For want of a rope

Ideas and instructions how you can make your own bondage toys.
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Tenderfoot88
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For want of a rope

Post by Tenderfoot88 »

So far, I've bought rope for self bondage play 3 different times, and each time I ended up buying something different.

First rope I bought was a silk rope from a sex toy store. Well over an inch in diameter, and only about 20 feet long, it really didn't suit my purposes very well. I'm one of the largest people I've met, so 20 feet isn't all that useful except around the arms and lower legs for me. I also found it was too smooth, allowing knots to slide alarmingly, and it frayed a lot. Also, very expensive, probably due to the inherent markup in sex products over vanilla purpose versions.

Second rope was a cotton rope, around half an inch in diameter and ~50 feet long. Longest the toy store had, but still not long enough to get that creative with a body as big as mine. It's smooth enough to not chafe unless you're struggling really hard, and yet rough enough to keep knots exactly where you put them. Would be ideal, but for the price - as with the silk rope, marked up due to the sex toy packaging - and the available lengths.

Third rope is one I got at a hardware store. Can't remember exactly what it was made from, but it's smoother than the cotton rope - so smooth that a "simple ring device" has no locking effect as it's supposed to. Came with plenty of length - 200', which is easily cut down to useful lengths, but the diameter's a bit ungainly. It's 3 strands of 3/8ths inch rope spun into a single strand, and splitting it down to the 3 strands quickly results in massive fraying unto uselessness.

So, now I'm thinking it'd be wiser to do some research rather than just going with my gut (recognizing that my gut feeling for rope design is insufficiently developed to be seen as useful advice).

So, separating the variables a bit, I have 3 questions:

1 - What diameter of rope do you guys like to work with? If you have more than one choice, when would you use one over the other?

2 - What length of rope do you like, and for what applications. (Lengths, I know, are going to vary a lot depending on if it's a full body tie like a karada or if it's a simple wrist or ankle cuff). It'd probably be more useful to list lengths as multiples of an appropriate body measure (20*wrist measurement for a wrist cuff, or 50* a waist measurement for a karada, etc), since body shapes vary so much, but that's up to you.

3 - What rope materials do you like to work with, and where can they be found (types of store (hardware, fabric, sailing supplies, etc) rather than specific locations (Home Hardware, Fabricland, the Binnacle), please, since this is international)? Also, why do you like them? (If you like the rope to feel rough and scratchy against your skin, or if it's nice and soft and comfortable, or...)
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teather
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Re: For want of a rope

Post by teather »

I have tried a few differnt kinds and settled on 6mm diameter jute clothes line from B&Q. It comes in 15m lengths (@£5/6), is brown and a little rough to start with (which I like). It can also shed quite a few fibres when new so can make a bit of a mess on black tights and dresses. It also holds well with the SRDs I use.
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Re: For want of a rope

Post by lj »

Most of the rope I have is polypropylene fibre with a white woven sheath though I do have some blue sheathed rope that looks prettier!. This is very flexible and smooth enough to avoid skin damage, whilst being sufficiently rough to allow easy and secure knotting. I generally use 8 - 9mm diameter, and seal the ends with a flame to prevent fraying. I have lengths ranging from about 1.5m through to 10m, most are 6m.

The same rope is available in smaller and larger diameters - we have some that is about 4mm which My Lady tends to use to secure the more delicate parts :shock: Much thicker, though, I find is less easy to use as knots become bulky and less secure.
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cdinbonds
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Re: For want of a rope

Post by cdinbonds »

I tend to use either cotton clothesline, or more frequently, nylon double braid, both available at hardware or home center stores, in varying lengths. I tend to buy 100' lengths, and as lj noted, cut to length needed and give the end a "butane whip" or "Butane backsplice", (melt the ends to prevent fraying). Diameters range from 1/4" to about 3/8", with 1/4' and 5/16" being the easiest to handle. The nylon can be found in many different colors as well, if you check around. I found some in pink at a hardware store once! Nylon can be a little slippery, but most have a textured outer braid that holds knots well. It is not as soft as some of the stuff out there, but generally not to bad.

The 3 strand has a slightly more tradtional look, and leaves nice rope marks, but can be a pain due to unraveling unless well whipped at the ends. I know how to make a proper end whip using heavy thread or whipping twine, but don't have the patience to take the time necessary , especially when the rope may end up geting cut again anyway.

I have been planning to buy some hemp bondage ropes from "Twisted Monk" (google it), but find it hard to justify the prices since my current ropes are so inexpensive by comparison. The hemp is supposed to feel great and holds knots very well, and looking very traditional if you are into the Japanese Shibari styles. This is the rope Midori uses in her beautiful bondage.
Last edited by cdinbonds on 30 Mar 2014, 21:51, edited 1 time in total.
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Dark_Lizerd
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Re: For want of a rope

Post by Dark_Lizerd »

Cotton braid over "regular" twisted type...
The braid will not un-twist or unwind...
Any home and garden place should have it...
Farm and ranch as well...
It may also be called "lead" rope or line...
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Dark_Lizerd
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Re: For want of a rope

Post by Dark_Lizerd »

Rope 1.JPG
The red one is a smaller braded weave...
The white one is a cotton weave..
White is very soft and smooth, but not slick,
Red is a little stiffer and you can see how the braids unravel over time...
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tiemeupalso
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Re: For want of a rope

Post by tiemeupalso »

if you ont want the end ro unravel just get some tool dip and dip the ends in it.
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Re: For want of a rope

Post by Blacky »

I mostly use 10mm polypropylene rope with lengths of 1.5 to 10 metres.
In seldom cases (if lengths of more than 10 metres are needed but no weight needs to be supported) I use 6mm diameters.

To keep the ropes from fraying I use a technique that is actually called "rope whipping". No pun!
You'll easily be able to find plenty of pictures/videos that show how it's done.
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cdinbonds
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Re: For want of a rope

Post by cdinbonds »

Heat shrink tubing, used to cover electrical splices, also works well to prevent fraying. A short piece slipped over the end of the rope and heated with a hair dryer, heat gun, lighter, or even a match will keep things neat. You can even use different colors to indicate different lengths. Blue is 20', red is 50', etc. Makes it easy to pick the length you need from the pile.
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The beatings will continue until morale improves.
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Re: For want of a rope

Post by tkv »

I've never bought any ropes from a sex shop, and neither have I actually bought any online. I generally scan the hardware stores and second-hand stores for good ropes and buy mostly by what they feel like.

1 - What diameter?
When tying someone else, 6 or 8 mm (for aesthetics).
When tying myself, 8 to 14 mm with the most used being 12 and 14 mm ropes (for handling, feel and bondage comfort (which does sound a bit oxymoron, I admit))

2 - Lengths?
When tying someone else, fairly long ropes, maybe 10-15 meters or so. For a karada maybe even longer. For wrists and ankles I have a few shorter ones.
For myself, anything from 2 m to 15 m. When I buy the thicker ropes new I usually get 10 meters so that's the most used length. Some of my ropes I got second-hand so they will be whatever length they were.

3 - Materials?
For someone else - natural fibers or white polyester. I have hemp, jute and manila in my bag.
For myself, manmade materials rule for their softness and ease of use (hemp and jute leave such a mess and I don't like the smell of jute that much).

I attached a picture of some of the ropes I use on myself with some descriptions below. As you can see it's not about the looks :D The hemps and jutes and whatnot live in a different bag that's not handy right now.
IMG_3246_res.jpg
From left to right:
1 - fake hemp from a boating store, polypropylene 10m/14mm I think
2 - ditto but with a different feel to it
3 - hardware store, 10m
4 - flea market, maybe 15m, pretty heavy so could be polyester
5 - flea market, maybe 15-20m, very soft and flexible
6 - boating rope, a local hardware store had a spool of this once so I got 10m
7 - a boating rope, maybe 7-8m (this is my oldest rope, got it used more than 25 years ago)
8 - hemp-colored rope from a boating store, 10m/12mm
9 - flea market, maybe 2-3m (the price tag said 'skipping rope')
10 - hardware store, a 15m/10mm rope cut into two even lengths
11 - boating rope, about 12mm, got used from somewhere
12 - flea market, 10m or so, got a nice soft used feel to it
13 - from a horse rope halter, could be cotton
14 - from a hay net (also for horses), probably also cotton (got two lenghts from this, one a couple meters and the other like 20m)
15 - some well-used flag line type polyester, maybe 5-6mm

I'd also recommend learning a whipping technique for finishing the ends. I do it with a needle and thread and none of the rope ends has ever come loose.

Writing all that also got me thinking about the 'sustainability' of this hobby. I've had that white rope for over 25 years now, it's still as good as it was when I got it and it'd already been in use for several years on a boat somewhere. I can't even think of a thing I still use regularly from that long ago (apart from some furniture and kitchenware I guess). Clothes, shoes, cars, electronics, pretty much everything comes and goes but my ropes will never become obsolete or too old to use.
tiemeupalso
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Re: For want of a rope

Post by tiemeupalso »

you can save all that sewing the ends by dipping them in tool dip.it is rubber and wont come off.
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Sir Cumference
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Re: For want of a rope

Post by Sir Cumference »

Heat shrink tubing (the version with glue in it) is another great alternative to whipping the ends.


Mmmmmmmmm, whipping the ends.
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Re: For want of a rope

Post by tkv »

My ropes may be a mishmash of rainbow colors but I want them to look professional. Heat shrinking or tool dip just won't cut it.

Similar thing with coiling them. A knot book I once read said coiling them around your hand and elbow is "something only farmers do, not seamen" :D
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Sir Cumference
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Re: For want of a rope

Post by Sir Cumference »

When whipping is needed, I do it like this.
whip_knot.gif
(And then I sometimes dip the end with the whipping in dilute white glue)
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bound_jenny
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Re: For want of a rope

Post by bound_jenny »

Sir Cumference wrote:Mmmmmmmmm, whipping the ends.
I've lost count of the number of ends I've whipped... :whip: :rofl:

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