Rope Rings

Make versitile rope rings that can be used for camp games, decorative carrying applications, or as rugged accents.

A continuous, perfectly round, rope ring can be made by unwinding and rewinding individual strands of a rope without the need for a bulky knot or splice.

Whether you use them to secure your Nalgene water bottle to your pack or slip them over your lantern's propane tanks to keep them from banging into each other: Rope Rings can be made on-site and are a nice addition to your camp gear portfolio.

Inspiration:
I'll bet you didn't know that a diamond tennis bracelet would make a nice Valentine's day gift. Subtle hints from my significant other brought that to my attention as soon as we entered this February season. It was those little hints that inspired the seed of this Instructable.

Who wouldn't rather receive a rustic biodegradable rope bracelet rather than a cold gold one? Don't answer that...

But this Instructable is not about bracelets...

It's a resourceful project that shows how to turn an essential wilderness staple, rope, into a functional outdoor gadget.

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Step 1: Wilderness Games

Does this camping senerio sound familiar?

The morning camp activities have drawn to a close. Lunch has been prep'ed, cook, and consumed.
Everyone starts to settle in around the campfire to relax.
Suddenly, there is the "SNAP" of a twig...there's rustling in the woods.
The peacefulness of camp has been broken. Wildlife is on the prowl.

Instantly the camp is full of restless wild things.
The air is filled with the dreaded howl of: "W E E E R B O R E D D...We don't have anything to do!"

The two game pieces made from the rope rings in this Instructable will entertained even the most stubborn youth determined not have a good time.

See the last two Steps for more info on these play things.

plantprof says: Feb 21, 2013. 7:08 AM

Nice Instructable--good and helpful photographs. Will try making a rope ring this way to see if it is better than just splicing the intact rope together at the ends. Since the ends of the three pieces have to be tucked in, sort of like in a splice, would there be any difference in appearance and uniformity of rope diameter?

Tomcat94 says: Oct 10, 2011. 2:24 PM

This is brilliant! I'll definitely be using this in the future when valentines' day comes along. :P

kitchentablescraps says: May 16, 2011. 7:09 AM

Um, just discovered that a tiny version of this makes an irresistible cat toy. Thanks for the great post!

newbie314 says: May 19, 2011. 7:57 PM

I've been doing the same thing for our cat.
I use the paper covers from straws and twist it (like making twine, another instructable)

harizard says: May 12, 2011. 4:45 PM

Great instructable, I do egg art and a customer wanted a rope stand. With your instructions I was able to complete this project. Thank you for posting this!

ragnork says: Mar 11, 2011. 12:13 PM

I've been making neckerchief slides for cub scouts out of these. They work great.

makijim says: Feb 25, 2011. 6:04 PM

Thanks so much for this Instructable. I've been sick at home for a couple of weeks and have been making these as a way to keep my mind off the sinkness and the side effects from the medicine. This has really been a great diversion. Cheers!

drmojo says: Feb 24, 2011. 9:37 PM

If you can't use a razor blade to hide the cuts, then maybe consider using some electrical tape, duct tape, shrink tape, or perhaps some jeweler's wire?

kyle.marsh says: Feb 10, 2011. 8:38 PM

Thanks for the wonderful instructable. I love the wide variety of uses you've put the humble rope grommet to! Thanks for sharing.

kyle.marsh says: Feb 10, 2011. 8:36 PM

Oh, that's really clever. I'll have to try that out this weekend; I've always used the loop in a double-fisherman's knot, or maybe a miller's knot to hold onto my water bottles, but this is slick!

kyle.marsh says: Feb 10, 2011. 8:31 PM

Natural fiber ropes are a great choice for this; as noted in step 4 you really want the rope to have a fair bit of "memory" to guide you relaying the strands. Monofilament polypropylene has a lot of memory, but it's also the devil (my snobbery only comes out in camping equipment, really).

In my experience nylon ropes have very low memory and you're more likely to end up with a mess of loose strands than a reasonable grommet unless you take immense care, so natural fiber really is the way to go. I personally like manila the best.

JapaneseBuffalo says: Feb 8, 2011. 7:29 PM

Can you post pictures on where you put the ends of the rope? I can't find where to tuck it, I try, and then it always ends up looking weird.

Nomadsanity says: Feb 8, 2011. 5:43 PM

One of the techniques that I use when dealing with permanent loops in twist rope it to taper the ends back into the rope. This is done by tucking the ends back into the rope once, then trim about half the fibers out of the end and tuck again. do this until you hit the point of no return and then clip the rest off. All of this can be followed up with the trip through the fire as noted above.

Casabamelon says: Feb 8, 2011. 4:58 PM

Very clever! I think I have some natural rope in the shop and look forward to giving this a try in about... oh... now.