Any tricks for joining baler twine?

Do any of you crafty old farmers have a good way to join the old roll of square baler twine to the new roll? I always seem to get a broken bale when the twine rolls switch over. My knots are either too big and plug up the knotters or if I try to make them smaller then it doesn't hold. Either way, broken bale. Any tricks to remedy this?

Square knot, pull tight, trim tails, never fails

X2 on the square knot and trim the tails close. Then rub it between your hands some on a square baler, I don't have trouble with just a trimmed square knot on a roller. A square knot is the only knot that I have ever found that will hold. But you will still occasionally have one not tie on a square baler.

By the way,,, I like that,,,"crafty old farmers". LMAO

Edited by KY poorboy - 24 May 2016 at 8:07pm

A square knot. Also look at your needles. If the twine has  wore  down into the needle with a narrow slot the knots will not be able to go through. Use a die grinder with a 5/16 or 3/8 grinding tip on it and open up the narrow slot. Or new needles.

Stan R wrote: baling knot This is what we use and we have no problems with twine bale changes. We do it a bit neater but you get the idea.

I use a square knot as well but this is pretty interesting

The knot tied in that video was not neat and clean...
 I was taught how to make those knots when I wasn't big enough yet to move a bale of hay from the old 76 New Holland baler chute... Well they were about a hundred pounds and if baling on big windrows so you weren't moving to fast and dumping them on the ground, about 2/3 of the bales would stand on their ends.
 As for the knot, she didn't 'fluff' the ends real good, and she did not pass the ends through very far and then you roll the section between your fingers and then clamp your thumb and index on the rolled section and hold the it tight then with you little finger pressing the twin to your hand, pull the other end and work that knot tight and it will be a clean splice, not all fryed like hers looked in the vid. 

 Then some where along the way I learned another type of knot that works good too, and it is basically a square knot but you pass the end that sticks forward back down through the knot, but not so far as to go under the leading loop and pull that tight and roll it between your fingers and pull again  and the following tails don't bother a bit. and no trimming involved.
 
 As for the wear in the twine guides, the porcelin insulators, I have turned them to get smooth surface again.
 As for the needles that have worn slots, they can be filed to open the groove up, but best to use some good rod and weld and peen till the slot is filled. and don't weld them up in one pass, weld, chip, and peen and then let it cool... you can switch to the other needle and work that one and then go back to the first and do it again.  Don't weld more than 3 seconds at a time.
 

square knot only on a 14t or 214t JD

square knot.. when my baler started having trouble.. I had to dig a little but discovered my hired hands actually didn't know how to tie a square knot. Come to find out, neither of them was a boy scout either.  

     Had an Amish guy show me a way that works good for me it is a square knot with the first twist of the knot the right side string goes left to right over the left string the second twist of the knot the left string goes over the right string so it makes the two twists of the knot opposite of each other always works for me.

Holy cow, lots of good info about knots. I'll try 'em out until I find one that works for me. Thanks for all the info.

A bowline knot is strong to loop around a pipe or to make a loop in the end of a rope then run the free end of the rope around the pipe and through the loop and pull it tight. The standard knot for lifesaving operations. I used it to make and end loop on baler twine for retying bales with broken twine.



A clove hitch is another good pipe connection.


Then there's a more secure clove hitch plus two half hitches.


I recall the clove hitch plus a half hitch or two was the recommended tie for a boat line to a dock post when I took the course on small boat seamanship when I was in grade school.

The Boy scout guide book on knots was encyclopedic back then and probably still is.

Gerald J.

   Hey Gerald,,,Thanks Guy,!!!,,the clove hitch is the one I was thinkin bout and I needed to use one the other day but could not remember how to do it,,,but lookin at your pic,,,it seems so simple,,I'm kinda ashamed now,,, I like the clove hitch with the extra half hitch for extra hold,,,many thanks,,,,
Back when I used to do a lot of fishing,,,I used to use an "Improved Clinch" knot on the lure eyes and was a very good knot,,just never tried it on rope or,,,???

Edited by desertjoe - 26 May 2016 at 2:33pm