Locking a rope w/o a clasp and other questions about PowerPro

[jiazzi]

Hi all!

I've been reading and learning SO MUCH from the LBC, I have been able to knot pearls w/ PowerPro with such ease!

So one day I was wearing this rope that I knotted and thought to myself how strong and tough it must be since it's on a 20lb test line of PowerPro. I was at work and pulled the rope with such confidence that my jaws dropped when the rope simply broke off!

I thought I correctly finished off a rope w/o a clasp but no... that certainly wasn't the case. I read in much more detail about the endless loop technique that Knotty Panda linked and read somewhere that perhaps I needed to glue the final knots.

Soooo...with all that said, last night I glued the final knots with "Vigor" and burned off any remaining thread with the "Thread Burner."

I attempted to pull it apart like I did that one fateful day at work and it passed the stress test.

My question is, did I do this right? And has anyone noticed that if you use a little muscle and pull the knotted pearls away from each other, it will stretch out pretty easily, leaving a large exposed line? Am I not knotting properly?

Thank you LBC experts!

 

[waimeamomi]

I've never used Power Pro, but I try to stretch the silk I use first and pull hard with each knot. I finished a necklace this week, pulled hard, and one of the knots popped, leaving a big space. I had to start over. Arghh.

 

[Sueki]

And has anyone noticed that if you use a little muscle and pull the knotted pearls away from each other, it will stretch out pretty easily, leaving a large exposed line? Am I not knotting properly?

Thank you LBC experts!

Hi Jiazzi,
Yes, I've noticed this too. I like Powerpro because of it's strength and ease of use, but it is possible to stretch it out if I pull hard enough.
Mind you, in my case (age weakened muscles) it takes more than a little muscle.....

 

[barbie biggs]

Dear Jiazzi:
Have you read the following article in Lowly Beaders Club? The second page talks a lot about that little empty space that happens.
Top Ten Boo-Boos LBers (and knotters) make. [/B
barbie

PS I'll have to remember not to pull on my pearls at work and break them. LOL Thanks for the heads up.

 

[jerin]

Hi Jiazzi,
nowadays I do not pull my necklaces because Power Pro can hurt the fingers pretty bad through "cutting". At the beginning I did pulling the line a lot and it never became stretched or broke. And I am still pulling the two lines after finishing a knot but in an even way.... I used to glue my last pearls with Vigor but if you decide to reopen a glued strand it may result in losing those pearls (at least that is what happened to me) so now I usually go back through 2-3 pearls and just burn the line of and after that I try to "melt the knot together" so it is keeping even better. So far no problems in my infinity necklaces. And it is hard to say whether you maybe are not knotting properly, you do use doubled thread, don?t you?

 

[dkan 168]

I've never used Power Pro, but I try to stretch the silk I use first and pull hard with each knot. I finished a necklace this week, pulled hard, and one of the knots popped, leaving a big space. I had to start over. Arghh.

It is so annoying when that happens!

I hope it was not a long rope

DK

 

[laurenb]

Breakage like that happened to me once. It seemed to be caused by brittleness from the thread zapper, though a sharp pearl might have been involved too.

On the booboos thread, the going theory is that the gap comes from your last knot coming undone. Good luck!

 

[Cathybear]

I bought a thread zapper but I prefer to use a cigarette lighter. Trim powerpro to about a quarter inch, then melt.

 

[laurenb]

I bought a thread zapper but I prefer to use a cigarette lighter. Trim powerpro to about a quarter inch, then melt.

Have you ever had problems with the PowerPro turning black? I did this once before I had a zapper and I had to restring.

 

[pearlescence]

You will probably find that the knot which came undone was the last one on the start end. The start end has the thread which is continuing going around the end thread to make the knots so when the trimmed short end slips out of the knot you are left with a gap.
This cannot happen at the other end because it is the non-loadbearing end which is doing the looping around.
I get around the risk of this by finishing the start process by doing two knots then applying glue and taking the thread through the third pearl. I then trim off the end flush with the pearl. That means that there is a length of thread after the knot so it doesn't slip.
...if you follow that!

 

[Cathybear]

Have you ever had problems with the PowerPro turning black? I did this once before I had a zapper and I had to restring.

Only if I don't hold the flame close enough. I think you'd get black from the tip of the flame. Of course we have ceiling fans and that makes it all a bit hairy lol... the flame moves about a bit and theres a danger of burnt fingers.