How to cut a rope cleanly

Hi Folks, 

I need to cut down an old 60 meter rope to use as a 50 or 40.  I'll center the middle mark, make sure the length is right, and so on, but my questions is about actually cutting the rope. 

I own a hot knife type instrument, which I use frequently to cut cord, but I suspect that with a larger diameter rope it might get messy. 

I thought of perhaps wrapping the rope with tape first to keep the cut clean?

I'm looking for a durable, clean, professional cut...not a semi-burned, rounded, frayed cut.  

Ideas?

Thanks, B

Give it a tight wrap with some electrical tape then cut it with the hot knife. 

I've cut every rope i've owed. I used a very sharp river knife all but one time. I melted the ends myself with a bic. The results were primo. The one time I took my line to REI to have it pro cut and melted they fucked it up; I took A foot off with my river knife--fixed. 

Erik J wrote:

Give it a tight wrap with some electrical tape then cut it with the hot knife. 

This.

Melting during the cut instead of after bonds the sheath to the core way better. Any tape works but not fully necessary if your knife is red hot.

I just heat a knife blade over the stove for a bit and cut. Cuts and fuses the end all once. No need to tape anything or whatever. 

One advantage of using tape is the tip of the rope can be held at a smaller diameter than the rest of the rope.  It makes the rope less likely to hang up as it is pulled through the anchor links.

1. Weight the rope in the section that will be cut
2. Tightly rap tape around the rope
3. Un-weight the rope
4. Cut the rope in the middle of the tape with a hot knife.

The layer of foil in the cordalette thread looks interesting.

Just wrote this up finally. it may be overkill for you but if you happen to have the right stuff then its the way to go.

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/119893262/rope-and-cord-end-finishing

I think it would be messier with the tape. Just got knife it. If you get excess hardened melted shit (from going too slow—but you also don’t want to go too fast...) then just trim it off after. Hot knife is the cleanest, most professional way to cut rope.

Stretch the rope where you want to cut it. Use a friend or a weight. Tightly wrap the cut point with athletic tape. Use a razor blade to cut the rope. With the tape still on use a flame to melt the end. 

Edit: Opps, I didn't see Bill Lawry post which I pretty much just repeated.

Wow I haven’t been to the forums in a while and almost forgot how even the simplest thing can get turned into a multi stage engineering fiasco on MP. 

Do you have access to a solder gun? Not one of the smaller soldering irons for electronics, but the type used for automotive and heavy wiring? Those work great. Hold the trigger till the wire is good and hot, then slowly pass it through the rope. Do it on a cutting board or piece of wood you don't mind scorching a little bit. Easy, cheap.

You can sometimes find soldering guns at thrift stores for a few dollars, or just borrow one from a friend. 

chris p wrote:

I just heat a knife blade over the stove for a bit and cut. Cuts and fuses the end all once. No need to tape anything or whatever. 

This is spot on, use a razor blade or knife you don't care about, heating the blade will start to degrade the tempered steel.