How-To: Rope Leash

On a recent hike, I happened upon two pieces of climbing rope that lay abandoned in the woods. Naturally, I couldn't pass up some prime rope for the great and wonderful price of zero dollars, and took both home where I first ran them through the washing machine, and then hung them up to dry. I made one of them into a Monkey's Fist dog tug, and the other one into a rope leash.

Having a 10 foot leash made from climbing rope makes this leash perfect for hiking. The material is extremely lightweight, very durable, washable, and is dead useful should you ever need a length of rope in the woods in an emergency. If you want to make your own, here's a how-to.

Ingredients

• 10 ft length of rope
  
  Most outdoor stores, such as REI, will have a variety of rope available and will cut it to whatever length you desire. Check them out, pick the one you like, and take it from there. Thicker gauge ropes are great if you have a strong dog or very big hands, too!
  
  
• 1 swivel clip
  
  These are sold at WalMart, hardware stores, home improvement stores, and feed stores, and come in a variety of sizes, weights, and materials. The one I'm using for my project is an Attwood Trigger Snap Swivel Eye Bolt Snap, which is sold at Lowe's. I love this snap, it's great.
  
  
• 1 yarn needle
  
  Yarn needles are large, blunt-tipped needles used to sew pieces of knit or crochet garments together for finishing. In our project, we'll use the yarn needle to "sew" the end of the rope. Yarn needles can be bought at fabric, sewing, and craft stores.
  
  
• Parachute cord
  
  I'm not giving a length for the parachute cord because how much of it you choose to use is really up to you.
  
  
• You will also need a sharp pair of scissors for cutting the parachute cord, as well as a cheap cigarette lighter, which is used for melting the ends of the parachute cord to keep them from fraying. This is done by holding the end over the flame. Since the cord is made from synthetic material, it melts. (Let the ends cool before touching!)
  

Now that we have all our ingredients, let's get started by attaching our swivel clip to the rope. Take one of the rope's loose ends and loop it through the opening on the swivel clip as seen in the picture below. Leave a couple of inches of rope on one side, and the rest of the rope on the other.

Now that we've done that, we're going to need the inside strands of our parachute cord and the yarn needle. Most parachute cord has between five and nine strands on the inside. The cord I'm using has seven. I've cut a length off my cord and pulled out the "insides", the white strands shown in the photo below.

I'm knotting a bunch of them together for my sewing "thread". When you knot parachute cord, make sure that the knots are really tight, and then melt the knots to make sure they don't come undone. (Of course, you can also use one long "gut" piece of your parachute cord, if you want.)


Now we're going to sew the short end of our rope to the long end of the rope, forming a small loop at the end where our swivel clip is located. I've started at the bottom, close to the clip, and then worked my way up. The photo below shows the reverse side where I'm now working my way back down toward the clip. You should always sew both sides - it will make the seam stronger, and also helps you get it nice and tight.

Since the climbing rope I'm using is braided cord, it's very easy to "sew" the two sides together. I push my needle through one of the "loops" of the cord's braid, and then do the same on the other side, zig-zagging my way up one side and down the other. Make sure to pull the cord nice and tight so you get a tight seam - when you just hold it loosely, it will look like the photo. (Great for illustrating how it's done, not so great as a finished product.)


When you've finished sewing both ends of your cord together like this, make sure to secure the ends really well so they won't come undone. I tend to loop them through the cord, and make a knot, loop them through again and make another knot, then melt down any loose ends and melt down the knots.

Once everything is secured, your leash should now look like this -


It's not the prettiest at this point, but it's quite functional. To make it a little prettier, I went ahead and covered the sewn area in parachute cord knotting. The particular knot I use is called a Portugese Sinnet or Solomon's Bar - it's very easy to make, and you can find online instructions on this website. (You can also make other neat stuff with this type of knot, such as dog collars and watch bands, for example.)

After knotting with parachute cord, here's the finished leash end -


Since I like to loop the end of the leash around one of the D rings on my backpack, and also like to be able to tie the leash to things, I decided to leave the other end of the rope just plain. I didn't put a handle or anything - I don't use handles on most of the leashes I have, so I don't miss not having it. I put another short bit of cord on the loose "handle" end, just for a little bit of extra grip. You can also make a knot in the end for gripping it, or sew a handle the same way you've sewn in the swivel clip.

I have to add that I like this leash so much, I use it as my main leash for everyday walks and have also used it at events, for example when I was handling Abby at the Army Ten Miler. It's a really nice, light-weight lead that is very comfortable in my hands. I use this more often than my Ray Allen leather leash or my Elite K-9 ASAT leash!