This chapter will describe the netting and slinging of hammocks.

Hammock making requires a netting needle of one of the shapes shown by Figs. 160 and 161. It may be made from a piece of 3/16-in. pearwood, beech, or boxwood about 8 in. long by ¾ in. wide. In needles as shown by Fig. 161 the cord is wound round as when filling an ordinary shuttle, and for Fig. 160 the cord is brought round the end at A up one side, round the pin at B, and back the same side, the process being repeated on the other side of the needle.

A mesh stick (Fig. 162) is made of hardwood or bone about 5 in. long and of an oval shape (Fig. 163); it may be about ¾ in. by ¼ in. in section. At one end of the string to be used for the net tie a loop A (Fig. 164), and place the knot on a nail or hook fixed in some convenient position, as at A (Fig. 165). Place the mesh stick under the loop as at B, put the cord under it, then pass the needle through the loop and pull the cord tight.

Now place the thumb of the left hand on the cord beyond the loop as at A (Fig. 166), and with a turn of the wrist of the right hand throw the cord to the position shown at B, then pass the needle under the loop C, then through the bight of B, and down as at D, and draw the knot tight, which should then assume the shape shown by Fig. 167. The cord must be held firmly with the thumb at A (Fig. 166) when pulling up the knots, as on this depends the uniformity of the meshes.

To continue the netting the stick is withdrawn and placed under A (Fig. 167), and the needle is then passed under the stick as in Fig. 165, and brought through the loop B (Fig. 167), and the process shown by Fig. 166 is repeated to form another mesh, this being continued to make a chain of meshes, say forty-five or fifty (Fig. 168), sufficient for the width of the hammock. The loop A (Figs. 164, 165, and 168) that was first tied is then untied, and it will then be found that all the meshes are equal in size.

Next the chain is opened out at right angles to the line in which it was made, as shown by Fig. 169, and working across is begun by making a mesh at A (Fig. 169), then at B, C, and so on, until the length of the first lot of meshes has been reached, when the net is turned over and another row of meshes worked until the one under A has been reached; then the net is turned again and another row worked, and so on.

The meshes are worked as shown by Fig. 166, but at first, to ensure uniformity, it will be well to put the loops D, E, F, and G (Fig. 169) separately on the hook or nail as the meshes under them are made, but after a little practice a cord may be reeved through the top line of meshes, tied into a loop, and passed over the knee and then over the foot, as the work progresses.

There are three ways of forming the ends. An ash stick may be used at each end to which the end meshes are looped and tied, and a piece of codline may be passed through the side meshes on each side and attached to the ends of the sticks. At each end a stout cord is secured to the stick in the form of a triangle for hanging the hammock. The second plan is to tie a number of cords together by doubling them in the centre and forming a loop, and each of the free ends, known as “nettles,” is attached to one of the meshes of the net. The third and perhaps the best plan is to reeve a cord about the size of a little finger through the end meshes and splice it into the form of a grommet as shown by Fig. 170. A thimble A is fixed in the end to which the supporting cords are attached, and the cords which are reeved through the side meshes are spliced into the eye B at C. When these “clews” are used the net must be longer than for the sticks or nettles.