Securing rope ends

My rope's core keeps coming out from the sheath. I've gone to REI to have the ends burned and it works for a couple of trips and then gets loose again. I'm thinking about whipping the ends ( animatedknots.com/indexrope…) but I'm not sure that it'll be easy to pull through anchors.
I know tape doesn't work well when pulling through anchors. Ideally, I'd want to get some plastic around the ends like some new ropes but I don't know if that's possible after market.

Does anyone have suggestions or feedback about whipping?

I had to cut a double rope of mine to match the pair and I used a butter knife heated up with a camp stove to cut and fuse the end. I then used some heat-shrink tubing that you can find for electrical applications to create a taped end on the end, came out perfect. It depends on the diameter of your rope, but you could try to find some of the heat shrink tubing at a hardware store that will fit over the end.

There's a way of melting the end (1/2" or so) of the line into a semi-solid state with a special teflon-coated iron. I think this is how rope manufacturers prepare ropes. The way i understand it, as the rope is cut, a short piece of the product end is encased in a heated tube that melts the core to the sheath over a (1/2" or so) distance vice just the very end.

If you could simulate this process, perhaps you could produce the same effect. Maybe use some old rope segments to test out whatever method you comes up with. I'm picturing using a pressurized hose fitting clamp. Or a metal clamp with some thickness to it you could hold the rope end with and heat while the adjacent rope next to the clamp is shielded.

Maybe start with something like this then attach a [ceramic?] tube to shield the adjacent rope.

Maybe a little more involved than you wanted to get but here i sit... waiting for the weekend. =) Btw, i have rope segments if you need for testing.

Tina S wrote:My rope's core keeps coming out from the sheath. I've gone to REI to have the ends burned and it works for a couple of trips and then gets loose again.

I've refinished the ends on several ropes. What I do, is, pull the sheath quite a ways back, then, I trim back the core strands a bit, then carefully melt them, sealing the individial cords. Then I try to kinda melt them together so the whole mass comes to a blunt end.

Then I pull the sheath back over, and, if its ragged, trim it a bit. I position the inner cords well behind the end (you can kinda work them back into the rope by massaging them). Then melt the end closed. I try to do this by melting the end so there's not a jump up in diameter, but, rather a tiny bit of taper.

Voila.

I use a kitchen knife with a fairly thick blade for melting. I heat it red hot on the open flame of my gas kitchen stove. Then, take my time and be super careful not to touch it were it don't belong. You can kinda shape and reshape the melted nylon.

I've seen folks tape the ends, or, whip the ends with dental floss or some such material. Seems like they always have a slightly bigger end, or, a bulge at the end of the rope to contend with. Easy to get something like that to hang up on rappel, either in a crack in the rock, or, on a rap anchor (skinny chain link).

My bet is a gob of super glue or some such might work too, at the end. Seems like some ropes are finished with some type of glue.

Good luck.

Just curious, what brand of rope is it?

It's a New England Ropes Maxim Glider 10.2mm. We haven't been very happy with it. Seems thinner than 10.2 and gets dirtier faster than our other dry ropes. In general, it seems to wear much faster than other ropes we've had.

This is what the ends of my double rope look like now. The one on the right is the factory end.

I agree with the heat shrink tubing idea. That is what I do. You can get a 3:1 ratio heat shrink that snugs up really tight. I also found that I get the clear stuff and can put markings under it. (I use my colored tape-red reflective tape for me) It is really durable and also marks my ends so I can see them at night and in the morning. A good Web site is buyheatshrink.com and there are many others. You can order it by the foot and there are a tone of colors. Most hardware stores sell only black and it is a lot more expensive. Good Luck.
Dallen

Tina S wrote:It's a New England Ropes Maxim Glider 10.2mm. We haven't been very happy with it. Seems thinner than 10.2 and gets dirtier faster than our other dry ropes. In general, it seems to wear much faster than other ropes we've had.

Sheath core migration is common and happens on alot of ropes. If this is a particular problem you've had, try tacking the core to the sheath at the very end by sewing through them with a piece of natural fiber dental floss(not the cheap plastic type). A few passes through both layers should hold it in place and not hang up on anything if you do it neatly.

I've struggled with the best way to finish a rope tip. I personally like pre melting the sheath so it doesn't fray, cutting with a new razor blade and then melting the end and pressing it against a cold frying pan to create a "mushroom." This seems to fuse the sheath to the core reasonably well. Use the sewing if you still have issues.

I have a glider, but I've never had the issue with that particular rope. I agree it does seem thinner than stated, though, overall I've been happy with it.