ABSTRACT
Early scaffolds were made of round timber poles 7–8 m long. These were lashed together with 10 mm diameter natural fibre rope. The lashings could not contain any knots because these could not be undone when the rope was wet. Figure 32.1(a) shows how the lashing was started. A round turn was put on the upright at the appropriate height, and the loose end of the rope, about 750 mm long, was twisted with the main length of the lashing rope. An ordinary square lashing was then completed, as in Figure 32.1(b) and (c), which included the twisted length. Three complete cycles were made, and the end of the rope could then be pulled between the underside of the ledger and one set of turns. The weight on the ledger locked the end firmly. The same lashing was used for all angles of intersection of the poles, as in Figure 32.1(d).
