I like the hidden knot method of Rib Lacing (Stitching) which Poly Fiber recommends. It's a pain to sand over the knots which normally set on top of the ribs. You always sand through the tapes covering them. With Poly's hidden knots the knots are pulled inside the fabric along with the connecting cord, from stitch to stitch. Poly Fiber likes calling it Rib Lacing instead of Rib Stitching. It truth, when you sew, you form stitches around something, like the threads woven into fabric. For Rib Stitching you form your stitches around the ribs.
A sewing machine locks each stitch so things don't pucker from loads put on the fabric. On a wing we tie a Modified Seine Knot to lock each stitch so the fabric stays tight to the wings in flight. It's not good if the fabric balloons up like a bad convertible top.
To do the
Hidden Knot you need a curved tipped needle. I lost mine again so I heated the tip of a straight needle and hammer it on the side of a socket wrench to bend it. The bent tip lets you feed the needle under the fabric from stitch to stitch.
I'm using flat braided, waxed, cord to do the stitching. It lays a little flatter than round cord, where it crosses the ribs. After stitching you need to wipe the area around the stitches with Reducer to remove any wax scraped off the cord while doing the stitching.
It took 3 wet coats of Poly Brush to fill the Reinforcing Tapes after the stitching was done. That's why they look so pink. I decided to let the tapes dry well before putting on the finishing tapes and so I ran out of warm weather for today.
At least we're making progress.
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