Whipping knot

A whipping knot or whipping is a binding of marline twine or whipcord around the end of a rope to prevent its natural tendency to fray. Some whippings are finished cleanly, as by drawing the bitter end of the cordage beneath the whipping itself. Others are tied off or have the end(s) of the twine sewn through the rope. According to The Ashley Book of Knots, "The purpose of a whipping is to prevent the end of a rope from fraying ... A whipping should be, in width, about equal to the diameter of the rope on which it is put ... [Two sailmaker's whippings], a short distance apart, are put in the ends of every reef point, where the constant 'whipping' against the sail makes the wear excessive; this is said to be the source of the name whipping." The other type of stopping knot is a seizing knot. Whipping is suitable for synthetic and natural stranded and braided lines, including 3-strand rope, 4-strand cable and 8-strand multiplait, as well as concentric and braided constructions.