whip / tape / other?

[treeman82]

What do you guys do with the ends of your ropes? I have taped them in the past, but seeing as how most of them need some attention now and I have plenty of whipping twine available I was thinking about switching to whipping the ends. What do you guys think? Also, do you guys burn the ends or let em loose?

 

[Treeman14]

First choice is black electrical tape. In the field, I'll sometimes melt the end, being careful to roll it as it cools so I don't end up with a big lump on the end.

"I love the smell of burning hemp in the morning. It smells like... Uh, I forgot what I was gonna say..."

 

[sgreanbeans]

I use tape and then dip them into that plasta dip stuff? i think that is what its called! but it works really good.

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Tape, cut melt then remove the tape and dip. Never have any probelms with tape falling of and the ends exploding. Untill I knick it with a saw...

 

[Rob Murphy]

Melt then whip with loop off whipping left on the end to tie in throwline as we dont use spliced ends. Tape on other end.

 

[TheTreeSpyder]

i tape each end after 'butane backsplice' with bright colored tapes; each end a diffrent color. The tape job is neatly spiralled layers; and runs about 2-3".

This makes it easy to call for a specific end, alternate ends, see the ends, stiffens the end somewhat and gives a reminder to leave that much tail after a knot (sequence). The tail is a lil'stiffer and tends to stay out of the way easier; especially with double bowline/ yosemite tie-off.

 

[treeclimber165]

I've always melted the ends. Tape them first, with about 1/4" sticking out. Dip it in kerosene (not too much), light it, and when it starts dripping you roll it on the concrete to smooth it out. remove the tape and finish smoothing it on the concrete. I have handlines 5 years old that the ends are still perfect. Lifelines are usually retired before they get that old, but I never had an end come apart.
The other advantage of doing it this way- The melted end will not pass through your taughtline hitch. Eliminates the need to tie a knot in the far end of your lifeline(which always gets hung up in forks while pulling your line through the tree).

 

[X-man]

I prefer to splice my ends, then whip 'em a little below the eye. I like the Yale whiplock, it adds a perfect finish to a spliced or unspliced line. The rope end dip is great for coating the ends or eyes. It seems to protect the line/eyes from abrasion, I only dip my technora cord eyes in it, no climbline eyes.
Ends should be taped and burned or whipped. Those electronic rope cutters make really nice burned ends, like the factories use. You can make your own with a soldering gun and a little rigging or the right tip.

X-man

 

[Bradley]

I burn all of my ends with a rope cutter. On lifelines, I put a clear rope marking label with date and length and a number to keep track of the rope. Then I'll coat it with clear whip end dip to protect the label. On any rigging, handline, or non-life safety line I coat the ends with black tool dip after burning them. This system works pretty good for keeping track of them and makes it easy to grab the right rope out of a pile.

 

[Kevin]

Heat shrink works good too.

 

[Dave]

I like to whip with about 1/4" sticking out and then melt back to the whipping using the cutting blade in the soldering gun. I have several different colors of whipping line, like Spyder says you can color code. Something I learned when using melted ends is to make sure you don't make any sharp edges- you don't think of rope as something that can cut you, but I dood it

 

[Smith]

I like to whip each end with a different colour fo quick id. I also found that if you burn the end so it is a little rounded it makes tieing knots a little easier.

 

[Tom Dunlap]

"Butane back splice"...someones been reading Brion Toss' books

I use a rope cutter for my ropes. In a conversation with a manufacturer's rep he suggested not melting the ends until the rope has been used for a while. This allows the core and sheath to stabilize. After the slack has been milked off you can melt. I have been using Yale XTC ropes and have NEVER found any milking necessary. There are other ropes that have a deserved reputation of needing milking. If the nds are melted without milking you will end up with baggy socks bunching up on the end of the rope.

Tom