Postby drawscore » Sun Jul 01, 2012 5:18 am
I have heard that it is the thickness of the rope that makes the difference, as opposed to the material from which the rope is made. 3/8ths or 1/2 diameter hemp rope is prone to give more slack than 1/4 inch cotton rope. Of course, if you REALLY want a tight tie that's damn near impossible to get out of, use 1/8th sash cord - that's the same stuff used to raise and lower Venetian blinds.
All that aside, the overwhelming favorite when I was a kid, was 1/4 inch cotton rope, commonly used as clothesline. We also used eight foot long strips torn from old bed sheets (originally intended as bandages in our first aid kits); rawhide/leather boot laces; leather strips from baseball glove re-stringing kits; and even our neckerchiefs a few times.
Drawscore