Nettle Cordage, How Strong!!

[P@ul]

OK everyone I will put you out of your misery. I was feeling quite chuffed with myself when I made the cordage and was quite surprised at how many bricks it managed to hold. But now after seeing some of your guesses I am doubting my ability to make good cordage, I’ll keep practising and see if I can do any better, but enough waffling, lets get down to the business at hand.

The cordage managed to support five bricks for a good five minutes and broke just before I was able to place the sixth. Bricks weighed in at 12.5kg + the weight of the basket 2.2kg, that’s a total weight of 14.7kgs.

Thanks to all for taking part, P@ul

 

[leon-b]

thanks paul this was a really great thread and also a good bit of fun
leon

 

[Ed]

14.7kgs is a good wieght for cordage that thin..... Good little test there mate.

Ed

 

[British Red]

What do I win ?????

 

[James_m246]

I was close!

 

[British Red]

But no cigar!....ooh I win a cigar????????

 

[P@ul]

What do I win ?????

Where do you want the five bricks sent, can't cover the postage though

I'll buy you a drink if our paths ever cross.

P@ul

 

[British Red]

Nah mate - I'll buy you one - great thread - would rep you again if I could!

 

[steveo]

nice one good thread

 

[Simon E]

Actually that is better than you think.

I did some tests on 3mm cordette (the stuff that looks like climbing rope in miniture) it easily held my 103KGs / 16.5 stone. I tried again with 'Authentic' paracord, again no problems.

I then stripped out the single strands and tried that, they broke consistently at around 15Kgs. They didnt break at the joint or knot but in the middle.

What I did was tie a small stick at the end of a single strand so that it looked like a tiny rope swing. I then threaded the stick through a weight lifting plate(15Kg/33lbs) and very very carefully allowed it to take the strain.

So, in brief, you should be proud of yourself!

Paracord holding 103Kg

The 'Seat' (good job I wasnt on it for long)

You can see where I rounded off the corners to stop cuts in the single inner strand.

 

[Neanderthal]

P@ul

At what part of the cord did it break?
In the middle?
Where it went round the ring? A smaller bend radius would increase preasure at this point.
At the knot? If this one, what knot did you use?

Well done, you've started a great thread here.
I'll have to dig out my bits of nettle cord to experiment, I've also got some yucca cordage I made which is much stronger.

Stu

 

[P@ul]

P@ul

At what part of the cord did it break?
In the middle?
Where it went round the ring? A smaller bend radius would increase preasure at this point.
At the knot? If this one, what knot did you use?

Well done, you've started a great thread here.
I'll have to dig out my bits of nettle cord to experiment, I've also got some yucca cordage I made which is much stronger.

Stu

Stu,

The cordage broke about 25mm from one of the knots, I also thought it would fail at one of the knots or where it past over the top hook but that wasn't the case.

I would love to hear how other materials and techniques compare.

Cheers P@ul