Why do some hitches hockle ropes?

KentuckySawyer

KentuckySawyer

Participating member
Location
Louisville
I've been having problems with my friction hitches recently.

Seems like whatever cordage/hitch combination I try hockles my tail rope horribly on long desents. The VT (and some of its permutations) seems to be the worst, but I've observed the problem on the Knut, Icicle, and what I think is the TK as well.

The hitch cords I've been tinkering with are 28" spliced Icetail (VT only), 8mm Beeline, 3/8ths Yalex (single carrier?), and 9mm Yalex (double carrier).

Or is it my climbing rope? Its DragonFly, purchased Oct of last year, and used daily. But I've only been seeing the hockling for a month or so.

Any hints from you Masters of Cordage?
 
I discovered this when I first experimented with a VT hitch. I would watch the hitch closely as I descended and noticed that the wraps would twist the rope, and then the braids underneath would twist the rope further. I figured that I needed to make it so the braids would twist the rope in the opposite direction of the wraps in order to cancel out the twisting. So when I make the braids, I make sure the upper leg is underneath the lower leg. This reduced the hockling problem by 90% and I have done it like that ever since.
 
I noticed the hockling problem was worse when using the VT. I don't really have a problem with the Distel when I do four wraps up the rope and one wrape below.

jp
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Sometimes some one will buy a rope from me and they'll want it spliced on each end. Depending on the rope I'm using, I might splice one eye, then do a few descents on the rope to milk the cover. I usually use a 3/3 swabish, aka a 3-wrap prusik (sometimes I use a 4 wrap prusik). The bottom wraps spin the rope one way, the top wraps spin the rope the other, and by the time it comes out the top, it's back to where it started.

Wrap your wraps the other way and see if that changes things.

love
nick
 
Hmmmm... haven't graduated to the VT yet, still using a Blakes and it definitely hockles my Velocity on long descents. I'll try reversing the knot every other time and see if that helps.

I used to use a Distel w/ PI and never had hockling problems but it locked down more than I liked.

Thanks, I've been wondering about that.
 
I've also noticed that some of my climbing lines like to get kinky more than others. My Blaze barely hockles at all, but with the same hitch on my velocity I get twists galore. Then again that particular piece of velocity seemed to be a kinky mess from the moment I pulled it out of the bag.

Rocky's trick for switching the braids is a good one.
 
Odd, I never have that problem!
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Sure it can. It's triggered by the way the hitch is formed around the rope. The good old prussic is one that hockles the rope the least. The old three strand climbing lines hockle them self even with a prussic.

If you don't want the hockling to happen than start using a ART device (I am not going to... too chicken, don't want to drop dead not knowing what happened) I'll stick to the twisting rope.
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[ QUOTE ]
Sure it can. It's triggered by the way the hitch is formed around the rope. The good old prussic is one that hockles the rope the least. The old three strand climbing lines hockle them self even with a prussic.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree Treespotter, MBs link unreliable,

"a back turn; a twist against the lay that cannot be corrected. It can lessen the tensile strength by as much as 50%. Braided or plaited rope cannot hockle.
www.jamarco.com/09a_Rope/rope_glossary.htm"

[ QUOTE ]

If you don't want the hockling to happen than start using a ART device (I am not going to... too chicken,

[/ QUOTE ]

Tried the Lockjack for 1 week, scared the hell out me also. especially when stepping up onto branches. Its also bad on spars.
 
Is the hocking only happening when you are descending large distances? because if thats the case I have only found one way to stop that and that is with a Rack. There is no way im going to use that every freaking day!
 
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