Knot Tying And Rigging A Skill Improvement Course
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, USA.
This 363 page, 81/2" x 11" papercover book from an apparently unlikely source is a highly informative and practical textbook on many aspects of ropework following the pattern of many American military manuals.
The aim of the book is to encourage positive safe attitudes to the topics in the text and thus reduces the chance of accident and injury. This it does in an easy to read and unambiguous style. Its nine chapters cover fibre ropes and wire ropes, their selection, care and maintenance, splicing and attachments.
A chapter on mechanical advantage leads to blocks and tackles, selection of the correct tackle for the task and the use, of slings, hooks, eyebolts and shackles. Lifting and moving of loads is covered mostly using mechanical hoists, although there is some advice on how to dangle heavy objects from a helicopter.
Because the rigging element is important to the intended users of this book, anchorages and various scaffolding structures are given coverage with information on guy lines and how to support vertical poles carrying electrical cables.
A final chapter on tools and devices used in rigging gets down to earth by covering the safe shoring or trenches and the sandpapering of peavey handles.
From the point of view of our members, only fifteen knots and hitches are described but splicing of laid rope, braided rope and wire rope is well covered.
The book is full of informative lists and tables which include, rated strength of shackles, safe working loads of shoring boards, hand signals to crane drivers and helicopter pilots, common wire rope faults and their causes, fid lengths and elastic elongation of various ropes.
There will no doubt be some of our members who may find this a useful addition to their bookshelves. Sadly, although the principles of rigging remain the same, the difference in practice means that our nautically orientated members will be better served elsewhere.
To summarise, this is a very useful book but probably not to the taste of everyone in the Guild.
Richard Hopkins