artificial hemp

[robthirlby]

We need to buy some rope to replace a few of our lines before the panto season. Currently we use 16mm sisal on our 30 3-line sets. I am toying with the idea of trying artifical hemp as sold by Flints and others. Being old and conservative I am reluctant to jump too far off the cliff without any experience of this type of line. Any views on whether we should stick to nasty cheap sisal, or use manilla or artificial hemp, would be appreciated.

[jonathanhill]

Hempex is the one that I would recommend. It is very tactile and is not that stretchy. I would look into using a thicker diameter line as 16mm is a little thin for flying.

[robloxley]

3 strand polyester from English Braids is another suggestion

[Richard the chandler]

Well flax hemp is the more normal traditional rope for use in hemp house in the UK, but artificial is becoming more popular for the below reasons.

 

I'm assuming that you may need to have an eye splice to attach the line to a hanging clamp on the bar, well I can tell you from personal experience that it is much quicker and easier to use artificial hemp for splicing. After doing the four full tucks you can simply cut off the excess on the strands rather than carrying out any binding, or 'splitting and hugging' as we normally do here for natural ropes.

 

Manilla is cheap and strong, but is hell on the hands, even with gloves unless you have a really good pair which will of course get knackered really quickly.

 

Word of warning, you tend to get what you pay for. Hempex is cheap and nasty rope. Its made from a relatively low quality polypropylene which gives it a rough powdery texture which doesn't stand up to long term use as well. Our artificial hemp is made by Liros of Germany from a higher grade of polypropylene which is much nicer to work with. (PLUG OVER)

 

If your looking at replacing a whole set, or a whole set with splicing carried out and lines cut ready for install then give either myself or Alasdair an email richard@flints.co.uk alasdair@flints.co.uk and we'll sort you out a good quote. (FYI you don't pay list price for large amounts of rope)

 

 

 

We need to buy some rope to replace a few of our lines before the panto season. Currently we use 16mm sisal on our 30 3-line sets. I am toying with the idea of trying artifical hemp as sold by Flints and others. Being old and conservative I am reluctant to jump too far off the cliff without any experience of this type of line. Any views on whether we should stick to nasty cheap sisal, or use manilla or artificial hemp, would be appreciated.