the medieval catapult (Onager) powered by a single bundle of twisted ropes.


There are all kinds of calculations that can be generated using the form and function of a helix for bundles but I will not do that. Let us just say that the stored energy in each leg stays there until we either make a mistake and our leg untwists or we place the two legs side by side and then release the stored energy. When we control the release, the two legs will each untwist providing the energy to twist the two legs together known as the furling phase in making the leader. Using Kathy Scott’s method, you anchor one end of the leader and apply a weight to the other end to keep the leader from pig tailing. She notes and many of us have experienced that the total leader then twists one way and then the other for some time. Once that twisting has subsided, the control weight is reduced to just the weight of the S-hook. When the leader finally stops twisting, it has then reached a point of equilibrium where the stored twisting in each leg and the furling twist counterbalance each other. Now I ascribe to Kathy’s idea of letting gravity do the furling for me but I know many use power furling. You just would have to be careful and not over furl which would create more stored energy but in the opposite twist.


So, I think I have answered my own question. I can apply torque, that numerous engineering documents recognize as a mechanical term, which twists the fiber bundles in the two legs of my leader. I then can either use some longitudinal controlling force to allow the leg to shorten to, say 10%, of its original length OR I can twist the bundle down to a predetermined length and then stop the shortening and continue to twist until I reach a desired inch-pounds of applied torque. I would suggest that the second process would result in a more consistent stored energy given the same leader material over replications in leaders.


Again, I would appreciate any comments or corrections that anyone might have.