Nets Manufacturing

Net maker’s tools

Net making is characterised by the fact that the net maker uses only a few tools in his work. Other crafts have developed a wide range of tools and aids over time, which have helped increase efficiency, but this has not happened to the same extent within net making. The three most important net making tools: the knife, the net mending needle (also referred to as the net needle) and the marlinspike.

• First of all, you need a good, sharp knife that can cut cleanly through ropes and lines to avoid raw edges. The knife is also used to trim the knots in the individual sections of the net. In particular, the steel needs to be of a high quality to ensure that the knife can always be sharpened to make it really sharp.


• The net mending needle is a special type of needle with an “inner” tongue. The tongue holds thin line or thread so it is easy to pull the thread through the meshes and unwind as it is used. Needles come in many sizes, and it takes some practice to use a needle correctly. First of all, it is important to learn how to replenish the thread or line – if it is not done correctly, the line will start twisting and turning during the work, which is both time-consuming and annoying! Ordinary needles can be used for most tasks, but if you need to do the seizing on the lines on a purse seine, for example, you need a special purse seine or seizing needle. It is similar to a shuttle and has several advantages: It is sturdier, the tongue in the middle does not bend if force is used to tighten the line or thread, and the line or the thread is protected by the high edges.


• Marlinspikes also come in various sizes and versions. It is a round steel rod which is pointed at one end. The spike is used when splicing to open the strands of the rope/wire. Some marlinspikes are round and have to be removed from the rope before inserting the strand, while others resemble a cut pipe into which the strand can be placed when the marlinspike has been inserted. Then, when it is subsequently pulled out, it is necessary to check that the strand stays in the tuck.

Net mending

As mentioned earlier, most fishing nets today are made by net makers but it is still important for a fisherman to be able to mend his own nets. Small tears and holes need to be repaired when they happen – even at sea. Net mending requires both practice and experience. You need to practice a lot, and it helps if you can ask older fishermen for advice. The knot used in net mending is called the sheet bend. It is very important to ensure that the meshes in the net have the right size. If they are too small, the net becomes smaller where it has been mended. This results in an uneven pull in the net, which minimizes its strength. The same thing happens if the meshes are too large. If you are mending a tear in the trawl bag and the meshes become too small, you may be in violation of the rules on mesh sizes. For more extensive repair work, mending over a so-called row can make the task of maintaining the right mesh size a little easier. The row resembles a ruler, and its width must be equal to half the mesh size.

Trimming

When joining two net sections of a trawl, you need to trim the top of one section and the bottom of the other section. Two things are important when trimming a net section across:

• That you choose the right row of knots to cut. If you look at a piece of netting, you will see that the entire net is joined using the same type of knots, but in every other row the orientation of the knots changes (try to turn the net around and you will see it!). One row can be used when trimming the top of the section while the other row is used when trimming the bottom.

  



• That you avoid damaging the loops during trimming. The knife must be kept away from the loop which must remain. The trimming is therefore carried out in a very special way, such that the knife “lands” up at the end which is cut off once it has passed through the net.

Cutting a net section

In the body of the trawl the sides of the pieces of netting are not parallel. The cut in the side can be more or less steep, which is determined by how the bars are cut. You talk about:

• Сutting a side knot which results in a “vertical cut”.


• Сutting bars which results in a “bar cut”.


• Сutting a knot at the top or cutting across.

Normally, all sorts of combinations of these two cuts will be used to achieve the right cone shape. The length of a piece of netting is determined by the width and number of bobbins on the machine tying the net. The length of the pieces of netting is therefore usually predetermined and a half mesh from a round number: 19 ½ mesh, 49 ½ mesh, 99 ½ mesh etc. Thus, the entire section is 20, 50 and 100 meshes long if you count in the joining row. This makes it easier to calculate the length. The width is defined by the number of meshes across or as the number of knots in a specific row. The last number is double the first number.

Edging, joining and seaming

When tying a joining row it is very important that the bars have just the right length. The net can be distorted if the bars are too long or too short, and if they are not uniform, the pull between the net sections is not distributed evenly. Make sure you are fully familiar with the knots used, not least when starting and finishing the job. Check regularly that the length of the bars of the rows made is correct and uniform.