UKC

Hey is it safe to use finger tape to tidy up the tails on the knots of my cordelette? Is the glue gona weaken the rope? Anyone else use finger tape on their ropes or cords?

In reply to piersg:

Tails don't form any part of the load bearing loop surely won't matter. I usually use finger tape to make a neat cut if no one has a lighter when out and about

In reply to Cheese Monkey:


Unless he means taping the tail to the active part of the loop to keep it out of the way.

In reply to Wsdconst:


Doing that is a bad idea. I know of one instance where a belayer on top of the crag clipped into the tail side of such a loop by mistake on an old fashioned tied-tape loop wrapped round a big solid tree. The third man fell off after the second man had taken most of the runners out and the belayer was pulled over the edge. Both belayer and third went a long way but fortunately one of the few runners left (an old peg) held them both. The belayer did well to hang on top the rope in the circumstances! Keep things as foolproof as possible and don't create any loops that could be clipped wrong way

In reply to piersg:

I've used self annealing electrical tape on my spectra slinged rocks (6,7,8), don't think that there are many free plasticisers to cause damage- am waiting to be corrected on this though !

In reply to Ade in Sheffield:


A couple of (old) bought ones I have are tidied in a similar way using heat shrink tubing. You could do the same yourself, if you were careful with a small heat gun.

However I echo Harold Walmsey's general warning above. A *very* long time ago, when we still using home-made slings from lengths of tape tied with water knots, a friend of mine made such a sling, and tidied the ends with electrical tape. Over time, and with use, the knot 'walked' - with the result that the (then superficially good) sling consisted of a knotted tape, held together with electrical tape. We only noticed that just in time, as he was preparing to abseil off the bloody thing!

Keeping things simple and fail-safe is always a good idea.

In reply to Rob Parsons:
Yup, not 'electrical tape' as such, more a very flexible rubber (self amalgamating?), which when stretched, pulls back on to itself once released- need to look the product up !

In reply to piersg:

Yes I was going to tape the tails to the load bearing rope...

I've got a figure of 8 at each end of a 7mm nylon cord and I want to tape the tails along their whole length ( about 10 cm) so they are neat and easy to see/hold... I think it would be unlikely that I would clip the tape section by mistake but ill make sure to double check as always.... I'm more concerned about the chemicals in the glue in the tape weakening the nylon... any body know?

In reply to piersg:

I've used it to mark the middle of my ropes for years, it's fine.

In reply to piersg:

Whilst I'm sure it would be fine, do you really need tails that long? Is it tape or cord? I've never had prusik loops with tails long enough that securing them out the way them has ever been a thought, though with slippery tape it's a different issue of course.