UKC

I have a number of old climbing ropes that we need to cut into short lengths for another use.

This will involve lots of cutting of the ropes, and my usual method of sharp knife, gas hob seems like it will be very labour intensive.

Any ideas for a quicker easier method... short of finding some industrious europeans, pre Brexit, and paying them less than minimum wage

In reply to EricpAndrew:

You can get a special "hot knife" tool for cutting nylon rope. Depending how much you have to do it might or might not be worth buying one, and you might or might not be able to borrow one from your friendly local outdoors shop.

If you are making do with knife and hob, try wrapping the rope tightly in sellotape before cutting - it makes it quicker and easier to get a neat heat seal on the end.

In reply to Jack B:
It can be improvised with a blade bound with wire to a soldering iron.

In reply to EricpAndrew:

Thinnish wire and a 12v battery.

In reply to summo:

Or, even simpler, a camping stove and a knife you're happy never to use again.

In reply to EricpAndrew:

Local wall probably has a hot knife too, could be worth asking them if you can use it.

In reply to EricpAndrew:

http://www.force4.co.uk/force-4-rope-seal-hot-knife.html#.Wck8ttHTWhA

In reply to EricpAndrew:

The gas hot knives much cheaper however take longer to heat up (not as much of an issue of your doing a lot at once as against a little often). They also don't go as hot . The electric ones are more expensive but much easier to use. If you can afford an electric one and your doing a lot of cutting is recommend buying/borrowing an electric one

In reply to EricpAndrew:

How many cuts and what will the scraps be used for?

A couple of turns of insulation tape then cut through that and the rope with a Stanley knife might suffice if the scraps don't need to be robustly sealed for the long term. Half the tape stays on each piece so it's neat enough in the short term.
jk

In reply to EricpAndrew:

For possibly a quicker variation on the knife/cooker, I use our very sharp kitchen meat cleaver and chopping block then seal the ends on a gas ring.

Chopping gives a cleaner cut than sawing with a knife