What Rope Is That? - The Mighty Samson
Photo:Samson Spot Cord #12 for trick roping, 18 feet with a thimble in the honda
For the curious, and I really hope there are a few out there, I will give details of the ropes I use, and how to configure for yourself a good spinning rope. These aren't the only kinds of ropes that are good for trick roping but some of the most popular. Ropers usually have multiple ropes because you need some variation to fine tune specific tricks, mostly by altering the length of the rope but you might also add some weight to it depending on your need. Someday I may branch out to try other ropes like nylon, maguey or other types of twisted rope but for now I use cotton braided rope, it is a true standard among trick ropers.
Samson Spot Sash Cord #12 - This is from what I can tell the most widely used rope for trick roping and it's been around for more than 100 years. You can spot it by its red spots, it's a white rope with a bit of red braided in, a cotton braid which is about 3/8 inch thick if you use #12, I've heard of some people using #10 which is a little smaller and lighter. You can get it in 1000 foot reels, 100 foot hanks, by the foot, or pre-fashioned as ready to spin trick ropes. The biggest and maybe only change in the rope over the years is in the core, it is most commonly found now with a nylon core covered in cotton braid but it was originally produced with cotton both as the core and outer braid. I haven't seen it in stores lately but you can easily order the standard nylon core rope from hardware retailers and you can also get the cotton core rope (which many ropers swear by) from Western Stage Props or Dubé Juggling Equipment. The cotton core will run you about twice the price of the nylon core, but it's still very cheap to get into roping compared to most other hobbies that aren't nearly as wholesome. Western Stage Props gives a little summary of Samson's heritage with trick roping, read it here for extra credit.
To start out I recommend a rope no less than 12 feet in length and more like 15 feet if you don't want to feel crowded in the wedding ring, that being said, I have a 12.5 foot rope that is one of my favorites. Children may be alright with a 10 foot rope. Ropes 18 feet and greater can start to get too big to manage for the flat loop and that's where most people start. There is a technique of gathering any extra length in your non-spinning hand, but it's best at first to not fuss with that, less to worry about.
A new rope will be stiff, which I don't much prefer, so I break in a rope by putting it through a wash cycle, let it dry and giving it a good stretch and twist a time or two. I've heard of different techniques for this, but I'll leave it to you to figure out what you want to do. If you give it a good wash it will help a lot, then just by spinning it you'll loosen it up over time. A broken in rope will fatten up a bit from the original 3/8 inch size because the braid will loosen and then it will have a nice limp feel.
Before you spin, you need to fix one end into a small eye, called a honda. This is done by just bending the last 3-4 inches of the rope back on itself and fixing it by sewing it together with strong thread or wire, or alternately just taping it down. Leave a big enough hole in the eye to run the other end of the rope through it and typically you want extra space so the rope can slide freely, however, a training wheels version can be made by taping the eye very tight around the other end so there isn't any extra room. This pinches it down so that it's not slipping around the whole time, all that slipping around can be hard for a beginner. I started this way, by taping the honda into a tight pinched eye. Some people tie it or sew it so the honda is fixed to where the spoke meets the loop but I don't think this is necessary, I've found just taping it so you have a tight eye in the honda is fine, you can still pull the rope through by hand to adjust the length and then you can easily remove the tape later when you graduate.
Photo: A tight honda fastened with tape at the end of a 15 foot rope
A rope that is fixed or tight at the honda is virtually useless for doing any real cowboy work because when you try to make a catch, the loop won't close up easily. I know we are talking about trick roping here, but I like to remember our origins, also you will find a fixed honda restrictive later as some routines are based around being able to change the size of your loop as you spin, and for that you need a loose honda. It doesn't hurt to try both ways, a piece of tape is easily applied or removed so please experiment.
Now you are ready to spin that rope! Just run the loose end of your rope through the eye of the honda and you've got your 3 necessary parts: a loop, a honda, and a spoke. While these are the only 3 necessary attributes that your rope must have, there is an optional element which you will probably come across eventually: the burner. A burner is an add on to the honda and they come in many varieties and materials; leather, plastic, metal. The burner is just material that covers the part of the honda that comes in contact with the rope as it runs through that eye. Burners have different purposes, sometimes it is to protect the rope from excessive wear at that friction point, sometimes it is to add extra friction and slow the rope down, and sometimes it is to decrease the friction and speed the rope up. People usually use speed burners for catch ropes and not for trick roping. Many trick ropers do use burners to slow the rope, that is to slow the slipping action that changes the length of spoke and loop.
Below is my 12.5 foot rope with a leather burner that I sewed on, I sewed it tightly and the wear has made it very smooth so it doesn't actually slow the rope noticeably. Some leather burners do slow ropes down by providing more friction but you can get a similar effect by taping it into a tighter eye. This rope also has 2 pennies taped into the honda, pennies are 2.5 grams each and nickels are 5 grams. Adding coins to your rope not only makes it more valuable but tames down a rope, or in other words keeps the loop from opening up so easily. If your loop rides up your spoke too much then some more weight on the honda should help, either that or calm down your spinning. A few pennies has a small effect on performance (and value), I'm still in the experimentation phase on this. How much weight you need will vary depending on the weight of the rope itself, how hard and fast you want to spin and how large a loop you want to target for. If you want to spin a large, stationary vertical loop (not alternating like the butterfly) you will need to add a good amount of weight.
Photo: honda with leather burner and weighted with 2 pennies
It is standard practice to add weight to the honda for large loop ropes and ropes for Texas Skip. Texas Skip usually requires 22-25 feet of rope and you won't be able to get 20+ feet of rope to hold a good vertical loop to skip through without adding an ounce or more to the honda, that's a lot more than a few pennies. The most common way to do this is to get a metal thimble which is very similar to a burner in that it is an insert into the honda, this time not for speeding up or slowing down a rope but to balance it. Based on the length and weight of your rope you need to get the right honda weight to find a good equilibrium point. You can get rope thimbles from hardware stores, marine supply stores, or specialized brass hondas at Western Stage Props.
I am just starting to experiment with these heavier hondas so I don't have any strong tips or conclusions yet, but I picked up a $2 thimble from Lowe's hardware store a few days ago and put it on an 18 foot rope as a sort of mid-weight rope shown below. It works, has a pretty different feel from light ropes but I'm getting the hang of it. I will probably add some more weight to it by wrapping some wire around it.
Photo: honda with metal thimble to add weight
I currently have 3 ropes: 1. 12.5 foot, 3/8 inch cotton braided, nylon core rope. This is my oldest rope, and it's not spot cord, it is of unknown manufacture purchased at a feed store around 1988. It is my most used rope for flat loop, wedding ring, and butterfly tricks. It may be a little on the small side for wedding ring but I find that it works for me and forces me to be accurate with my loop placement around my body. 2. 15 foot, #12 cotton core spot cord. A great all around rope that gives me a little more room than my first rope. 3. almost 18 foot, #12 cotton core spot cord for when I want something bigger. Heavier honda.
I have ordered 100 more feet of rope to make one for Texas Skip and also 2 small matched ropes to spin flat loops with right and left hand simultaneously. Stay tuned and I'll share my progress. Happy roping!