It is a characteristic of any cylinderical flat braid that all crossings of the running end will be the same, either over or under. as long as the apparent bight progression is two (that is skipping one bight between adjacent bights) in either direction and there is no more than one crossing by the running end in any wrap. This includes all the small knots that differ in parts X bights by two and the wider knots that arrive at such a bight progression after one or more "free runs".
You can use this fact to a an advantage on a pinned mandrel by passing all wraps with the proper bight increment as uausl and passing everything over in each wrap until you come to the point in the bight progression that begins to "fill in" the spaces between adjacent bights. From this wrap to the finish the knot can be completed by the process of completing the brais by visual inspection. In most cases all wraps except the last will consist of a minimum of unders.
This is the complete knot and a running list for it. The wrap rows are numbered in red. The pin sequence for each wrap is from a L-ower pin to an U-pper pin and back down to a L-ower pin. The x's are vacant spots in the complete braid structure that are not in place yet.
The first template shows the first wrap as it would go on the mandrel.
The second shows wrap two in green. Here the rest of the braid structure is in place in white so you can see the "vacant spaces" represented by the x's in the list. The manner of these crossings will by done in the proper manner by the rest of the running list.
Notice the bight progression of two pins in the clockwise direction from L-1 to L-3 to L-5.
Here are wraps three and four. At the left in wrap three we are still passing over everything till we approach pin pin two at the end of the wrap. We are now going to start filling the spaces between the wraps so we pass under here to maintain the proper braid exit. Please notice that this knot is braideed from a perspective of "sobre coding".
In wrap four on the right we encounter the same thing at the end of each half of the wrap. We have done 80% of this knot with only three under crossings. The last wrap can be put in place by observing adjacent crossings to completer the braid in the uaual way.
Here is the reciprocal of the previous knot. Notice that the first wrap is a "free run" in that the running end does not cross itself in the first wrap. The two bight progression does'nt start till the second wrap is in place where the two pin bight progression starts in a counterclockwise direction from pin 6 to pin 4. In fact this progression can be seen in the order of the right hand column of pins that end each wrap. This knot will braid from a conventionaly coded perspective (see lesson two for more about this matter of conventional and sobre coding). In fact the key factors from lesson two of maintaining the bight increment equal to the number of parts in the knot will establish the path for braiding any knot automatically. This really makes the running list redundant but I am including it as a learning aid to aquire the skill needed to do without it. The trick is to develop the mental habit of observing the braid pattern as it develops so each move is made by the required way to complete it to achieve the desired result.
Notice that the first under crossing will happen at the beginning of the second half of the fifth wrap where we need an under for the braid entry at the top of the knot as required for the conventional code. The key point here is that the same basic method produces a different "formula" for this knot.
This another knot where the two bight progression in established after a free run in the first wrap. Again since the two bight bight progtesion is clockwise this knot will be a "sobre coding". The best learning technique would probable be to braid this knot on an eight bight mandrel and watch it develop as you slowly follow the running list. This way you can observe the five pin bight increment and the parallel path of each suceeding wrap.
Again notice that the first under crossings are braid exits for the "sobre coding".
Again the first three and one half wraps are all over crossings and the fourth wrap ends with an under for the braid exit. The last three wraps are a little more complex with this longer knot but they are all between a previous pair so the path is obvious from the adjacent previously crossed parts.
Copyright Sidney Wood 06/22/07