A tip for tangle free extension cords

[John alder]

Found this on another site havent tired it yet.

Link http://www.woodsmithtips.com/2011/01/13/tangle-free-extension-cords/

[frank shic]

that's a great tip! i always wondered why my FIL did that. i just use a retractable reel.

[Matt Meiser]

Considering the source, I can't believe there's not a jig involved. :)

[John Pratt]

Rock climbers have done this for years and the military even longer. It is an excellent way to store cord, claymore wire, etc.

[Joe Scarfo]

Claymore wire... LOL.. I can guess what John did in the service. I worked on missile tracking systems...

On really long cords I do this backwards from the video. I fold the cord in 1/2 like they show but I start at the other end... I don't start the loop at the plugs, but at the other end. That way when I pull the cord, I only pull the amount I need. I don't have to re loop the entire cord.

Frank... With a retractable reel, it's the same thing. Fold the cord in 1/2 before winding it onto the reel.

Good Luck on all your projects.

Joe

[Rick Moyer]

While this works, I tried it on a 100' cord and it becomes rather long. In fact it was then too long for me to hang it on anything! You'll notice in the video that the cord is only maybe a 16' cord. At that length you may as well just roll it up. How tangled could it get? I think a better solution for a long extension cord is to sandwich two flat panels and make a reel to roll it up. Hope to get around to making one one of these days.

[Mark Ashmeade]

Cable is made with a twist in the conductors. This means that the cable will naturally coil at a certain diameter, usually in the 12-24" range. Trying to fight this natural property of cable is doomed to failure, kinks in the cable and worst case, broken cable. However, it's very simple to make a tangle free coil, no tricks involved. Procedure for right handed man:

Hold one end in your left hand front of you pointing away from you 45 degrees to the left, palm facing up.
Loop the cable with your right hand, under your left hand, and back up to finish in your left hand.
Adjust the length of this loop so the cable naturally wants to sit in a circle in your left hand.
The amount of cable that is needed to loop is typically in the arm's length range.
Repeat until cable is coiled.
If the cable won't sit naturally, try the other end first.

I spent many years un-birdsnesting cables in the military!

I imagine left-handers need to just do it the other way, but being a righty, I can't say for certain.

[Eric DeSilva]

Rick,

In my rock climbing days, I used to do this all the time with long strips of webbing. For the ones that were really long, just double 'em over. I found the chains still come apart easy and stay untangled, even when its doubled twice.

[Rick Prosser]

I have been using this method for years with rope and cords. Even the long ones (sometimes folded in half like the article). It even works with string.
Even if I piled multiple cords on top of each other in the back of a pickup - I could pull them out and use them without them getting tangled.
The only issue I have run into is sometimes, I would manage to get one end thru a loop the wrong way and spend a long time trying to get the right configuration so the loops would pull out - rather than pull together into a knot.

[Jim Rimmer]

Back in the 50's we had an electric lawnmower with the appropriate 100' cord. My Dad always insisted that I store the cord using this method.

[Dave Tesch]

a major part of my life is cable management. i use both small and large cables depending, a typical cable being 12/3SOOW at around 1" diameter and 100' long. these cables must lay down and be tangle free. there is only one sure-fire method to ensure a tangle free cable that will laydown flat and that is a figure 8. other methods include over over, over under and those can work fine well if your help is trained to deal with them, otherwise they can twist the cable and tangle it.

there are similar techniques to rope, i'm sure there are more for rope. i have seen guys do what is in the original link and i dont like it - a figure 8 cable with a heavy velcro or rope ties works so much faster and reliable, and stores smaller as well.

when you have thousands of feet of this stuff that must go up/down in minutes these details get important; 1 or 2 shop cables is not that big a deal.

[John Cavanaugh]

Cable is made with a twist in the conductors. This means that the cable will naturally coil at a certain diameter, usually in the 12-24" range. Trying to fight this natural property of cable is doomed to failure, kinks in the cable and worst case, broken cable. However, it's very simple to make a tangle free coil, no tricks involved. Procedure for right handed man:

Hold one end in your left hand front of you pointing away from you 45 degrees to the left, palm facing up.
Loop the cable with your right hand, under your left hand, and back up to finish in your left hand.
Adjust the length of this loop so the cable naturally wants to sit in a circle in your left hand.
The amount of cable that is needed to loop is typically in the arm's length range.
Repeat until cable is coiled.
If the cable won't sit naturally, try the other end first.

I spent many years un-birdsnesting cables in the military!

I imagine left-handers need to just do it the other way, but being a righty, I can't say for certain.

Im with Mark, this is the best way I know how to coil cables. Its *really* hard to explain in text. This video on youtube shows how its done. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLwwB29uQRg

[Dave Tesch]

Im with Mark, this is the best way I know how to coil cables. Its *really* hard to explain in text. This video on youtube shows how its done. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLwwB29uQRg

that is what is called "over under" and is essentially a collapsed figure 8. if you do all your own cables you will do fine with it, but as soon as an untrained person grabs a cable to use - you will end up with a half knot every 2 to 4 feet. the trick is to grab the two ends of the cable and drop (or toss) the center. i am able to teach college kids this technique but no success with high school kids. even with training there will still be the inevitable mistake and subsequent minutes of untangling.

[Marty Paulus]

That over and under technique looks interesting. I'll have to try it. I just loop my cords or use a borg reel. The borg reel method has been used by me for a couple of years now when stowing the christmas lights each year. No tangles to worry about during the Thanksgiving holiday when I am putting them up and no fuss around New Years when taking them down in sub zero weather.

[John Gornall]

And when you wrap the cord around a power tool like a drill it's one wrap around the chuck and one wrap around the handle and so on in a figure 8 wrap so there's no kinks.

[Jim Finn]

While this works, I tried it on a 100' cord and it becomes rather long. In fact it was then too long for me to hang it on anything!
I agree. 99% of construction workers , guys that do this every day, simply coil the cord and tie it closed. A very few guys do use this "chain" method but the cord still takes up way to much room to go into a truck tool box or a gang box. 5 or 6 cords wraped like that will be a mess in a gang box intermixed with power tools etc. Unwraping the cord at the start of the day keeps it from tangeling. No droping the coil and pulling on one end.

[Paul Comi]

We used to wrap cords like that in the music business. That's how stage hands and roadies keep mic cords from getting kinked. But, when we untie them, we just grabbed the loop end and tossed the rest and it came untied.

[rick carpenter]

I just wrap my cord in a 5 gallon bucket. I have a metal coffee can screwed into the bottom and about 4 foot of the male sticking out of a hole in the side@bottom. Wraps good, walks good, misc stuff fits in coffee can.

[John alder]

Im with Mark, this is the best way I know how to coil cables. Its *really* hard to explain in text. This video on youtube shows how its done. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLwwB29uQRg
Not good for the connectors hitting the deck like that for sure