Rope length

[treeman82]

When you guys have bought ropes in the past, have you ever got more / less than what you purchased? I remember a while back I was supposed to have purchased a 150' rope... A while later I put it up next to another 150' rope and the two weren't the same length by a long shot.

 

[dbeck]

I have heard that pre cut rope lengths are cut under some tension. This might mean there is some stretch in the rope before cutting - sometimes more than others? I just got a new BRW by samson and held it next to my old bluestreak and there was a difference there also. Hard telling, but maybe it would be more equal if you got a spool?

 

[treeman82]

I think that one time I went back to the vendor and they gave me a new rope or something. The other time, I had had the rope for a while anyways, so I let it slide.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

I've heard that Sherrill has a 10% deviation policy. i was shocked by that, I would hate to find that my rope was 15 feet short.

I think it was Nate who called Tony at Fresco and complained that his rope was 20 ft short, he was sent a 20 ft hank of rope.

Though i don't think that's the reason Tony is no longer at Fresco . I do prefer dealing with George.

 

[treeman82]

Ok Brian, from now on I will bring a tape measure with me whenever I buy a piece of rope. Would that make you happy? I don't know exactly how much it was short by. I would say 20 feet or so? I don't have the rope anymore anyways so its pointless to try to measure it. I was just trying to find out how often this happens.

 

[Kneejerk Bombas]

It happens about as often as when you go to the store and buy a pound of hamburger and it has three ounces of water added.

It's called profit by some, stealing by others.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

Don Blair told me that some rope machinces are set to cut ropes by weight. This is because of the tension built into the construction. If you bbuy your ropes in person, not mail order, you should be able to do a quick coil and find out if the rope is close to the right length.

Tom

 

[seanlarkin]

Originally posted by John Paul Sanborn
I've heard that Sherrill has a 10% deviation policy.

John,

Where did that come from? It sounds familiar, but I couldn't find any posts of mine here that involved that. Was it something that you and I discussed via email?

Can you forward me that previous correspondence? My email has crashed since the time I believe we spoke about this, so I don't have reference to look back on.

I think there may have been something with a splice involved too, but I am not sure.

-Sean

 

[wiley_p]

At different times I've had a spool be 20' long and had them 8-10' short. It's never been 10%.

 

[TreeJunkie]

10% on a spool that's 60 feet, man i'd be heated.. This can't be possible or even to get a 120 and only get 108, that wouldn't fly.

 

[okietreedude1]

I too buy rope by the 600' spool. the first spools I bought of NER were about 30' long. I thought it may be standard to overpack the spool to allow for spliced eyes.

Later when I cut a couple 'long' (about 2'-3'), I ended up with a real shorty (120' = 110'). It was okay though as I sold it as a shorty. Only then did I figure it was not as it had seemed and my extra long spool was a fluke. since then, I have only had one other long spool.


A friend of mine sells Yale and he told me to watch the pre-cuts as they are customarily short. He quoted the 'short varience' rule also. I forget now exactly what he said Yale quoted him, but it seemed like 10% also.

to combat this potential problem is why I measure and cut my climbing rope from the spool. Sure there is still some varience from one to the next, but its never more than 2-3'.

 

[Koa Man]

This is a true story, I am NOT making this up. I ordered 120' of rope from a well known rope manufacturer, whose name I won't disclose, (in case I order again). I receive this box in the mail. I open it up and it is a spool of rope that looks like someone took some rope off. I uncoil the whole thing and measure it. I had 470' of rope. I concluded that some idiot there took off 120' and sent me the wrong side. My credit card was only charged for 120' and the shipping cost for 120'. The shipping cost alone for the spool was about 40% of the total I was charged.

OK, I received a PM from another member asking if I tried to correct the overage. I did call them because I had also ordered 150' of their bull rope, which I did not get. They told me if I would increase the order to a 600' spool of bull rope, I could keep the extra 350' of climbing rope since the shipping back would also eat away THEIR cost to make it. So that's what I did. I had almost a similar problem with Rayco, a great company BTW. I ordered the outside dually wheels for my 1620. They sent me the standard wheels instead. I called them, they asked what part nbr was on the wheel. When I told them, the parts guy said he knows exactly what happened. The two bins are right next to each other and the packing dept. grabbed the wheels from the wrong bin. He told me to just keep the standard wheels, the shipping back would be more than they can get the wheels for, and I got the correct wheels 2nd day air, shipping at their expense.

 

[Nickrosis]

I've seen some pretty short 600' spools myself. Usually they were pretty close, but it seems to be short more often than long...

I agree with everyone else to measure before buying if possible.

 

[begleytree]

I had a problem once. I ordered 2- 120' braids and 1- 150 3/4 bull, I had not used this company before although I get their catalogs from time to time. The kicker, reason why I decided to order from them was they were having a special, FREE SHIPPING.
Hey, free costs nothing so thats a plus right?
Well,
I received a bagged 120, a bagged 150 3/4 and a loose 1/2 braid.
I walk them out to the parking lot next door to lay them out and coil them up. The bagged 120 looked OK, the bagged 150 was about 30' longer, so OK, the loose (120) was about about 70 feet long stepping it off. I called them about it, said they would check and call back. They returned call the next day to tell me that the order was correct, that the weight for what I ordered versus shipping cost was correct so they couldn't see a problem.
I went out and stepped off the 2 correct looking ropes, pretty close, figured the bull may have been a little long that caused the weight difference, but nope.
Called them back, told them it was funny that all was correct, but I had a pretty much useless rope but, they couldn't help it even when I told them the kicker(comming) done deal, nothing more owed or comming.
KICKER is, remember back FREE SHIPPING? I get online and look up cost of rope I bought by foot, and by the price of shipping clearly marked on invoice and on shippers label. The missing amount of rope multiplied by cost per foot equalled perfectly the shipping price! Too perfect to be dumb luck.
Of course I am not using the company anymore, and am not listing it on public forum, but you can email me for the name
-Ralph

EDIT: In all fairness to a great company, the question was asked. No, it was not Sherrill. Thanks again sean for the great double splices on the new arbormaster blue stripe. very impressive work at a very good price.
-Ralph

 

[Tom Dunlap]

As another check to see if ropes are sold by the foot or the pound, you could get the weight specs from the manufacturer and do a comparison to see how close they are.

A number of years ago I picked up a rope counter at an antique store for thirty bucks. What a steal! I run my ropes through it to get an exact length. Another easy way to measure rope accurately is to put two stakes in the ground 20-30' apart and loop the rope around the pins. You could also use marks on your front sidewalk, alley or curb for more permanent measuring.

Tom

 

[Burnham]

I do something similar, Tom. Our warehouse building is 60 feet long, and is sided in full sheet plywood panels, so it has 4 foot increments down the side. I drive a stake at each corner of one side, and can measure off rope very easily.