Bob Edwards got the inkling that knots and ropes would be the basis of his business from the time he learned to tie his shoes.
“I remember, for the first couple of years, they kept coming untied on me,” he says of his shoelaces, harkening back to learning one of those first, key skills as a boy growing up in Toronto. “For the longest time I couldn’t figure out why.”
“Then I realized I was tying the wrong knot! I was tying a granny knot which is much less secure than a square knot,” he laughs. “That was the first time I realized how important knots were.”
Fast forward to present day, and now knots, and how to make them, are an even more important part of his life.
As the owner and operator of River Bennett Knot Works, knowing a reef knot from a bowline is just part of doing business.
From his workshop in St. George, about 70 kilometres west of Saint John, where he honed his knot-making skills as a fishing net mender, Edwards now has taken that knowledge and turned it into creating unique and useful décor for both inside and outside the home.
At his stall at the Belding Hill Farm European Christmas Market in Hampton, Edwards displays his wares to the throngs of curious passers-by who admire the intricacy, and sturdiness, of his works.
His thick, woven mats are a perfect place to park a pair of winter boots, knotted expandable bags great for groceries, and decorative bowls perfect conversation pieces, all connected through the common thread of rope and knotwork.
“One reaction I get a lot is that people really like it. But they don’t know where in the house where they would put it,” he jokes.
“So, I always make sure I give them my card. I have a Gallery on my website where you can see where I use different things in my own home.”
“The fishermen have commented on how they know that quality is there for sure,” he adds.
He got his start working in the hydro business back in his native Ontario, clearing trees for the power lines. That school-age lesson about the importance of the right knot on your shoelace became even more important, as he relied on ropes to climb trees to cut branches. Then while studying aquaculture, he got even more lessons in knotwork, as he learned to repair salmon fishing nets.
Today, armed with a copy of the 1940s classic, The Ashley Book of Knots, and his extensive experience in the fishing industry, and also as an urchin diver, he still says some of the best research he does comes from the men and women who have relied on knots for their livelihoods.
“When I came down here and started working on the water it really solidified my love of knots,” he says. “I’d work on anchor lines and grid systems, where I’d learn to splice three- and eight-strand rope. That was a major education.”
He also got a chance to work with all different kinds of rope, from the synthetic lines used today, to the fibre-based ropes of the early days.
“Right now I’m using sisal, tying mats. It’s a natural rope, like if you had a bath [exfoliating] glove, that would be sisal,” he says. “I used to call it sis-il but I noticed the older people correcting me – so I think that might be the way to pronounce it!”
As a one-man production line, Edwards says he’d found ways to improve efficiencies while handcrafting the knotwork goods.
“It takes me about two and half, three hours to make a mat,” he says. “One thing I learned in the net shop is how to reduce production time by doing a few of them in a row. So if I did 10 bags, I’d do the tenth one about twice as quick as I did the first one.”
He’s also a one-man delivery team, taking the product from his door to the customer’s, right up until Christmas Eve, throughout Southern New Brunswick. He ships through Canada Post as well, with his mats fitting perfectly in the pre-paid extra large boxes, meaning mats can make it all the way across the country for $30.
It’s just part and parcel of running a small business during the holiday season.
“Being my own boss, and getting to use the knowledge that I’ve accumulated over the years, for my business, that’s the most satisfying part of my job,” he says.
“At times I wondered, ‘this is all great knowledge but where are you going to use it?’ I’ll just be some old guy down on the wharf, spitting out rope stories,” he jokes.
“It’s rewarding to know that all this knowledge I’ve collected on ropes and nets has led me to this.”
Alex Graham is a reporter with Huddle, an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
