Alternative methods of joining bale twine together (Baler Twine Spools)

[Ollie7530]

I have been having issues with the reef knot catching on the knotter causing stoppages and downtime. I am just wondering what issues operators have had and any alternative methods of joining the spools of twine together, rather than using a traditional reef knot. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[betweenthelines]

If its plastic, melt the ends together

 

[agcon1]

are you pulling the knot tight after you've tied it...to make it smaller and slimmer ?......never have any trouble, very rarely it will fall in the wrong place as the knot comes through and cause a miss tie, maybe once a season over 16k bales and 2 balers

 

[Ollie7530]

are you pulling the knot tight after you've tied it...to make it smaller and slimmer ?......never have any trouble, very rarely it will fall in the wrong place as the knot comes through and cause a miss tie, maybe once a season over 16k bales and 2 balers

Pulling tight as much as possible. Although, using thick twine so the knot is still quite large.

 

[Muddyroads]

I was shown as a youngster to wrap the string round twice to form the reef knot rather than once, therefore making it longer, and pulling it tight to keep it narrow.

 

[Chae1]

I have been having issues with the reef knot catching on the knotter causing stoppages and downtime. I am just wondering what issues operators have had and any alternative methods of joining the spools of twine together, rather than using a traditional reef knot. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

Where are you baling!?

I have seen some people cut the ends after they've tied knot. Where's it catching? I've never had one catch in knotter. Only problem i get is them sometimes slipping where it threads through into needles.

 

[stroller]

Double sheet bend, pull really tight, cut the ends off flush

 

[tr250]

We have very little trouble maybe one or 2 a year, we just tie up pull f tight and leave the ends on. I don’t drive the baler but I usually help him tie up and throw a load on top in the mornings

 

[Tarw Coch]

Contractor that does our baling wraps the knots with insulation tape, presumably it makes it smoother and less likely to catch.

 

[Mc115reed]

What baler you on? Older fergy balers are barstewards for catching as the twine goes through the pressure plates in the string boxes and it’s a ball ache too re-thread... I always tape the tails up on our Fergie but on the krone can leave as long of a tail as I want and not a problem at all ... your just bloody unlucky if the knot works out on bang on the knotter when it trips happens once a year maybe ....

 

[Flat 10]

I’ve been known to pinch them with pliers to make the knot slimmer.

 

[Monty]

Just opened a bale of straw today and noticed 3 knots close to each other. Baler man split the string in 2 parts and tied in 2 separate small knots staggered 4 inches apart and excess neatly trimmed off. Very slimline and very clever indeed. The other knot the baler tied was massive by comparison

 

[Ollie7530]

Just opened a bale of straw today and noticed 3 knots close to each other. Baler man split the string in 2 parts and tied in 2 separate small knots staggered 4 inches apart and excess neatly trimmed off. Very slimline and very clever indeed. The other knot the baler tied was massive by comparison

Thats very interesting. I would have thought that it would've been the other way round; with baler tied knots being smaller due to the higher twine pulling forces compared to manually doing it. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Andrew]

What baler / twine are you running? Had lots of MF and Krone here on the strongest twine you can get and no issues with reef knots. Could it be the baler incorrectly set?

 

[Monty]

Thats very interesting. I would have thought that it would've been the other way round; with baler tied knots being smaller due to the higher twine pulling forces compared to manually doing it. Thanks for sharing.

I found it interesting too and instantly thought of this thread when I saw the knots. They have been pulled tight by the bale now but I'm sure they were neat before. A couple of pics for you. The bottom knot in the first pic is the balers own knot for comparison and I've untwisted it in the second pic.

I've no experience with big square bales but on small balers I have seen the string cut a neat slot in the needles slowly over many tens of thousands of bales like a cheesewire which stops joined string from pulling through and causing problems. This was remedied by drilling a hole through the needle on the edge of the eye and knocking a short roll pin in to replace the worn slot and guide the string through. Perhaps you have the same issue with your baler?