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I have some items I want to add rustic handles to by wrapping them in rope. Imagine a frying pan or feather duster. The items are slippery enough that the rope may loosen or even come off. I would like to coat everything in an adhesive gunk that causes the rope to grip better, without actually gluing it. (Typical glue may not adhere, plus I'd like the chance to remove the handle.)

Sap would be ideal, but I don't have time to go to the forest and hunt for it. 3M 72 spray is supposed to be permanently tacky but its not available in my local stores. I noticed cooking oil forms a sticky mess, so my current thought is to carefully boil some oil and paint that on with the help of rubbing alcohol. Will this work? Should I use a partially drying oil like canola or a more stable oil like olive oil?

Possible solutions:

  • Wrap the item with 3M 300 LSE double sided adhesive. This works, even on exotic plastics like Delrin.
  • Dip the item in spoiled shellac. For example, blonde (bleached) shellac which has been left in the sun/heat for a long time. However, I'm not sure shellac will grip plastics.
  • Sap, dissolved in a solvent like rubbing alcohol, mineral spirits, or orange oil.
  • Chewing gum, boiled to make it soft and sanitary.
  • Latex exercise band, wrapped around then glued to itself with a dab of super glue.
  • Wrap the item with a tack cloth before adding rope. Even tack cloth adds no grip.

How it should look:

wooden handle rod handle

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    Just a thought: frying pan + rope handle + stove or oven might not be the best idea.
    – Stephie
    Commented Aug 29, 2019 at 10:42
  • @Stephie That didn't even occur to me! But I use induction, so there's no issue so long as I can remove it when I have the need.
    – piojo
    Commented Aug 29, 2019 at 12:27
  • It would be helpful if you would show us some picture(s) with the handles. Some idea might pop-up based on those.
    – virolino
    Commented Aug 30, 2019 at 9:32
  • Are those in the pictures the actual handles?! If not, they are pretty much useless...
    – virolino
    Commented Sep 2, 2019 at 5:33
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    That is exactly the point. You keep talking about plastic, and you show us pictures of wood. They are hugely different materials. I highly doubt that the handles are made of teflon. The exact chape of the handle might provide some clues. Even more, if it is removable, it is a safety issue: it might move exactly when it should stick - leading to burns, fires and God knows what else.
    – virolino
    Commented Sep 2, 2019 at 6:22

7 Answers 7

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Modern spray adhesives are definitely NOT what you want. Instead, dip the rope in boiled linseed oil and hang it up to dry in the sun. It hardens up sort of like lacquer but usually doesn't get fully hard. You can buy this by the gallon in hardware stores, in their paint departments.

The classic material used to make rope extremely "grippy" is roofing tar, but it stains your hands pretty badly.

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  • Thanks! BLO is hard to get where I am. Is the semi-dry BLO also sticky, not just soft? (I thought it developed a skin, but I've never used it.) Are you suggesting it as an adhesive rather than a sticky substance?
    – piojo
    Commented Aug 29, 2019 at 6:11
  • @piojo semi-dry BLO is slightly sticky- it readily picks up dirt which quickly makes it turn black. Where are you?
    – niels nielsen
    Commented Aug 29, 2019 at 6:24
  • the disadvantage of dipping the rope in anything is that the outside of the handle will be sticky as well, making for an unpleasant experience every time you grab the handle.
    – Hobbes
    Commented Aug 7, 2020 at 7:42
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I'd recommend hide glue for this.

It's a very effective glue for porous materials like wood, fabric, paper, rope, etc. It also works on non-porous surfaces like metal and glass (it's used in a process for giving plate glass a fractured surface -- it holds well enough to pull chips off the glass plate!). It's been used for furniture building, sizing artists' canvas, and general adhesive applications for centuries. It's applied by heating in a double boiler until melted (adding a small amount of water if needed), then brushing onto the surfaces and assembling while still hot.

One of the great advantages of hide glue, and the reason it's used in museum restoration, is that it's completely reversible: apply moist heat (steam from a kettle works well) and it releases and can be cleaned off most surfaces.

So attach your rope to your handles with hide glue; it won't go anywhere -- until you want it to, and then, with a little steam, the rope will come right off.

You can buy hide glue from art supply sources, or you can find instructions on the Internet for making it, either from actual rabbit skins or beef bones, or from commecially packaged unflavored gelatin (gelatin made as a food product won't work as well as real hide glue, but it will work). You can also buy high-bloom gelatin from photographic chemical suppliers; it will work better than food grade, but (of course) costs more.

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  • Thanks, but I've been searching around, and it seems like hide glue will neither stick to shellac nor plastic, so it won't grip the majority of my surfaces.
    – piojo
    Commented Aug 30, 2019 at 0:37
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I have found that Copydex is a useful adhesive that can be removed later without damaging the surface. It sets to a rubbery texture and never goes completely hard.

You won't get it off the rope afterwards (which you would probably throw away anyway), but it should easily peel away from the handle, which must be grease-free before you apply the adhesive and then wind the rope around.

You might need some sticky tape to wind around once, to secure the end of the rope – whatever means you use to stick the rope to the handle.

If you haven't used this glue before it might be worth practising on something first so you can see how it behaves.

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Not having good details about those handles, I cannot be sure that this fits.

However, I have in mind the wrapping plastic-foil for kitchen use. That should be sticky enough to stick to the handles (especially true if the handles are not perfect cylinders). Then the rope will stick to the plastic foil.

Be sure to apply several layers of plastic-foil, to increase the grip, especially on the rope side.

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  • I've found plastic wrap is very picky about what it will stick to. I only get sufficient strength on glass, and my items are wood, varnished wood, and plastic.
    – piojo
    Commented Aug 29, 2019 at 6:09
  • You might add a thin layer of sponge - between the handle and the plastic. And cover the sponge carefully, to avoid it getting dirty.
    – virolino
    Commented Aug 29, 2019 at 6:40
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Using something off-the-shelf, Plasti Dip(R) is explicitly made for this. This stuff is designed for making metal handles on tools easier on hands as well as giving them more grip. You can coat the handle first, then wrap it with rope and you should be good to go. You might not even need the rope, but it would probably look more aesthetic with the rope covering the modern material.

With the original Plasti Dip, you can dip the handle in the can or you can brush it on. They also now make spray on versions for easier application.

https://plastidip.com/our-products/plasti-dip/

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  • I have felt what I believe is plasti-dip, and it does not feel at all sticky. Still better than shellac or delrin, but not sticky. And you wouldn't want a tool handle to be sticky. However, wrapping in rope and then dipping in plasti-dip makes quite a nice handle.
    – piojo
    Commented Sep 6, 2019 at 2:42
  • @piojo, I've had Plasti Dip become sticky. I don't remember if it was in high heat, if it came in contact with a solvent, or what, but there was definitely some extra tacky-ness to it. I considered including dipping the handle after wrapping in my answer, but I wasn't sure how that would look or act. I wouldn't want to use shellac the same way as Plasidip. It's too brittle to withstand the same rough treatment, IME. And delrin is supposed to be low friction, so definitely not what you want.
    – computercarguy
    Commented Sep 6, 2019 at 16:09
  • I meant delrin and shellac are base materials, hence the need for this question. Rope just slips against them (delrin more so). But I agree with your assertion that the shellac finish can become damaged too easily, and so is not ideal under a rope handle.
    – piojo
    Commented Sep 7, 2019 at 2:49
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I've finally come across a material that works as a wrapping to make a slippery surface sticky. It's used for this by other people, and after a bit of testing, it seems to work. (I haven't yet used it enough to know whether it slowly slips like silicone rubber does.)

The material I have in hand is Shushi double sided fabric backed adhesive tape (probably not widely available, I think it's the company's tape 99 in China). It feels like tarred fabric and is slightly stretchy. It is not very sticky but has a bit of grip when wrapped tightly. I gather double sided hockey tape is the same material and would also work, so long as the adhesive can grip low surface energy plastics.

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The HACK used to make a cord-wrapped handle does NOT use anything sticky to hold it it place.

The handle wraps are held in place by tension using an old technique referred to as "whipping" or a "whip knot" which uses the rope itself as the "hold."

Diagram: Common Whipping

You can learn and use the technique referred to as "Whipping a handle."

Here's someone to demonstrate making a saucepan handle by whipping.

That's it pure and simple. The HACK: DON'T USE ANYTHING STICKY.

Good luck.

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  • @piojo Your picture "That's A Wrap!" is actually "whipping" the arm of the chair using the technique I describe here.
    – Stan
    Commented Aug 7, 2020 at 14:04
  • I don't think you've ever tried this on something thin, smooth and slippery like a polyethylene rod. It will slide right off! In my experience, it doesn't even reliably work on rope (its intended purpose) without eventually working its way off the end. That's why more complex versions like the sailmaker's whipping exist. The entire reason I posted this question was because whippings/wrappings don't stick, so your answer essentially reads to me as "Don't use a hack, don't solve the problem". Nonetheless, I appreciate the spirit of attempting to help.
    – piojo
    Commented Aug 8, 2020 at 4:00

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