Cotton rope is a natural fiber rope that are used for many different tasks. Cotton rope is soft, and cotton rope is easy to handle with your hands. Because cotton rope is soft, cotton rope dont cause splinters or skin irritation when you use cotton rope for long period of time.
Cotton rope is also gentle on animals, so you can use cotton rope for animal lead without causing discomfort to the animals. Cotton rope is biodegradable, which means that cotton rope will break down in the soil after the cotton rope is no longer in use. However, cotton rope absorb water, and cotton rope loses strength when cotton rope becomes wet.
How to Use and Care for Cotton Rope
When cotton rope becomes wet, the fibers in the cotton rope swell, and the swelling of the fibers causes knots to become very tight and difficultly to untie. You must understand the difference between breaking strength and working load to use cotton rope safe. Breaking strength is the amount of weight that causes the cotton rope to snap, but the working load is the amount of weight that you should actualy put on the cotton rope.
You should use a safety factor of 5 to 1 when you calculate the working load, because the safety factor account for sudden shocks or unexpected force. For example, if a half-inch cotton rope has a breaking strength of two thousand pounds, you should only use a working load of four hundred pound. If you ignore the safety factor, you may overload the cotton rope, and overloading the cotton rope can cause the cotton rope to break.
The construction of the cotton rope affect how the cotton rope performs. Three-strand twisted cotton rope is a common construction, and three-strand twisted cotton rope is easy to knot and easy to splice. Braided cotton rope is another construction, and braided cotton rope resist fraying better than twisted cotton rope.
Double braid cotton rope is also a construction, and double-braid cotton rope provides more strength in a smaller diameter. Additionally, the color of the cotton rope can indicate how someone treated the cotton rope. Unbleached cotton rope is strong, but bleached white cotton rope is use for decoration.
Waxed cotton rope is useful for wet weather because the wax help the cotton rope shed moisture. You must store cotton rope correctly to prevent the cotton rope from rotting. You should always hang the cotton rope in a shaded area to dry after the cotton rope has become wet.
If you coil the cotton rope while the cotton rope is still damp, mold will grow on the cotton rope. If mold grow on the cotton rope, the cotton rope will become brittle and the cotton rope will lose it’s strength. You should also inspect the cotton rope regular for stiffness or fuzz.
If the cotton rope feels stiff, the cotton rope may be damaged and the cotton rope may no longer be safe to use. You can select the correct thickness of cotton rope by matching the thickness to your specific task. For light tasks like crafts or decoration, you can use cotton rope that is a quarter-inch thick or thinner.
For medium tasks like pet leads or camping, you can use cotton rope that is three-eighths of an inch to one-half inch thick. For heavy task, you should of use cotton rope that is three-quarters of an inch thick or larger. Finally, you should use specific knots to ensure the cotton rope is reliable.
You can use a bowline knot to create a loop that will not slip, and you can use a timber hitch to secure log. Using the correct thickness and the correct knots will help you use cotton rope effective.
