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Ropework or marlinespike seamanship are umbrella terms for a skillset spanning the use, maintenance, and repair of rope. Ropework is used by seafarers, climbers and military personnel.
Included are tying , splicing, making lashings, whipping knot, and proper use and storage of rope.
While the skill of a sailor in the Age of Sail was often judged by how well he knew marlinespike seamanship, the knowledge it embraces involving docking a craft, towing, making repairs underway, and more is still critical for modern seafarers.
Other fray-prevention techniques include back-splicing, , or the application of a rubberized adhesive coating, resin, or paint to the cut end. Some modern , such as nylon and polyester can make use of alternative methods such as fusion, which uses heat to melt the fibers to make a clean cut and permanent end; this technique cannot be used with non-melting fibers such as .
However, the rope and knotting expert Geoffrey Budworth warns against the practice of fusing thus:
Sealing rope ends this way is lazy and dangerous. A tugboat operator once sliced the palm of his hand open down to the sinews after the hardened (and obviously sharp) end of a rope that had been heat-sealed pulled through his grasp. There is no substitute for a properly made whipping.
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