How Do You Rebuild Wooden Block & Tackle?
You bought it at an auction and, as it sits, it’s nothing more than a boxful of odd parts, only four of which look like a block and a few short, darkly stained pieces of rope that look as if they’ve seen better days. The auctioneer said it was a pair of antique blocks, as in “block and tackle,” and your challenge now is to reassemble those blocks. A project not to be undertaken lightly, it’s part jigsaw puzzle and part mechanical engineering Take inventory of the parts in your possession. A block consists of a hook; an outer strap that may be of metal, wood or rope, to which the hook is attached; an inner strap that connects the hook to the block; sheaves (pulleys); a sheave pin, which serves as the axle for the pulleys; a metal or wooden tube called a thimble that may be attached to a wooden or metal brace called a becket; and a shell, made up of wooden plates. There should be one more shell plate than pulleys. The block may also have metal straps that hold the block together, or it m
