Rope as Cordage

In any “survival packing list” worth a darn you’ll see “cordage” listed as an essential. Even if you aren’t roughing it in the wilderness, having rope and cordage on hand can be a real asset in a disaster or disruption of normal life.

Some quick background information:

• Cordage is twine and string, useful for small tasks.
• Rope is bigger than cordage in all dimensions.
• There are two types of rope, static and dynamic. This simply means one (static) stretches less than 5% of its length under load, and the other (dynamic) stretches more than that. 
• Both types have a broad range of uses, but when the power is out, sometimes having rope on hand is the difference between waiting for someone else to solve your problem, or being able to do it yourself. 
• Static ropes are generally used for climbing, rappelling, and other activities where humans are going up and down the ropes. 
• The cheapest, most readily available rope worth having on hand is dynamic, and made from synthetic fiber, 3/8th of an inch in diameter. 

You can do a lot with dynamic rope, from simply tying things together to creating a simple pully system using household hardware items like eye bolts and carabiners. I generally like to have one or two lengths of this type on hand, although the last two times I used up my stash it was just to teach youngsters how to tie knots. You can get 100 feet of it for about $6 at Home Depot, and essentially the same stuff at Lowes.

https://www.homedepot.com/b/Hardware-Chains-Ropes-Rope/3-8-inch/N-5yc1vZc2grZ1z1slt3 

In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, one of the problems we had was a massive amount of downed trees, leading to a lot of chainsaw and tree removal work. One tree dropped right over my neighbors' deck, and the problem became how to remove the tree without having all the weight of the trunk fall on his deck. Fortunately, (or unfortunately, depending on how you see it), my neighbor was able to arrange for a professional to remove the trunk with heavy machinery before I had another weekend free to help him finish the job (which is a huge plug for having a solid Homeowner's insurance policy).

That neighbor and I had already used a bunch of rope to control the fall of tree limbs as I limbed the big beech tree. I tossed the rope over a limb using a weight (small sandbags work great for this), then tied a safe knot around the rope, and neighbor tied the other end to his lawn tractor. He would apply tension with the lawn tractor, and I would chainsaw the limb, letting him pull the limbs away from over his fence so they landed safely on the lawn. A six dollar rope saved hundreds of dollars in fence repair.

I’ve since found commercial block and tackle pulley systems available for very moderate prices (this one costs about the same as a few eye bolts, plus high strength snap-over carabiners, and I think I'll purchase one for the next time I have to teach kids about simple machines (levers, incline planes, and pulleys).

https://amzn.to/4hKjQeD

One other use of cordage was helping another friend cut through the downed forest to get to his shed where they stored their animal feed. When we got to the shed, it was crushed, but my buddy had a come-along and a bunch of 550 cord. In order to not snap the cord, I wrapped it around the fallen tree trunk about a dozen times to distribute the pressure over multiple strands, and that worked fine to pull the fallen oak off the shed enough to retrieve the animal feed so they could keep their farm running.

Finally, knots. You should know how to tie a square knot, and a bowline. These two knots cover the vast majority of practical rope and cordage uses you will encounter in an emergency, or a camping trip. Yes there may be more appropriate knots for tying down a rain fly over a tent, but you can get it done with square and bowline knots. 

There is a lot more information about the different types of rope out there: braided, double braided, twisted, natural fiber, kernmantle, etc. There are a lot more knots, and a lot more potential pulley setups. There are many better ropes than a 3/8” polypropylene rope, but I found that the cheap 3/8th polypropylene, as well as non-milspec 550 cord, served perfectly well in disaster response. 

Making a New Luggage or Toolbox Handle with 550 Cord

A lot of times you can find an old toolbox or suitcase that, with a little work, is quite usable... except the handle has fallen off or is coming apart.

If you have the time and inclination to fix it, or just need to make a carry handle for something, here's an easy way to do that with 550 cord.

This toolbox has two 'D' rings on top.

It originally used a leather strap for the handle, with more leather wrapped or stitched around it to make it more comfortable.

1. Start with a length of 550 cord in whatever color suits you. 
2. Take one end, and run it back and forth through the rings a couple of times; in my case it was three. Make sure it's slack enough that, when done, your hand will fit comfortably.
3. At one end, start feeding the cord through and wrapping it around the long loops. If you start this on the side where the end of the cord is, it'll lock it in place.
4. Keep wrapping until you reach the other end. 
5. Cut the cord so you have enough to feed it back through the last loop, and pull it tight. 
6. Trim the cord so about 1/4" sticks out, then use a lighter or match to melt it down to just above the wraps. Or, if you really want it to stay put, until the melted end contacts the wraps.

That's all it takes to make a handle that'll hold all the weight you can put in most boxes or bags.

If you want the handle larger in diameter you can double the wrapping, or wrap some cloth or leather around the loops before you start wrapping. Want a stiffer handle? Put a piece of dowel rod in with the loops, and wrap the cord over it.