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  • February 26, 2015 at 4:04 am #3039
    Batione
    Participant

    I am a rope lover, and I am not fiber-racist, love them all,

    But I got a good collection of picture from rope failure from rope suspension (hemp , jutte).
    But none from synthetics.

    If you saw and have the report and picture, please I will be interested to see that.

    February 28, 2015 at 5:05 pm #3042
    Fortannige
    Participant

    I make my own hemp, jute, bamboo-silk, and cotton ropes (I have a few others in the works but they are in the testing phase so coming soon), and when I vend at events I offer dyed nylon rope.

    I’ve found after testing the different materials (natural vs. synthetic that is; testing each type of material against each other is another another post entirely) and… asking a few different people from different engineering backgrounds what could be attributed to the failure of synthetic vs. natural ropes that tend to be twisted in their construction vs. synthetic that tends to be braided.

    Basicly the braided nylon rope allows for a more even wear and tear over the material over the life of the rope.

    This information was brought to me by some friends at the United States Army Corps of Engineers and a mechanical engineer that I keep on staff here at Bastard Ropes. So if Ive butchered the re-telling of this info…oops.

    Cheers,

    February 28, 2015 at 5:07 pm #3043
    Batione
    Participant

    I played with both braided and twisted MFP, and found that the twisted was more resistant to abrasion. More then 5 years with Hempex.

    I worked alots in the military with nylon 10mm twisted and 10mm cotton braided, for rappelling and boats operation. But even in very rough test, again rocks and hard surface, both was very similar.
    In rappelling the nylon offer little elasticity and over a 50m cliff is became very heavy, less for the cotton.

    we worked with little ropes 3mm jute or paracorde, and was normal that people saw the jute breaking for some of the things. I even did a rappelling from a paracorde, not recommanded.

    But only in Bondage I saw so many rope break with natural fiber, and none from the synthetics.
    I think its can be also related to the the breaking the fiber when the bending occur over a small object.
    Fiber get damage but not visible.

    February 28, 2015 at 5:09 pm #3044
    Intentookey
    Participant

    I know how twisted rope is made, but I’m not really sure about braided, but this doesn’t make much sense to me. Unless we are talking about ropes that are made with an outer sheath (core/sheath or kern/mantle construction)? In climbing ropes, there is a tough, durable outer woven sheath that covers the actual inner working rope. Can you explain to me how/why this works?

    February 28, 2015 at 5:10 pm #3045
    Huchicark80
    Participant

    Your ex-canadian military!?!?! Well holy shit, who’d you work with? We mighta done some damage together some place?

    Sounds like you were using the “green rope” I still use the two spools that… “fell off a truck”. Its great stuff and will last forever if you keep it outta the sun, going on two years of fair use myself and not a sign of damage or decay.

    Does the swiss seat look familiar?
    Look at that handsome face!

    Paracord sigh done everything with, mostly just to see if we could. Ill never rappel with paracord again if I can help it but it does work and lasts forever. Still got a length in my backyard under tension and has been getting abused for two years (its apart of my rope walk) and is still going strong.

    And with all the tying I’ve done I’ve retired a three sets of natural fiber rope (2x jute, 1x hemp) after having them tested they coulda lasted longer than when I had retired them, but the breaking strength after I had retired them compared to new/unused ropes now was between 15% – 20%. Honestly not a huge deal considering the breaking strength at the start for a single stand were 490lbs for the hemp and I dont remember for the jute, but it was weaker, never stopped us from tying with it.

    To again to answer your initial question. After all the “fair” wear and tear I’ve put rope through over the last couple of years. Twisted Natural fiber rope such as jute or hemp have shown a greater tendency over the synthetic nylon rope.

    *Note: I’ve been using solid braid nylon rope NOT, twisted nylon, twisted nylon excluding the “Green” rope i’ve had little work with.

    February 28, 2015 at 5:13 pm #3046
    Pegglind
    Participant

    There are some Youtube videos out there on synthetic braided ropes, crazy to watch. I tried making braided jute rope apart of my repertoire at BastardRopes.com but its just not time/cost effective, but it would increase the strength I imagine, but never had it tested.

    But I was referring to solid braided nylon 1/4(6 mm) rope not twisted nylon.
    My bad didn’t clarify. But no they didn’t even have an outter sheath like you’d find on climbing ropes that are often used today.

    Theres tons of really useful information on the construction and production of nylon rope rope twisted and braided. The history is fascinating. What’s less fascinating is the addition of poly fiber to nylon rope a few years ago. Unrelated but still annoying.

    Cheers to all,

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