Very good for electrical cords, too. I learned this same trick for packing up and transporting sound equipment years ago. So simple, but I wouldn't have even thought about it on my own.
It is funny, I did all those things when I made the first video but didn't explain any of it. It wasn't until I got the question that it became clear that it would be a good video topic. Thanks!
Thanks so much for this video! Will recoil all my ropes while waiting for the opening of backcountry camping this summer! 😳 been doing the shoulder/elbow coil for too long & twisting everything for lots of frustrating tree hangs! Thanks for such a clear explanation and close up video!
I've always wrapped and stored my rope using the method you've demonstrated here, I have no Idea where I learned it or given thought to why it works. Explaining the difference between roped that is stressed/twisted compared to "relaxed" really does help understand why the gentle loop and 1/2 twist works. In your close up you can visually see the 1/2 twist encouraging the rope to loop naturally, so it stands to reason when you throw the rope it is natural to to unravel in reverse order. I should have gone to scouts though, when I got married and tied the knot I would have benefited knowing a good slip knot......thanks for your post!
Dude. Do you know how many places I looked for this exact explanation? I always used the elbow thing, but it never turns out nice and proper. This makes so much sense. Thank you for this.
Good video. Clear and concise. Ropes are the most useful tool in the scrub. With an understanding of a few knots and also how to store your rope properly, you can save yourself so much frustration!
Hey Stephen, thanks for the question. As I was filming the first time, I was doing these things but wasn't really aware of them, then you asked a question and it all clicked. Thanks! 👍
I like your technique because it's simple therefore easy to remember and much more likely that I will reuse this in the future. I'm willing to trade not having perfectly round circles with rope that hangs untwisted in its natural state. Thanks for the video 👍
Hi, Kevin. Great video. Many years ago, I saw climbing instructors walk to the top of a crag with the ropes in bags. They took one end out of the bag and threw the bag off the cliff. The ropes uncoiled perfectly. Presumably, they set up belays before throwing the rope bags down but my memory fails on that. Anyway, at the end of the day, we just stuffed the ropes back in the bags, which was the way the instructors always did it. I guess the ropes twisted in so many ways, the twists cancelled and weren’t major in the first place.
Thanks John, climbing ropes are also of much higher quality than the type of ropes that you would buy for this use. I purposely didn't use the orange rope for demonstration because it is made of dynema. It is very supple and tends to not kink.
Nice work. I use that figure eight pattern around my elbow because throwing rope is not so much a issue for me. I need to deploy a ridge line for a tarp quickly in the rain so I pull the rope from the other end, the inside end, and it works without tangling. For microphone cables, however, I use your method in order to avoid damage to the tiny wires. For my home extension cords and garden hoses, I use the "firefighter" method of over-under, under over.
Actually, that figure-eight method does not create twists; the clockwise half-turn and counter-clockwise half-turn cancel any twisting. Try it with webbing so you can see it more clearly. First, tie down one end and start coiling the other end. The figure eight method will not leave any twists in the bitter end. Your method will make a beautiful coil, but it seems like it would create 2-half twists in the bitter end for every loop you make; it depends on how you twist it as you turn each loop. If you grab the bitter end and place it with no twist on top of the coil allowing the bottom of the loop to twist, then the bitter end will have no twists. This would be the same as the figure eight method.
Kevin - just came across your channel. Good stuff. From this video, I believe you may have been a mountaineer in a past life! Rope work and knots were always a bug-bear to me until I was taught properly. Everyone should know simple knots and rope work for the backcountry. Craig
Thanks Craig, well when I was much younger I did do a bit of rock climbing. 🙂 Yes knowing some basics in rope work and a few knots can make your life a lot easier in the backcoutry.
Hi Kevin, thanks for the video. I was trying this method and it felt like the twists were building up in the rope that was laying on the ground. Is that normal? Was I doing something wrong? Thank you!
Thanks for the comment Peter. Humm, that doesn't sound right. Do you mean that after coiling you see twists in the rope? When I coil the rope the part on the ground can be a mess, as I coil it I try and work out all the twists and to do that I gently twist the rope in the direction that is most natural for the rope. I have seen some people twist the rope in the opposite direction and that will for sure lead to twists. This is a very hard concept to describe with text but try and notice how the rope 'wants to hang' - if that makes sense. Good luck.
I was taught the figure of eight on the elbow method. It still gets tangled when unwinding to anchor down a tarp. The figure of eights end up passing through each other in storage which causes the tangles. I’ll try this method but I’m skeptical. Best way is a spool
I get my loops very uniform by putting my hand at the bottom of the free hanging rope and push down on the loops. This lengthens them uniformly. The shorter loops get a little length added to them. I do this after 2 loops, maybe 3 depending on the rope.
What you might want to look into is the roadies wrap, I learnt this from winding up speaker cables and guitar leads where as you coil the lead or rope, you twist half a turn one way and on the next you twist it the other way and place the loop on the other side of the coiled section in hand
Well, I happen to disagree with that method. I have been coliling a lot of things, and rope isn't the worst by far. Electrical goes out of shape if you twist it too much, and coaxial cable will outright resist it. I was blessed with a trip on a large sail ship once, and they used the same method there. Religiously, even. As even rope can get damaged by being twisted too much. Every time you coil it, it gets twisted, and every time you uncoil it. You get around that by purposefully coiling it in a figure eight pattern. There are many ways of doing that, and the one you showed over the elbow may not be the best but it works.That way it will be twisted half a turn one way, then half a turn the other as you coil it, which sums up as a straight rope. It doesn't twist. Not when you coil it and not when you uncoil it. And while the method may be a bit more cubersome you have a whole lot less unravelling to do. And if you tie up the rope properly, keeping its figure eight shape, it won't turn into a bunch of knots either.
Figure of 8 on elbow still gets tangled up for me. The ends of the loops get smaller and pass through each other as the rope is being deployed and it turns into a frustrating mess that requires shaking it out
@@rem45acp Yes it can get tangled for sure, but that happens no matter how you do it. A large part of avoiding it, I believe, is routine and orderliness. But I'm not there yet either, and minor changes like making the last wrapping at the end instead of the middle has messed it up for me rather bad. So I'll just have to keep on doing it and see if I can get into it over time.
There is a little Mistake: With coils figure eight you do not twist the rope. Exact you turn once right and on the other loop you turn left, so that the rotation cancels out with each complete loop. Onother way to coil a rope tanglefree is very common in sailing circles: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sgiB0VSXCDg.html
I don't know, I am right handed and seeing a lefty do things on camera makes it easier unless it's from the POV of a righty. Even then I had no problems with his tutorial at all!
Around the elbow (figure 8) version if done correctly will not tangle the rope. That is the point of figure 8 going around the elbow and then straights up as it prevents the tangle that happens if you go around the elbow in circles without figure of 8.
this dude in the video titled "A Simple Trick Everyone Who Uses Rope Should Know! | How to Coil Rope & Paracord" does the elbow figure 8. It's pretty simple. Around the elbow then straight up. It will not twist. It's video zwMQnYCX88
Thanks, first time I've seen this. It struck me that this is how you have to coil a garden hose on the ground in a loop. Maybe that is something to mention to people to get an obvious "ah" brain click.
The term for the rope making “its own little pattern” 2:37 is supercoiling. DNA has a similar problem, and your cells have enzymes to un-twist knots in DNA.
Tend to disagree I'm sorry. If you put half a twist into each loop, just to make it stack nicely, it WILL get caught on itself as you deploy it because it has to deal with all the twists you've intentionally put in. Preferably you should deliberately loop it into a figure 8 or let it form it's own figure 8s. As this loop is laid out there will be no twists to deal with.
I'm puzzled. I know that if you make a "stress free" coil the way you do, it may sit nice and flat, and look really pretty, but if you start lifting loops off of it while it's on the ground, you'll get all your twists (which you added while coiling) right back. If it works for you, great. But avoiding twists while lifting off loops requires a different technique.
I hate the trucker's cap/baseball hat, hate the wrap around shades, but the voice is soothing, the information relevant and concisely given. Sooo, wanted to hate this guy. Have subscribed.
the elbow methode is much better: no twists in the rope at all if well done. Here is the twist free methode without ellbow: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-pF3jyUx6JyM.html
Good comment and I know the elbow method is what is taught in canoe rescue situations but I do demonstrate in this video how that method is prone to kinking.
