Denatured Alcohol on Polyester/Nylon Rope

[Brendon Phillips]

So I've had the discussion about cleaning pine sap off of climbing ropes before. Everyone had different opinions and research about it. Before people get all freaked out about putting chemicals on ropes, here's what I did. I took a small section on New England Fly Rope and put it in a bottle of Denatured Alcohol to let it sit. Then promptly forgot about it for 6 months. I used the Fly because it's a combo of polyester and nylon. I pulled it out today and looked at it. Absolutely no loss of strength, or any signs of degradation. I wouldn't say use this to clean your ropes, try it for yourself with whatever you use. Just thought it would be interesting to some people who think alcohol would eat the rope. I thought it would.

 

[buzz sawyer]

Interesting. How did you test it for strength? Would you risk you life with it?

 

[Brendon Phillips]

Ha, nothing scientific. Compared it to fibers that weren't soaked by pulling them to breaking strength. I'm still hesitant to put anything but mild soap on my ropes. I'd try it on a rigging rope though to see how it does. Or get a confirmation from a chemist or something. I think id see SOMETHING after 6 months of sitting in it if it was harmful. Just thought it was interesting.

 

[Brendon Phillips]

I just emailed New England and asked them about the alcohol on their ropes. We'll see what they have to say about it.

Also found this old thread.

http://www.arboristsite.com/community/threads/pine-sap-on-the-flipline.42103/

 

[imagineero]

+1 on listen to the manufacturer. But from memory most nylons are resistant to a wide range of chemicals. On the other hand, it's just a rope. I keep a few going at a time, and when they get gummed up/fuzzy they get retired. I like climbing on nice rope.

 

[Brendon Phillips]

Yeah I do too. That alcohol made that rope shine. That's why in so interested in it. At close to $1/ft, I'm willing to to anything to get that sap out.

 

[imagineero]

Alcohol makes me shine a little too. I'm happy paying $1/ft. Rope is way way down on my list of expenses. I'd drink the alcohol and buy a new rope.

Sucks if you do sappy trees all the time though. There are a lot of threads on this.

 

[Brendon Phillips]

I don't do a whole lot of super sappy trees. Maybe 7 or 8 a month. My business is relatively new, so a $200 rope is worth putting extra time into to save it. But I do save most of the alcohol for myself.

 

[imagineero]

7 or 8 a month is a lot to me. We don't get that many sappy trees in aus but it's region specific too. When I lived in the mountains we did a lot of radiatas, like every other day! Miserable Now I live in the city it's only very occasionally a radiata, sometimes a norfolk pine or a fig. But really not that often. If you search the old threads there are some tips in there on what works.

 

[Brendon Phillips]

Half the trees here are loblollies. Today I trimmed 3 and get my brand new blue moon rope all sappy. Hate it. Even gums up the ZigZag. It especially sucks if I do some cutting on a pine and have to come back to it the next day. It bleeds all over the place.

I've always wanted to go to Aus. Met a few people in NZ that are from there, ended up being great friends. Spent 3 months with them. Super cool people. The language differences are pretty damn entertaining too.