Tricks to cutting rope?

How do I cut some static rope and seal the end without fraying it? Any tricks to it other than a sharp knife and a lighter?

You can pre-heat the knife (like a hot-knife)

Also, I use a small propane cylinder to get the better flame than a lighter.

Burn around the rope where you're making the cut before cutting. This will keep it from fraying when you do cut. Then finish it off after cutting. Or alternatively take the rope to your friendly local climbing shop and use their rope cutter.

Heat up an old butter knife so that it is red hot, and it cut a rope like butter.

If you put electrical tape around the rope before you cut it and melt it it won't fray. After you're done just take the electrical tape off.

Or you can...

Whip it.

neropes.com/Resources/84906…

Or dip it.

yachtpals.com/whip-rope-9186

Or melt it.

lmgtfy.com/?q=hot+knife

I have a weller soldering iron with cutting tips. Cost about $25. I use if frequently.

A hot knife (either official or home-made) works best.

If you can't do that then use tape (masking tape works well) and cut through the center of the tape with a sharp blade, then melt the ends with a lighter and remove the tape.

Other than a hot knife you can get electrical tape and wrap it really tight in 2 places, leaving an inch gap between the 2 piece of tightly wrapped tape. This prevents the core from sliding into the sheath. Cut between the 2 pieces of tape then melt both cut ends.

I usually take mine to the local gear shop and use their hot knife. Some wont let you use theirs for legality issues (i.e. REI).

Tape (tight as possible around the rope) and hot knife followed up with a some lighter treatment to get a solid plastic cap on the end. This bonds the sheath to the core (as mentioned below).

I find that the climbing shop "hot-knife" cutter box work very poorly. Manufacturers like Mammut use a sonic welder to bond the core to the sheath. A quick pass through a hot knife melts very little and often breaks loose later. Whatever you decide to use make sure you melt enough of the core and sheath together that your rope end doesn't crack and fray.

I cut them with a very sharp tool and melt the end with my kitchen stove burner. When it is good and melted I dip my fingers in ice water repeatedly as I shape the end. It still burns.

I know nothing about this and will probably be flamed as a result, but I like pulling the core out, cutting it so it is shorter than the sheath, shoving the now-shorter core back into the sheath, and then just melting the sheath shut behind it. In my experience this is as clean and more durable than anything else I've tried.

There's probably some climbing urban legend/amateur garage-study out there saying that this will result in my untimely death. Looking at some ropes I've bought recently, it looks like either Petzl or Mammut (can't remember which) was also doing something similar to this.

Max-

That works to seal the sheath, but it stiffens the cord and also can allow the sheath and core to slide. You end up with a few inches of sheath hanging off the end of the cord. I prefer to make as clean a cut as possible and make a flat melted end, with no stray strands.

RockinOut has one of the best ways to cut rope in my experience. Pull electrical tape tight in 2 spots, I leave only a 1/2 inch between them leaving a 1/4 section to burn. Burn the ends generously bonding core and sheath together it turns out better than the original if done right. The trick is tight tape stretched so that it is compressing the rope.
Hot knives are too much work, buying blades for a soldering iron are too expensive for my conservative New England ways and the pinch burn method does not work as well plus it hurts when the melting rope burns you.

Max Tepfer wrote:I know nothing about this and will probably be flamed as a result, but I like pulling the core out, cutting it so it is shorter than the sheath, shoving the now-shorter core back into the sheath, and then just melting the sheath shut behind it.

That's how I had to do it with tech cord. I didn't try a hot knife but the core on Maxim and Titan tech cords melt (or don't, in the case of the Maxim) at a much different rate than the sheath so melting the ends after cutting wasn't really possible. That being said, I don't have to worry about any shealth 'milking' since these are all short pieces that are slinging hexes and used as Prussic loops.

Wrap the spot you want to cut tightly with plain old scotch tape (3/4" wide stuff, not the narrow). Cut it right down the middle of the tape with a sharp knife. Melt/heat the end with a lighter, and press/flatten/shape the end on a disposable surface of some kind (Paper plate on a table) to get it all bonded together.

Tape and cut, then I fire up the cigarette lighter in my old car and hold it in for a couple extra seconds, melts the end beautifully. Don't do this if you wish to use your cigarette lighter for anything else it smokes and smells awful.

I prefer to use aluminum tape. Wrap it tightly, cut through the middle with a fresh razor blade and then heat slow and gentle on both the end and along the tape a bit, watching that the nylon melts fairly deep without burning (the aluminum will conduct heat through to melt the sheath into the core). Done right you'll get better than factory, but takes a bit of practice.

Aric Datesman wrote:I prefer to use aluminum tape. Wrap it tightly, cut through the middle with a fresh razor blade and then heat slow and gentle on both the end and along the tape a bit, watching that the nylon melts fairly deep without burning (the aluminum will conduct heat through to melt the sheath into the core). Done right you'll get better than factory, but takes a bit of practice.

I like this one, I'll have to try it. I was thinking like a small metal thimble that bottlenecks to under the rope diameter would be really nice, heat it up and jam the rope in to melt it all around, but this probably gets the same effect.

Larry- when you try it, be sure to get the aluminum tape as smooth as possible on the first wrap, as any wrinkles from tightening later will become melted into the end. Also, there is a bit of sticky residue left from this method. Never bothered me, YMMV. I tried using the tape backwards, but that was a PITA to get tight.

Also, really do watch the end of the core when melting it... Too fast and it'll burn and give just a thin, weak cap that will crack and let the strands come apart. What you want is a slow, even heat to create a pool of molten nylon in the cup formed by the tape. Done right it'll come out pretty thick, under rope diameter and smooth. I'll see if I can dig up an example when I get home.

On a side note, I came to this method after seeing McMaster Carr had crimp-on ferrules for cutting wire rope that work this way (crimp on, cut through middle). Unfortunately they're metal, relatively expensive and need a chop saw to cut, so not a good solution for cord.