On conditioning hemp rope

Sorry about the long hiatus, though I suspect no one but me noticed...


I'm going to write about my experience conditioning my own hemp rope from a very "raw" (read: itchy and natural) state to a very sexy and silky state. There are lots of decisions that go into purchasing rope: which fiber to choose; where to purchase it; how long a piece of rope to get; how much rope you'll need for xyz bondage projects; etc. I'll try to address some of these concerns along the way :)
To start then, I purchased hemp rope. I choose hemp because I love natural fibers and it's "authentic" to the Japanese tradition (they tend to use only hemp and jute). I dislike cotton because it has *zero* stretch to it unless elastic is added (I know this from knitting/crochet), but the ropes are often extremely soft. Google "magicians rope" if you like this option. I avoided nylon because I dislike the plasticky-feel and it can leave wicked rope burns if pulled across the skin too quickly. There are other, more complete explanations of what fibers are available and what each types pro's and con's are. As for me, I love love love everything about hemp, so there wasn't much deciding to be done.

I ordered my rope from these http://rawganique.com/HArope.htm nice people.
Typically the rope used in bondage is 6mm thick, I bought a little 8mm as well since the boy I like to tie up is tall, broad chested and kinda heavy. I was worried that 6mm would look flimsy on his body, and more importantly, that it would cut into the skin if I tried to use it for suspension work. I'm very happy with my decision to go with both sizes, but there are plenty of riggers that use 6mm rope exclusively.

The Rawganique rope is organic (yay pesticide free!) with all that all-natural goodness you'd expect from a hippie-dippy company bent on saving the world. Really though, those guys are pretty cool and you'd be doing your karma a good turn to support them ^_^

I used the following guide to condition my rope, and will comment on it, and add pictures :P
http://tiedoutwest.com/2007/05/08/rope-preparation-and-care/

Steps

1. Pre-soak in sink or tub, then wash the rope.

The pre-soak will get some of the dirt or grassiness out. The washing, naturally, does the same.

2. Boil the rope.

Now this is an interesting step. On the 8mm I decided I didn't want to boil my rope for hours and hours (impatient), so I skipped it entirely. My 8mm rope smells a lot like a freshly cut lawn. Some bottoms really like this, others not so much. As far as I can tell, however, smell removal is the primary aim of this bit.
I conditioned the 6mm rope later and decided to try this step. The water I used to boil the rope got so brown and stanky that I ended up changing the water bath once in the middle. Also, through a strange series of events I own a pressure cooker, so while I didn't boil mine for as long as suggested, it was at more than normal atmospheric pressure.
I would consider this step *mostly* optional, but would recommend it if you have the patience/time to boil the rope at least for an hour or so.

3. Dry the rope.

As there's no oil in the rope, it's still safe to go in the dryer. My 8mm took forever to dry, I ended up leaving the rope to air dry overnight. The 6mm was able to dry almost completely in the dryer.

4. Pull the rope. Lots.

I am a bit of a perfectionist, so I actually counted the pulls per yard of rope and made sure it was essentially even over the entire length of the rope. For the first pulling, the rope got 40 pulls through my apartment's wire railing, then another 10 pulls as I went back in the other direction. This took fucking forever and your arms and back will be tired, even if you're buff, from the RSI-ness of the process.
If you look closely at the picture, the rope is lighter-colored on the left. That's the post-first-round-of-pulling side.

5. Singe the rope.

I know what you're thinking: what the fuck, burn the rope I spent all that time/money on??? But really, it's not like that. The little fuzzy ends you've created by pulling the hemp back and forth over some metal something itch like a crazy mutherfucker on the skin and have to go. You can leave the rope *in* the fire for a long time (like long enough to get your digital camera and take a few pics) without any effect. The little hairs light up and burn down to the core. The rope itself never came close to lighting on fire. Neato!

6. (Wash) and Pull the rope again.

I skipped this washing both times. I think it's totally unnecessary if you're going to pull the rope again. But don't pull it in your house or you'll get little ashy bits all over the place.

After pulling the rope *again*, my 8mm was really fuzzy and kinda itchy seeming, so I singed it again. The guide didn't call for this step, but I knew how I wanted the rope to turn out, and prickly-as-hell wasn't what I was going for.
I also added a weird step at this point... So I happened to have some really (really) high ought sandpaper sitting around from a different project. I decided to try pulling it along the rope once or twice. I think it noticeably improved the texture of the rope, making it softer and smoother. I'm not sure that this step is a good idea though.

7. Oil the rope.

So my rope was still a little skanky from the burning, so I pulled it through a clean rag a few times to get most of the remaining ash off. You could also wash the rope like the previous step suggests.
The guide recommends some fancy-dancy oils -- I looked for jojoba extract and decided it was too expensive to buy in person, and probably not worth the wait to order online. Whatever oil you decide to go with:

DO NOT USE COOKING OILS!

All cooking oils will go rancid and make your rope disgusting at best and garbage at worst. I doubt you could ever really get rancid olive oil out of a tightly coiled rope...

I choose to use mineral oil on my rope for a number of reasons:
1. It's crazy cheap and widely available
2. It's stable and won't go rancid
3. It's edible! Cutting boards are often sealed with mineral oil, and drug stores sell it as a laxative of sorts. I figured if I used mineral oil on the rope it would still be safe to put in mouths and sensitive bits.

If someone out there in internet-land thinks this was a bad idea, please let me know. But really, I'm happy with the results :)

Be careful not to over oil! I was like super enthusiastic about this step, so I put a big-ass daub of oil on a rag and started to run it along the rope. What I got was a greasy fucking rope >:P
A small amount of oil on a rag, pulled from each end, and again out from the center if the rope is really long, will be sufficient. I ended up having to run clean rags along the 8mm to try and pull some of the extra oil out. Thankfully, capillary action worked to distribute the extra oil and so the rope didn't suffer from the over-oiling.

Here's a pic of the completed 8mm rope :D



















And a few extra pics of processing the 6mm rope:



If you look closely you can see the pulled rope (left) is a lot smaller than the un-pulled rope (right). Post-processing the rope is about 6mm... I think the washing puffs it up a bit.



















The rope, before and after oiling.
The rope on the left has been processes completely and is ready for play.
The rope on the right has been washed but otherwise is unprocessed.


So, all in all, it takes a few hours of active work (pulling, oiling, etc) and a lots of inactive work (waiting while it boils, washes and drys) to process the rope. The 8mm I did over two days, the 6mm I dedicated the better part of an afternoon to.

If after reading this you're convinced that you won't get enjoyment or satisfaction from playing with your rope, I would whole-heartedly recommend you shop here:

http://www.twistedmonk.com/

for all your rope needs. Monk's ropes are really nice, I've played with them plenty, and I can honestly say they're worth the investment, IF you aren't into DIY projects.
Personally, I think my rope came out a bit nicer: it's a little softer, more supple, and smoother on the skin. Some people like their rope with a little bite. I wanted my 6mm to be silky-smooth, and it is.

Happy tying!