Netted Hammock: Hardwood Shuttle, Gauge Board and Mesh Stick, 8 ft of Seine-Twine Net (Boy Mechanic, 1919)

"A good hammock should be about 12 ft. long, which includes 8 ft. of network and 2 ft., at each end, of long cords that are attached to rings."

Cut maple or other hard wood (or good-grained pine) 12 in long, 1-1/4 in wide and 1/4 in thick. Lay out the point first: from the centre of the end draw arc AB with a 1-1/2 in radius; from C and D, where it meets the sides, cut AB at E and F with the same radius, and from E and F draw the curves of the point. Divide GH into five 1/4 in divisions; centre holes J and K 3-1/2 in from the point; make the opening 2-3/4 in long, boring a 1/4 in hole at its right end and three holes to the left, then cut out with a coping saw and finish with knife, file and sandpaper. Bevel the curve at L, cut the fork 3/4 in deep with 1/4 in prongs, slant the point and round every edge (Fig. 1).

Gauge board: about 3 ft by 4 by 1 in, with an eightpenny nail M driven 1 in from the right edge and 2 in from the end, projecting about 1 in and slanting a little toward the end (Fig. 2). Mesh stick: maple 8 in long, 1-3/4 in wide and 1/4 in thick, edges rounded and sanded very smooth (Fig. 3).

Wind the 1/2 lb skeins of 24-ply seine twine into balls. Loop the twine over the tongue, down to the fork and up the other side, and back, until the shuttle holds 20 to 35 rounds, not so full that it crowds (Fig. 4). Tie a 2-1/2 in galvanized ring by a short cord to nail M and drive an eightpenny finishing nail N 2 ft below the ring. Tie the twine to the ring, take the shuttle round N, back up through the ring from below, thumb the cord, throw a loop to the left over the thumb and the ring, pass the shuttle under the two taut cords and up between thumb and cords, and draw tight (Fig. 5). Slip the loop off N and tie a simple knot at P. Repeat for 30 long meshes.

Anchor the ring by its cord a little above working height. Working left to right, tie the twine to the first long loop, keeping the loops in order. Bring the cord down over the mesh stick, up through loop 2, draw it down to the stick, thumb it, throw the cord left over the thumb and round the loop, pass the shuttle under both cords of the mesh and up between them and the backward loop, and draw very tight (Figs. 6, 7). Never let a mesh draw below the top of the stick. At the end of each row slip the meshes off and flip the work, alternately right and left so it does not twist; pull the first mesh of each row sideways so its knots sit side by side (Fig. 8). Join new twine with a weaver's or square knot (Figs. 9, 10). Net 8 ft.

Make the long loops at the far end on the gauge board with the second ring: slip a mesh of the last row over nail N and pass the shuttle through the same mesh as the cord comes down from the ring (Fig. 11). These loops come out about 3 in shorter, which does not matter. With about 6 ft of cord, wind all the long-loop cords together close to each ring, very tight, looping under each turn (Fig. 12).

From "How to Make Hammocks, Part II: A Netted Hammock" by Charles M. Miller, in **The Boy Mechanic, Book 3**, Popular Mechanics, 1919 (Project Gutenberg 71856; checked on the archive.org scan boymechanic0003unse, pp. 282-285). The stretcher length is not given (only shorter than for web hammocks). The tools and the metric figures are ours.