How to differentiate nylon from polyester rope?

[Guest]

I have a lot of black OEM rope that came with tents and tarps, now all replaced with Glowire reflective polyester line.

Specifically designed to be used as a guyline for low stretch applications such as guying out tents, tarps and shelters. The cord is constructed with a High Tenacity UV Resistant Polyester Jacket, two super reflective 3M Scotlite tracers, and an Extra High Tenacity Polyester Parallel Fiber Core. This results in a finished product that is strong, low stretch, uv resistant, and very tangle resistant.

(Thanks again Boatstall)

Is there an easy way to differentiate nylon from polyester rope? Without doing some dry stretch vs wet stretch test?

I might save the black poly stuff, not sure why, but I have no use for black nylon line.

 

[Bothwell Voyageur]

Yes. Melt and sniff test polyester melts a higher temperature and smells sort of sweet .Difficult to describe. You are best doing a comparison with some rope that you already know what the material is .

 

[scoutergriz]

Generally, nylon has more stretch. tie two pieces off and tug them usually nylon will "bounce" more

 

[snapper]

Never knew about the "sniff" test with the melted ends but I was going to suggest the same thing scoutergriz has already mentioned. Nylon definitely stretches more so it should be easy enough to distinguish between the two.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time....be well.

snapper

 

[Bothwell Voyageur]

Unless the weave/construction is the same stretch may not be a good indicator.

 

[boatstall]

I have a lot of black OEM rope that came with tents and tarps, now all replaced with Glowire reflective polyester line.

Specifically designed to be used as a guyline for low stretch applications such as guying out tents, tarps and shelters. The cord is constructed with a High Tenacity UV Resistant Polyester Jacket, two super reflective 3M Scotlite tracers, and an Extra High Tenacity Polyester Parallel Fiber Core. This results in a finished product that is strong, low stretch, uv resistant, and very tangle resistant.

(Thanks again Boatstall)

Is there an easy way to differentiate nylon from polyester rope? Without doing some dry stretch vs wet stretch test?

I might save the black poly stuff, not sure why, but I have no use for black nylon line.

Glad you are satisfied with the recommendation. I have really enjoyed having and using it.
Sort of like your reflective tape on a canoe.
Just makes sense.

Have you had a chance to observe the Glowire in its intended use at night?

 

[Guest]

Sort of like your reflective tape on a canoe. Just makes sense.

Not just canoes. There are pieces of that High Intensity reflective tape on every barrel, bucket and Pelican box, toilet and tarp poles and pretty much everything else hard sided.

Have you had a chance to observe the Glowire in its intended use at night?

And how! That is some seriously reflective line, just what I was looking for. Why even bother with wimpy reflectivity?

One peculiarity with ordering from Lawson; their shipping time is a couple weeks. I think it actually says that somewhere on the website.

That turned out to be a good thing. I ordered a 50 foot hank of 3mm yellow and the last 50 foot hank of closeout Kelly green, thinking the green would be suitable as ridgeline and the yellow as guylines when I started on outfitting the Noahs tarp.

Two weeks later it had not shown up and I figured I must have somehow screwed up the order (I never thought to look on the Promotions folder in Gmail, where there was an order confirmation).

At that point I had committed to doing maintenance to all of our tents and tarps, including two new ridgelines and many, many guylines, and knew I would need more than 150 of cordage, so I ordered 100 feet of yellow and 100 feet of closeout Army Green.

I received both packages a few days apart. And now, after doing a dozen tents and tarps, I have zero yellow Glowire left, and a short hank of Army Green. I ordered another 100 feet of yellow, with purposes in mind.

I want to replace any non-reflective pull out line on Groundhog and mil-spec stakes. Just makes sense there as well.

More critically, my sons UL Hennessey Hammock came with the thinnest of guylines, which are very tangle prone no matter how managed and, wait for it, BLACK. Those have gotta go and I am hoping the most recent Lawson order shows up in the next week, in time for a trip.