HOW TO MAKE 3 AND 5-FINGERED, CROWFOOT PAVILION GUY ROPES

by Eric Elliott / Sir Eric Foxworthy OL

First, make sure you have a piece of rope that is long enough. The rope will shorten (on both ends) the distance from the separation point of the "fingers" to their end point. Leave a safety factor.

Hold the rope with both hands close together and twist it in the opposite direction to the lay of the strands. (See Figure 1)

The individual strands will separate and then twist up on each other as shown in Figure 2. Soft plastic ropes may not do this or do it poorly. Rough rope like the manila used in the example might catch on itself and tangle at the beginning. This can be fixed by grabbing the ends of the fingers, pulling and twisting a bit to get them to fall into the proper shape. 

Keep twisting and feeding the rope into the growing fingers until they reach the length required. (This length will vary with each pavilion.) Cut the short side of the rope and untwist the three strands. (Indicated by the arrows in Figure 3) 

If you want to use the peg method of fastening the guy to the pavilion (discussed below) rather than tying the ends you will have to untwist the center finger and retwist it to make it the right length.*

Now splice those strands back into the rope below the separation point of the fingers. If you don't know how to splice rope, here are two very good references:

http://www.scouting.org.za/resources/pioneering/Splicing.pdf   (Go to the section on the Short Splice)

http://www.aie.org.uk/aie_data/aie_knot_3splice.html (Pictures with each strand colored differently.)

Figure 4 shows the completed 3-finger guy. The bracket indicates the area of the splice.

Several period sources show 5-fingered guys as well. There are some very clear depictions in King René's Book of Love as you can see here:

I've tried several different knotting schemes but all produce huge knots and dangling ends, neither of which are suggested by period sources.

The following method produces strong guy ropes that visually match manuscript illustrations.

First make a 3-fingered guy and put it aside. Unlay an adequate length of rope, take one of the three strands and start twisting it back together.* When you've gotten the right length (Which, for a round pavilion, will be slightly longer than the longest of the fingers on the 3-strand guy.), stop and measure out the same distance on the untwisted part of the strand. Start from that point and begin twisting from there back toward the previously twisted part. You should end up with a piece of rope that looks like the one in Figure 5. (The masking tape is to keep the strand from unraveling until this piece is set into the guy.)

You will need a fid, spike, or big nail to separate the strands of the splice. When you've got an opening (Make sure there are 3 strands on each side of the hole for an even load.) push the double-ended piece through the hole. In Figure 6, the red lines indicate the original guy rope and the black arrows show where the double-ended piece is shoved through. Adjust the double-ended piece until equal lengths are on each side of the splice. Now take the single strands of the double-ended piece and tie them around the diameter of the splice in an overhand knot, pull the ends around to the other side of the splice and make another overhand knot. Now work the free ends into the splice and trim the ends off.

Figure 7 shows what the result should look like. A strong 5-fingered guy rope that looks very much like period drawings.

If you take care to make the fingers of the guy match the length needed for your pavilion, you can simply attach the fingers by shoving pegs through the loops at the end of each finger as seen in Figure 8. The twist tension in the strands of the fingers will keep a tight hold on the pegs if they are not made of exceedingly smooth or polished wood.

* A note on twisting cords:

To twist a strand into a 2-ply cord, you do pretty much the opposite of what you did to produce the original crow's foot. Hold the strand with both hands and twist with the lay. The strand will turn around on itself and begin to form a 2-ply cord. Keep twisting each strand and allow the cord to form. It can be a bit tricky to keep an even twist on both strands in order to form a nice, even cord but all it takes is a bit of practice.

If you're interested in further information, here's a link on primitive cordage making:

http://www.grannysstore.com/Wilderness_Survival/Cordage_Making.htm