termination of paracord

[Tengu]

got a few lengths at the car boot

a bit ragged on the ends, do I heat seal them like I do normal cordage??

 

[British Red]

Yup - just play a hot lighter over them. Be careful though - melted nylon drips, catches fire and stays hot a long time

Red

 

[pibbleb]

Mind how you go! Currently nursing a nasty burn after my four year old thought I was being naughty burning the end of my paracord so he blew it out. Nice bit of dripping hot nylon on my finger!

Bless him

Pib

 

[Dougster]

Seems to be a rash of it lately, I did the same yesterday.

 

[oops56]

Dam i must be old and learned a lot i never have burnt my finger yet. All i do spit on my finger then just do a little roll real fast done.

 

[Tengu]

Ill be careful

 

[Goose]

Best way I have found is to heat up a blunt knife , such as a table knife, and melt through rather than cut, this works on kern-mantle climbing rope too. If you burn it sometimes the outer melts away and leaves the threads so doesn't work that well.

 

[Mirius]

The sailing shops normally cut synthetic rope with a soldering iron - gun type with the blade. - Same effect as the blunt knife.

 

[Squidders]

you can either...

a - cut the cord and burn the ends
b - wrap tape around the section you intend to cut and then cut through the tape
c - become fond of frayed cord

 

[pibbleb]

Personally, I'm going to stick to burning the end! I'm just going to avoid doing it near 4 year olds who are really good at blowing things out!

Pib

 

[Squidders]

yup, i'm a burner too

 

[dommyracer]

I use the small hob on the gas stove, and copious amounts of spittle.

 

[mace242]

Melt end with a match or lighter then tap with licked finger. This seems to seal the inner to the outer and seal the end with melted outer. It's the technique I learned on boot laces years ago.

 

[Mantic]

One thing to watch with melting is that the blob of melted rope can be very sharp - if a line passes through your hands, the end can cut into your skin. I saw this very thing happen on a canoeing trip - a lad sliced his hand open on nylon cord and although he didn't need stitches, it was the end of the trip for him.

If you're going to use long lengths of paracord (or similar) you might want to consider whipping instead.

 

[Tengu]

I was wondering if it would be different seeing as there are two layers (unlike normal cordage)

(yes, I `do` know how to heatseal cord, honest!)

another method I have seen done on boats is to use a bit of heatshrink tubing. (something which has a thousand uses)

Looking though what I have got I seem to have 7 lengths of about 15-20 foot each, now is the time to learn some cordage projects!

 

[Tipi]

if u want some inspiration check this out:
http://stormdrane.blogspot.com/

theres sum awsome and very usfull stuff on there

here is sum of his tutorials
http://www.instructables.com/tag/?limit:type:instructable=on&q=paracord+bracelet


enjoy

tp