Categories: Fix itHow-toOrganization

QuickTip: Organizing Cords and Hoses

Cords and hoses are notoriously unruly. Organizing them so they’re not in a constant tangle in your shop, truck or project site is a minor art form. Here’s how we like to wrangle our cords so they stay coiled and easy to get—and then uncoil—when we need them.

Step 1. Get a 24 inch length of 1/8-inch nylon line.

Step 2. Lay it on the ground.

Steps 1 and 2

Step 3. Coil your cord.

Step 4. The cord will be more tightly bound where it has rested in your hand during coiling. Lay that part over the center of the line.

Step 5. Pull one end of the line through the cord loop. Grab the other end of the line.

Step 6. Tie the two ends together with a half-knot (a half knot is the first part of a shoelace knot; it’s also the first half of a square knot for knot-lovers among us).

Step 6 Tie the two ends together with a half-knot

Step 7. Add another cord or hose and repeat.

Step 7 Add another cord or hose

Step 8. For the last cord or hose, tie a complete shoelace knot (or square knot—left over right, right over left).

Step 8A. If you use a square knot to secure the bundle, you can then tie a loop (we recommend a bowline knot) in one end of the line and hang the whole bundle on a nail, which is how we often do it.

Step 8 Tie a complete shoelace knot

That’s it. It only takes seconds and the payoff is that you get all those minutes of wrestling with tangled cords and hoses back so you can use them on your projects, a-cord-ing to us anyway.

Step 8A The payoff

Mark

Mark is a licensed contractor, tool expert, wood and outdoor enthusiast, and elite Spartan Race competitor. He writes about home improvement and tools for national magazines and websites, and teaches hands-on clinics for other remodeling professionals. Check out his book, The Carpenter's Notebook.

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