Tim Queeney

One strand is wrapped around the other three strands, and it's collapsing down on the other three, and so on and so on with all four strands.

They're all collapsing around each other.

And that's what makes it incredibly strong, is this helix effect.

And that was actually told to me by a German engineer who works in the industry, and he's so well-known.

that he's called the Pope of Rope.

Yeah, he's the real celebrity.

But he told me about this helix effect.

And so it's really those three things, the friction, the twisting, and then the helix effect that causes three-strand rope to work so well.

And three-strand, of course, is most commonly made because...

It's the least number of strands you can use to have this helix effect.

So it's sort of the most economical way to get the helix effect at its maximum without having to add more strands, which, of course, can add cost.

So three-strand is the way to go.

Well, that's a really good question that I can't answer.

And the reason why we can't answer that is because rope is such an ancient human tool that we just don't know when the first multi-strand rope was developed and made.

The oldest rope that's ever been found is 50,000 years old.

And that's a piece of cordage that was found on the bottom of a flint flake in a cave in southeastern France.

And it was twisted by a Neanderthal person 50,000 years ago.

And there may indeed have been rope much older than that that was manufactured.

But the problem with rope, natural fiber rope, is that it's made of plant material and it tends to rot away.

There may be 70,000 year old rope that was made, but we just we don't know.