Rope,Sisal,1/2"X665' 50# Ctn

The rope I received only barely resembles the vendor's photo; it is straw-colored, and roughly-textured. Neither of these qualities is a problem for my use. There is a very faint, not unpleasant, aroma, which I assume is natural. That concludes my product review.I received the item very quickly, in a somewhat beat-up box. This is fine, though I had to reinforce the box with a generous application of duct tape for storing the unused portion. This is a lot of rope. I used a fraction of it - perhaps 1/3, perhaps less - to tightly wrap a 7' long, 4-1/4" diameter cardboard tube (from a spent roll of carpet), which I mounted upright, from floor to ceiling beam, as a cat scratching/climbing post. I had estimated needing only 200' or so*, but I couldn't resist this vendor's price/ft .Tip: If you have the need to wrap a simple tube or board, position it horizontally, and roll it with your hands while a partner feeds the rope, under tension, onto your twisting target. Even without a partner, the same approach should work by running the rope through an impromptu tensioning device, e.g., running it under something heavy, or wrapped once or twice around something, like a sofa leg, to provide moderate resistance to your pull. I did not do this, because I had metal brackets (for a cat perch shelf) already attached to the tube, and I thought the sharp edges would be a danger to my living room during that process. I now regret the decision, because I made - and you will make - many, many turns while covering even a modest-length post. Imagine how many turns it will take, then multiply by 10. Now double that, and add ten more. That's how it will feel when you are halfway done.I knew where I wanted the tube to meet my beam, and so I used a plumb bob to find the matching spot on my floor. After marking with masking tape the appropriate circle on my laminate floor, I cleaned it with solvent. (I used either Everclear alcohol or acetone - no home should be without these items.) The tube came with a plastic spindle on each end. I cut the tube to length, and kept one spindle at the top end. I drilled holes into its flange to later mount into my wood beam.I cut a 4" circle of wood (to match the inside diameter of my tube) from a scrap 1X6, and cleaned it with solvent. Then I adhered several strips of double-faced foam tape to one side, and trimmed the excess. I peeled off the tape backing, then mounted the wood to the floor. (Step on it, to really adhere it to the floor.) I lowered the tube onto/over this wood puck, screwed the cardboard horizontally to the wood, and then screwed the top spindle flange to my beam.I started my wraps about 6" off the floor (this allows access to the mounting screws), but you could start at the base. I hot-glued an initial 6" of rope to the cardboard, starting about one-foot high, aiming down, and let this cool. I then began wrapping rope around the tube, and over the 6" tail of rope I'd glued into place, from the bottom up. This solidly anchors the rope bottom.Assuming the rope will stretch, and thus loosen, over time, I pulled tightly as I wrapped. Every several wraps I would use a mallet and scrap piece of wood to pound the loops down, stacking them tightly to one another. Every so often I would also apply a line or bead of hot glue to the tube, and then wrap over this, with the intent of anchoring the rope in case I needed to take a break or if I were to lose my grip. To provide some points of interest, I would occasionally hot glue a couple inches of a 10-12" piece of 1/4" sisal rope to the tube, wrap the 1/2" rope over that, and allow the loose end of the 1/4" rope to hang out between the main wraps, as if they were branches or vines.I'd previously attached L-brackets, or corner brackets, to appropriate locations on the tube for mounting a cat perch shelf. I used ceiling-style drywall anchors for the upper bracket screws, but only temporarily zip-tied the bottoms, relying on the rope to provide final strength. When my wraps got up to the brackets, I hot-glued around them, then wrapped over that. I also intend to mount a surround sound speaker to the post, so I'd previously taped a speaker wire from the base to a mid-point, and laid my rope coils over that.The folly of wrapping a rope around a vertical tube, rather than spooling a rope onto a horizontally rotating tube while in the comfort of a Lazy Boy chair, or whatever, became apparent almost immediately. I was working solo, and stupidly carried the 50-lb box of rope in a tight orbit around the post, several revolutions at a time, and would then periodically stop and hand-tighten each of those loops, pound them down, glue them, and repeat. And repeat. And repeat. Don't do this. This is not a review - that was at the top - this is a cautionary tale. But I was drinking, and worried that my metal shelf brackets would gouge my sofa, or floor, if I spun the tube too carelessly, so I chose the safer, vertical method. And then I stuck with that method, even in the face of its shortcomings, out of stubbornness. (Again: I was drinking.)When my coils made it to the top of the tube, I laid a generous bead of hot-glue and then used a half-hitch or two to secure the rope, leaving the unraveled rope end for further feline interest. I built a shelf to span from the post to a nearby wall, and lined it with carpet.The result looks great [see photos, though amazon rotated them for some reason], and is a big hit with my cats, although if I were to do it over, I might choose 3/8" rope instead. Diameter is a trade-off, of course: 1/4" rope is very cheap, and very common, but would require twice as many turns as 1/2" rope (and don't discount how relevant this is!), and would wear out much faster. This 1/2" rope almost seems too bomb-proof; the cats scratch it but it seems impervious to their claws - I don't think they get the same satisfaction as they do ripping my leather sofa or my pant legs. 3/8" sisal may be a good compromise. Also, if you wish to wrap a board, square post, or length of lumber, you'll be much better off with small diameter rope, as the larger stuff doesn't corner very well; you'll end up with gaps adjacent to each 90deg corner, and over time this will cause sagging. In fact, I wouldn't use anything with a rectangular cross-section without preparing it by rounding the corners with a router, rasp, or the like. I chose my 4" tube because it is round, about the same diameter as the aspen trees my cats climb, and was free. (Ask your local carpet store for a similar tube.) I think it would be harder for a cat to climb a large tube, e.g., sonotube, and a larger tube would also require proportionally more rope to cover.*: 7' post, minus a 6" unwrapped bottom, with 1/2" rope requires 6.5' X 12"/1' X 2 turns/1" = 156 turns. Each turn is (4.25" [tube dia] + 2 X 1/4" [distance to the center of each rope cross section beyond the tube dia]) X pi [3.1416] = 14.9", so total length needed is 2328", or 194'.

Best deal anywhere for rope. Used it to wrap a large support pole in our gym for decorative purposes. Looks awesome! Will be buying more for a 2nd pole....

was delivered on time, and is as advertised, use rope to make cat trees for our cats, they love it.