Blue Ox Rope

SomethingWitty · Mar 21, 2017

Blueoxrope.com

Does anybody have any experience with their products? Any experience with smaller brands of rope in general?
It is close to time to replace about a quarter mile of rigging lines, and these guys have double braids and 12 strands that are half of the price across the board from the companies that use arborist supply distributors. Naturally, if they're not similar quality then we should just buy the same old stuff, but if they're comparable (and it seems from pictures and reviews that they should be) then there is a small salary to be saved.
Any discussion about cheaping out on rigging is welcome.

JeffGu · Mar 21, 2017

Don't have any... but it's not that much cheaper. 150' hank of polyester, 5/8" doublebraid is $139 and New England Sta-Set (an equivalent rope) is $159 with the Blue Ox rated at 12,000 lbs. tensile and the Sta-Set rated at over 16,000 lbs. tensile. Rope looks good, and I'm sure it's fine... but it doesn't strike me as much of a bargain.

SomethingWitty · Mar 21, 2017

I'm finding like 300' 1/2" double braids for $120 on ebay.

It seems that a lot of it is hit or miss, as far as pricing on specific pieces, and I'm still not completely clear on how much the actual strength of similar construction/similar materials rope varies.

JeffGu · Mar 21, 2017

Yeah, there's a lot of rope companies out there, and quite a few recent startups. I think all of them can produce great ropes, but it takes many years to develop the finer points of getting the right blend of tension, fibers, weave, etc. to maximize the qualities they're after. It's a science of materials and construction. If you're really hard on gear, you go for the strongest stuff you can buy, but if you tend to be very cautious you can use almost anything (except cheap hardware store rope). Tensile strength isn't everything, either. Abrasion resistance, elongation and other properties need to be considered. The strongest rope isn't always what you need, if it bounces a 1000 lb. log off of somebody's greenhouse. For light rigging, I use 1/2" ropes that go from about 5500 lbs. to 8500 lbs. tensile and I manage not to break any of them. I'm usually picking the one that has the right amount of friction for the pieces I'm cutting, not for its strength. That just takes a lot of experimenting, because it's not the kind of info you find on a rope's spec sheet. So, really, just try one of their ropes and see if you like it. Saving money isn't a crime, and picking smaller pieces to save wear and tear on equipment and ropes isn't going to cost you anything, in the long term.

I always get a chuckle out of folks that cut a huge piece to save time (and therefore, money) and then it all goes south on them. It only takes one disaster to nullify any savings they thought they had made.

SomethingWitty · Mar 22, 2017

JeffGu said:
Yeah, there's a lot of rope companies out there, and quite a few recent startups. I think all of them can produce great ropes, but it takes many years to develop the finer points of getting the right blend of tension, fibers, weave, etc. to maximize the qualities they're after. It's a science of materials and construction. If you're really hard on gear, you go for the strongest stuff you can buy, but if you tend to be very cautious you can use almost anything (except cheap hardware store rope). Tensile strength isn't everything, either. Abrasion resistance, elongation and other properties need to be considered. The strongest rope isn't always what you need, if it bounces a 1000 lb. log off of somebody's greenhouse. For light rigging, I use 1/2" ropes that go from about 5500 lbs. to 8500 lbs. tensile and I manage not to break any of them. I'm usually picking the one that has the right amount of friction for the pieces I'm cutting, not for its strength. That just takes a lot of experimenting, because it's not the kind of info you find on a rope's spec sheet. So, really, just try one of their ropes and see if you like it. Saving money isn't a crime, and picking smaller pieces to save wear and tear on equipment and ropes isn't going to cost you anything, in the long term.

I always get a chuckle out of folks that cut a huge piece to save time (and therefore, money) and then it all goes south on them. It only takes one disaster to nullify any savings they thought they had made.

I like everything you just said.
You know, you may be smarter than you act sometimes.