posskat Report post Posted August 30, 2013 started making the odd mecate a few years ago; have braided split lines for years....never had a problem, but one of the mecates i recently made has started twisting, and it appears that one of the colors (2 strands out of 12) appears to be shrinking next to the other 10 strands....it looks awful, makes the other 2 colors look like they are bulging.....i've made about 10 mecates thus far, no core, 12 strand square, solid, 2 and 3 colors, and i've never seen this before. this one had been rained on for a coupla days, and the color that appears to have shrunk was a new color i'd used, but it's from the same company i've ordered from for 4 years....i'm just sick about this, because it's a lot of work, and i don't have a clue what's going on....i've got split lines i made 20 years ago that are part flat and part square (8 strand), white originally, and they haven't gone all wonky like this mecate has. i use the 550 paracord from armed outfitters.com. any ideas? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
posskat Report post Posted August 31, 2013 2013-08-30 mecate and trouble.zip trying to attach photos of mecate, plus what it would have looked like just after i finished braiding it.. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TXAG Report post Posted September 1, 2013 Ok, well I cannot see your pics (I would pick a free site like flikr or photobucket and upload them there)...and I am also not familiar with the cord that place sells, but I have bought tons (ok, maybe not tons, but at least thousands of feet) of cord from another supplier that says their cord is "made to military specifications" and have found that that is largely open to interpretation. In my experience, the cord from some manufacturers varies quite a great deal in thickness, texture, and durability. For instance, the "coyote brown" color I get from this place does not sear like normal paracord...it turns ashy and looks terrible...not nice and shiny like other colors. Some of their colors are quite a bit thicker than others also. Some have more internal strands than others, etc. It is also possible that your vendor sent you a mix of "commercial" and mil-spec cord, but you would've been able to see this when you cut the cord to length for braiding...the commercial/imported stuff is usually made up of a bunch of fuzzy strands that look more like fiberglass (it's nylon, but very, very fuzzy...not individual braided cords). The true mil-spec cord is made up of several (usually seven) internal braided strands for the core. The commercial stuff shrinks quite a bit when wet. Mil-spec cord does not (in my experience anyway). Not sure if that helps, but...I guess all I could recommend is to try a different vendor for the cord so that you (maybe...hopefully) get better consistency in your cord. Good luck with your projects... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
posskat Report post Posted September 1, 2013 thanks for your input...all of my cord, when cut has 7 strand which are made up of 2 strands twisted...this one color seems slightly silkier in texture than the others....one gal told me some of the colors, like midnight blue and turqoise are softer, and the softer ones tend to shrink....she recommended preshrinking in hot water for 10 minutes then hang to dry....not sure how much longer to add before i cut and preshrink....unfortunately, i have ordered thousands of feet, and as i live in canada, get dinged on shipping and would cost a small fortune to ship it back; they won't make good on it, as i've had it a few months now....i am thinking when it is dyed w/certain colors (the ones that make the cord go softer than others) it must change the composition somehow, and it shrinks more??? just a guess...but i suppose i'll have to preshrink this stuff to be on the safe side...sorry about the pictures, i've tried everything and can't get them on this forum... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
posskat Report post Posted September 1, 2013 i uploaded 5 photos to photobucket--now, how the heck do i get them onto here??? then you can see the mecate...thanks Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
posskat Report post Posted September 1, 2013 http://i897.photobuc...zpsfb0e05a7.jpg http://i897.photobuc...zps372c2743.jpg hopefully you can see the affected mecate, the tan color appears to have shrunk....the last is a photo of what my mecates look like when i finish braiding them Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TXAG Report post Posted September 1, 2013 (edited) Yeah, I see what you mean... It's too bad you're in Canada and have the shipping problem...I used to buy my cord (a whole heck of a lot of it) from Supply Captain (supplycaptain.com) but stopped using them lately due to the fact they stopped carrying ITW/Nexus buckles...since I have to go elsewhere for the buckles now, I get my cord elsewhere too. But...you might have better luck with their cord. They claim their commercial cord is made to the same specs and on the same machines as military specification cord. I've never had any problems with the cord shrinking before, so that may work better for you. Also, if you want to preshrink your cord (the stuff you have there now), I would recommend putting it in boiling water for a few minutes and then allowing it to air dry. Try to keep it out of direct sunlight as UV light is probably the worst for breaking down nylon over time. The more it's in the sun, the more brittle it will get over time. Probably won't hurt to dry it out in the sun, but I always recommend keeping it out of the sun just to reduce exposure to UV. But it does look like that tan cord shrunk on you...hopefully, pre-shrinking will eliminate the problem. Edited September 1, 2013 by TXAG Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
posskat Report post Posted September 1, 2013 hey, thanks. i'll check that place out (as soon as i start getting low on the 8000' i've got to work thru! would you have a guesstimate of how much longer to cut the cord to allow shrinking? i use 60' strands folded in half, and i end up w/21.5' mecates, not long enough for a hackamore, but good length for snaffle bit. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sovran81 Report post Posted September 7, 2013 Posskat, I used to work with a lot of paracord and unfortunately I have never found a common denominator even from the same vendor. Some colors shrink more, some are stiffer, some have a twist to them. You take the core out like I did and now they act different once again. Nylon is not supposed to shrink when it gets wet and dryed except for the core on some paracord. I had a pillow case full of left over remnants long enough for different projects that were "anointed" by a cat. Well since they were already cored, the simple answer is toss in the washing machine, pillow case and all. I had a bunch of variegated colors that was popular with my crowd and was surprised at the outcome. On the variegated cord, one color shrunk while the other did not! I was left with cord that had a wave pattern to it because of color shrinkage. It destroyed the cord for any use and I ended up throwing it out. If your stuff is going to get wet and you want it to look the same, I suggest you do test batches through the wash cycle. With and without core. I couldnt believe that 10-20k ft of cord could differ so much just because of the color. All my cord was bought from the same vendor who swore they only had one supply, It was all claimed 550 milspec. Beware and test beforehand. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
