Changing Lay
This is a simple trick on how to set the exact rope twist lay ratio of your specific preference, and works extremely well with rope manufactured from soft soybean oil VOT batched yarns made with highly compliant premium-grade Tossa jute fibre.
Industry Terminology
There is no such terminology in the cordage industry as tight, medium, or loose lay. The British being the first to industrialise rope-making, manufacturers, even in Japanese or Bengali use an Imperial measurement ‘Twists (rotations) Per Inch’.
What is a Rope and a Twine?
The former typically a robust cord for heavier applications, eg. climbing, securing objects, or towing. Twine is thinner and less robust, made for tying, bundling, or delicate tasks. Again, while there is no industry specification, rope can be from ~ø3mm up to ~ø120mm for tugs towing ships. Twine can be ~ø1.5 to ~ø8mm. The demarcation is in the lay. Heavy twine is commonly available to secure orchard trees to grow straight where it won’t cut in, and break to biodegrade when the tree is strong enough.
Determining Correct Lay
Getting the lay correct comes down to the rope winding machine rate of rotation as strands pass through an expensive 2-part ‘Voice’ – one required for every diameter and every different lay. Get the rotation out of sequence with the Voice, twist too fast or aggressively, or be too loose for the compliance of the material, along with incorrect tension through the stranding machine yarn orbit feed from the creel, and it will end up with yarn loops and rope imbalance. To perfectly achieve the described trick, you need to start with extremely well made, perfectly balanced rope.
Our Manufacturing Principles
KOUMANAWA ropes were designed with our Japanese manufacturing partner not for how they appear raw out of the box, but for confidence in using them after conditioning for security and longevity. To implicitly rely on their continued stability with minimal fibre dust, hairiness, and nap, where it’s harder to poke fingers through strands that, even with attempts to rebalance are the beginning of the end of a rope. Everyone has their preferences, and know what they like. The same goes for rope lay ratios where production economies mean large minimum order quantities, if the material can take the specified request without issues.
Can you change the lay of a rope?
Yes.
You will need a free area a little longer than you want your final rope. One method is to build two railway buffer-type wooden structures strong enough to take the load, each with a horizontal beam. Secure so they can’t move. Drill holes through the horizontal on one structure ø1mm larger than a ring bolt. Make simple grooves at the same separation distance as your ring bolt holes in the trailing edge on the horizontal at the other structure to stop the ropes trying to rotate back again.
Do not use hooks as the rope can slip off, or break a finger if hooked. Using a washer either side, pass long enough ring bolts through the wood to be able to grab them with a drill chuck. A good way is to use wing nuts to secure the ring bolts after untwisting. At the other end have your weights ready. Sandbag weights are the most economical, and should be filled to ~8kg per line for ø6mm rope.
Fix your rope lines to the rings of the bolts with a simple overhand knot that can’t slip. Run the rope over the horizontal at the other end, locating into the groove and fix to the weight with enough drop distance for when the rope slackens its twist and lengthens. Your rope/s should be taught.
Mark a clearly visible line on an Accu drill chuck and secure it to the ringbolt. As KOUMANAWA rope is Z-lay, you wind clockwise to loosen, and determine your preference. Do not go too far. Start by unwinding 12 turns per meter (96 turns for 8m). Ensuring your ring bolt doesn’t rotate any more, remove the drill and securely tighten the wing nut.
Critically important – the better the fibre quality, the more ‘memory’ it will retain. If you remove your ropes immediately, they will naturally recoil to the original twist. Leave them to ‘set’ over 7 days. And… if you’re not happy with the twist and wish your rope to be even looser, just put your ropes back on the frame and untwist some more!
You may also change lay with a vertical arrangement, but you must fix the weights so the rope cannot rotate when free.
