Figure Eights with Ears

Figure eights with ears have more to describe than their deaf cousins, so after expanding those descriptions, doing the same for the eights with ears was straightforward. I chose to take the same approach that I took for the deaf eights; namely, differentiate by measurement. I measured the following dimensions for each eared eight in my collection:

Height
Width
Thickness (maximum)
Rope hole height
Rope hole width
Top thickness
Shaft length
Shaft width (minimum)
Eye height
Eye width.
Auxiliary hole height (if present)
Auxiliary hole width (if present)
Length of primary or top ear.
Length of secondary or bottom ear.

The total thickness includes the effect of any bends. In other words, if you sandwich the eight between two parallel boards that are also parallel to the plane defined by the length and width dimensions, the thickness is is how far apart the boards must be. Since some figure eights with ears have unique features, I used some judgement in deciding what the last four dimensions referred to. In most cases, you should easily be able to decide what measurements I made.

I grouped my figure eights with ears into several categories based on similarities in size, shape, material, and manufacturing method. The chart shows that if you view all the eared eights at once, they do not fall into distinct size groups. Despite this, I was able to make reasonable groups when I looked at them in detail. The following pages provide tables showing the following key dimensions for each of the following categories: