To those of us who secure
our shrouds with a rigging screw or turnbuckle, this is a
wonderfully archaic tool. To those of us with deadeyes and lanyards, however,
a deadeye
fid, sometimes caned a deadeye wedge, makes the potentially difficult
chore of tuning
shrouds with deadeyes into a relatively simple task.
The trick to deadeyes is to get the lanyard to slip when yon want it to
(when you are trying to tighten them) and not slip when you want them
to (when you are tying off the lanyard). The trick to getting the lanyard
to slip is basically to make sure that the holes in the deadeyes are smooth
and well greased (I use Bag Balm to grease the deadeyes; it works well
and does not appear to break down synthetic line).
The problem comes when you have tightened the lanyard, For example, I unshackle the bottom block of the throat halyard from the gaff and bend the lanyard to me block. I can now use the halyard to tighten up the lanyard and deadeyes. The problem is at some point you need to unbend the lanyard from the halyard in order to tie off the lanyard.
How to do this without slacking off on the lanyard? Here is where our humble fid comes in.
With the halyard pulling tension on the lanyard; belay the halyard. Now
drive your fid into the last 
hole
in the deadeye with a mallet. This locks the lanyard in place and you
can now slack off your halyard without slacking the deadeye. Unbend the
halyard from lanyard and cow-hitch the lanyard either over the sheer-pole
of the top deadeye. When all is snug, drive out the fid, all that's left
is to seize the tail of the lanyard.
A deadeye fid is easy to made I turned mine out of maple on a treadle lathe, but a piece of closet pole could be shaped with a block plane and gouge to the same effect.
Some Further Tricks—
- If you are going to use the throat halyard to provide the mechanical
advantage for the lanyard it is much easier if you have sway-books and
someone to tail the hue for you.
-Tie a string lanyard onto your fid, when you drive it out of the deadeye it tends to exit with some force and can end up overboard.
-If it's the start of the season and I know I will have to re-tighten the deadeyes I will often seize the lanyard tail with cloth friction tape rather than marline. It takes less time and is easier to remove.
If there is a rigging topic that you would like to see illustrated and
addressed please send your suggestion to NEWSLETTER@FSS.ORG.
Article, courtesy of Friendship Sloop Society Newsletter
Back Yard Yacht Builders
A non-commercial association of amateur boat-builder enthusiasts.
All our wooden boats are Stevenson designs.