[TowerTalk] Coiling cables

[Jim Lux]

On 8/12/13 9:01 PM, Grant Saviers wrote:
> or the "figure 8 flake", very useful when the "cable" is too heavy to
> hold, such as the bundle of cables when lowering a crank up, 200' of
> garden hose, or a 1" mooring line.  There is no twist put in the cable.
> Saw this also used by a fiber-optic underground pull team. They
> unspooled way more than a thousand feet and figure 8 flaked it, 30'
> long, I guess so they could control the tension by hand instead of
> pulling from the 5' diameter reel.  Light cables can be 8 flaked by
> holding one loop.
>

or steam lines from a boiler or air hoses from a big compressor. Do much 
work in an industrial setting dragging stuff around and you learn this. 
I learned it doing special effects work on set and location.

Also works for climbing ropes at an intermediate belay stance.   Either 
on the ground, or between your knees, and then onto the ground.

The other thing you learn for the above is how to coil a rope/cable/hose 
with alternating twists, holding the coil in one hand, and coiling with 
the spare hand.

They all become second nature in a month or two.