Making rope with a hand drill is very easy. The only drawback is that you need a lot of space. To make a 10' length of rope you need almost 40' of clearance. (in this example 38'set up gave 10' 4" finished product)
1. Tie one end of the twine to a fixed point. The ball of twine (40' away) rests next to the hand drill (hook instead of drill bit).
2. Near the fixed point place a "S" hook. Pinch twine at point A and place the pinched point over the fixed point B. Should look like right hand image.
3. Pull back with "S" hook to the hand drill (the "S" hook prevents rope burn). and put loop over hand drill hook. There are now 3 strands between the fixed hook and the hand drill hook.
4. Tie off.
5. Keeping tension on the twine turn the handle of hand drill CLOCKWISE until the twisted twine develops a kink when tension is eased.
6. Now repeat step 2 with the twisted twine. Once again the "S" hook prevents rope burn and you have 3 strands between the fixed hook and the hand drill hook.
7. Now twist COUNTER-CLOCKWISE with the hand drill handle. Over twist this a bit because any overtwisting will naturally disappear when tension is realeased.
8. Before releasing your new creation from the hooks tie a binding of some sort (clove hitch, constrictor knot, etc.) to prevent unravelling.
I use the hand drill set up because of its mechanical advantage. If you want to eliminate modern convenience you can use s twister like this. One end of the twine is attached to a fixed point and the other end is attached to the notched end of the stick. The dowel acts as a handle and the stick is swung around twisting the strands. I call it a club because it really hurts if you hit your hand with the swinging stick. Tony
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