#MARLIN SPIKE USES FREE#

A more normal requirement was to be in debt or to be drunk in a seaside tavern and get whacked over the head. Back in the age of sail, being able to read or write were not part of the recruitment requirements for able bodied sea faring men. You can blame this on the lack of diction coaches on ships of the line. Thus the spike became known as the marlingspike or the marlinespike.Īlmost from the beginning, the word was pronounced mar-len and not mar-line.

#MARLIN SPIKE USES FREE#

The act of picking the line free was known as marling. This was normally done with an iron spike. The only way to loosen the tarred marline from a rope was to pick the marline free. In the age of sail the marline was not waxed but tarred. Or in todays language, Marline is a small line of untwisted hemp, very pliant and well tarred, to seize the ends of ropes from raveling out (unraveling). 25: Marling is a small line of vntwisted hemp, very pliant and well tarred, to sease the ends of Ropes from raueling out While there are earlier uses for the word noted in the Oxford English Dictionary, well take a look at a description from 1627 of marlineġ627 J. A marline is a light rope of two strands used for binding larger ropes. The reason you use thin lines and twist them together is because these thin lines become stronger than a similar diameter line made of the same thickness.įrom marl we get marline. In the world of ropes marl is when you take two or more threads and twist them together to make a thicker line. This leads us to the question then of what in heck is a marlin or marline?įirst you need to know what marl means. They both got their names due to their resemblance to a sailors marlin spike. The same is true for the birds of the same name. In actuality, it is the other way around the marlin fish is named after the spike.

Why it became a Marlin Spike and is pronounced Mar Len Spike and not Mar Line Spike has more to do with bad diction and poor spelling.įirst we will dispel the myth of it being named after a fish by the same name. While today it is called a marlin spike, originally it was a marlinespike and later a marlinspike. I’ll soon be showing how I build and decorate a small fid that you can make from any hardwood scrap you have in your shop.The marlin spike is used to loosen marline. Since what I’ll be sharing on here will mostly concern working with twine, either a small fid or small marlinspike will serve you well. If the marlinspike doesn’t lock in the open position it is an accident waiting to happen. Do not buy one of these unless it has a locking marlinspike. If this pocket tool appeals to you let me give you a word of caution. The is also a popular folding tool configuration that combines a knife and on one end and a marlinspike on the other. Just like its predecessor, the marlinspike is available in several sizes based upon the size of cable that you are working with. The hole in the pin serves a few purposes, one of which is to allow the insertion of a marlinspike to aid in the loosening and tightening of the pin. Along with steel cable came the modern metal screw pin shackle. It was specifically designed to aid in the spicing of multi strand steel cables. The steel marlinspike was the answer to that need. When steel cables began to replace fiber ropes in rigging operations it became quickly apparent that a tool would be needed to take the place of the trusted fid. The marlinspike is a modern version of a fid.

Marlin spike uses