Rope Making for Bondage Use/Twisting



Essentially twisting works like this: you twist your strands in one direction, put them together, and twist the whole rope into the other direction. Make knots at the ends - you have a rope.

There are two fundamentally different approaches to producing twisted rope: you can either use a method that at the same time twists the strands in one direction, puts them together, and you get out rope (this is how machines make rope), or you can twist all your whole strands into one direction, using for instance a hand drill or an electric drill, put them together, and twist them all together the other way around.

Twisting individual strands first
If you want to twist the whole strands first, you do the following:
 * Measure your yarns and put them on n (= number of future strands, probably 3) hooks on both sides. Your rope will be significantly shorter than the initial yarns. At some point your strands will break if you twist them too much, but until then it is up to your taste how much and which way around you want to have your rope twisted. The best way to find out is by making a short sample. If you really have no clue, test 80%.
 * All strands should be the same thickness, which means have the same number of yarns.
 * Both of your hooks-boards should be parallel.
 * It is a good thing if your hooks are arranged "evenly on a circle", in case of 3 hooks as an equilateral.
 * The yarns should really be the same length, which means when stretched they have the same tension.
 * Check your yarns whether there is still some "wood" in it and remove the wood. You might even find knots, then back to point one!
 * (Clean the floor.)
 * Put the end of one strand into the hook of your hand drill or electric drill and the others on the floor, in a way that you won't step on them.
 * Info: if you twist your strands, they will shrink.
 * Move your hooks-device (board) to where you want to drill your strands. It has to be fixed to something heavy (rather an armchair than a kitchen chair).
 * Both of your hooks-boards should be parallel.
 * Drill the first strand until you are at your hooks-board. Keep the strand under tension the whole time. Put it carefully from your drill to the hook-board.
 * Note: a twisted strand always has to stay under tension.
 * Put the second strand into the hook of your drill and do the same like with the first strand.
 * Put the third strand into the hook of your drill and drill it until you are on the same height as your hook-board.
 * All twisted strands should be the same length, which also means: be the same much twisted.
 * Bring strand number two and one back to the hook of your drill.
 * Drill it a few turns backwards.
 * Lay the drill down (or hang it over your armchair) and check your rope. Did it magically arrange itself in a triangular manner? If yes, congratulations. If no, go back a bit and make it evenly triangular!
 * Twist the rope "backwards". It will first stretch and then shrink again. Shrink it until about 10 cm before your hook-board.
 * Take your rope off the hook of your drill and make an overhand-knot to keep it from untwisting.
 * Stretch the rope by pulling hard. It will get like half a meter longer.
 * Take the rope off at the other side and finish it with an overhand-knot too!
 * Congratulations, you made a rope!

There are other ways to twist rope, please add them if you find them useful!