How to cordwrap something

Cordwrapping the handle of a tool makes it more grippy, more cushy, more shock-resistant and more impressive to look at, and if you use brightly colored cord it makes the tool easier to find if you drop it in a stream or in grass or anything else outdoorsy.

So what you’ll need is:

• Cord. You can use anything you want, like string or sisal or parachute cord. Just don't use something too thick.
• Sticky tape, scotch tape, masking tape, duct tape or a rubber band for securing the string to the handle.
• Scissors or knife.
• Something to cordwrap in the first place.

Mark the wrapping boundaries

Start off by placing your hand where you would like to grip the tool. Swing it around a few times to make sure you’re comfy with where you're holding it. Now mark about an inch to the left and right of your palm with a notch or a marker or something. You can make the mark as big as you like, since we’ll be wrapping over it.

Fasten the cord to the item

Now grab a bit of cord, leave a tail about two centimeters long and tape the tail onto your handle. Tape it on so that you can wrap over it later (that is, below a notch).

Wrap tightly over the tail

Start wrapping over the tail, keeping the cord very tight. If the cord is too loose at any stage then the wrapping will slide around during use. Make do with the low-quality picture.

Ending the wrap

Keep wrapping tightly until you get to the other marking. This is where you end the wrap. You can do this with a simple square knot at the end, or you can drill a hole into the handle and tie the end into that to stop it from slipping. My usual approach is a square knot, then a wrap, then another square knot and so forth, until I reach the end of my rope.

Another way to wrap

John Wilders says,

Much better way of getting a tight wrapping on your cord wrap. Start the way you describe in your article but when you start to whip (sailors call this a whipping) put a loop of cord under the rope (i.e. under the first loop so you have two ends). You then whip to where you want to finish but take the last five or six turns over your finger or over a pencil so you can pass the end under them and then pull them tight. Now with the loop you put in at the start pull down the slack in the whipping untill you reach the end then pull the slack under. Remove the rope and cut off all gash ends. Hope you can make sense of this.

From what I read, it sounds like John wraps over a thick piece of rope so that when he removes the rope he has enough play to tighten the cord uniformly, and then slips the end of the cord into where the rope used to be for a tight, clean finish.

Done!

And you’re done! Bask in your deserved glory for a moment before setting off to cordwrap pencils, spatulas, lawn mowers, car tyres...

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