You've always coiled your rope in the same direction, and uncoiled it w/o paying attention to the new winds you've been introducing. Your extension coil suffers the same fate that many rock climbers' ropes suffer when they don't pay attention to the handling when flaking out the line. You introduce twists between the core and sheath of the cord, like the twists you get between the core and sheath of a kernmantle rope. Try either uncoiling the cord fully each time removing kinks and twists as you go, or using a figure-eight flake when storing the cord to keep the twisting to a minimum when reaching for the rope the next time.
The three wires inside the orange cover are twisted around one another. If you stretch the cord it can un-twist the wires inside and cause it to get all funky looking like that. Did you use it under tension?
throw it out and buy another. but never, ever, coil it around your hand and elbow. That twists it all up -- as shown in the picture. Coil it in long (width of your arms, 5-6 foot diameter) coils that hang loosely. Then wrap the last 3-5 feet around the big coils. Here's a good tutorial: http://lifehacker.com/5941388/how-to-coil-rope-so-it-doesnt-get-tangled
Generally good advice for the un-initiated. But if you're diligent about introducing a turn with every coil, and diligent about flaking it out when you next reach for it, it doesn't matter whether you did the hand/elbow method or not. Out of laziness, I do the hand-elbow method all the time. But I'm also quite diligent about introducing the right amount of twist as I go, and I'm also quite diligent about flaking it out when I use it. Been doing it this way for years and years...never had a squiggly cord.
Thanks for the replies. It was never pulled in tension, but I didn't know there's a wrong way to coil an extension cord/line. I feel so dumb, having failed line storage 101. :huh
Not a big deal... I managed the ropes for a water ski show team in high school -- everything from 50' trick lines to 2,000' kite lines -- and we had about 200 of them. :eek1 Had to get it right or the show wouldn't go on... kfs
The wires inside the outer jacket are layed typically in the right hand direction, therefore an extension cord should always be handled the same way you would handle a right layed line; coiled in a clockwise direction or faked (not flaked) for storage. If you want it to last, uncoil it the same amount prior to use so it won't get kinked. See page 7-13. http://compass.seacadets.org/pdf/nrtc/bmr/14325_ch7.pdf I'd have to throw that one you have away just on principle, it would drive me nuts.
Throw it away? Hell no, it's 12 ga. Ain't like it's gonna burst into flames. Maybe if I coil it the other way (?) a few times it will un-kink? Guess I should stretch it out and give it a bunch of turns--that ought to fix it. Knot tying was rough for me in Boy Scouts. I can tie a square know and a decent bowline, but that other stuff comes out NFG.
Don't be hard on yourself, especially since I have pretty clear evidence that all of this "correct technique" advice is bullshit. I keep five or six high quality cords hanging in my van for my work. I am the only person that handles the cords. I do not abuse them, I keep them clean, inspect them regularly, and replace them when they show damage. I wrap them by holding the coil with the right hand, and loose draping the cord in 4-5' loops in a clockwise direction. Uncoiling involves dropping them on the deck and walking away with the male end. Currently there are four yellow medium and HD cords that look great. There are two blue (low temp.) cords also. One is fine, another looks as bad as your pic. I have seen this happen repeatly over the last three decades. My framer has a pile of Orange ones that are totally spiralled and kinked, and others that look fine. His crew of apes could wreck a rock with a pillow, so it's not like they follow any cord protocol. Bottom line is that it isn't rope, you don't need to get all queer and follow some military regiment of cord wrapping, and field evidence seems to indicate that it's all about the product and how it was manufactured. Don't wrap them tight around your elbow, don't wrap them long, then "cinch" the middle with a tight wrap of the cord, don't do that stupid fucking daisy chain wrap. Use the cheap plastic cable cuffs to hold them together if you want to, I do and they work well. That , my friend, is my daily dose of unsolicited, semi-useful information. That is all.
I have worked kinks/spirals out. Throw the cord in a pot of boiling water and then work it back & forth around a post/pipe/tree as you pull it out. 14-16ga...I'd probably toss them, not them 12ga I paid enough for the ones I have here.:eek1 The one I keep protected inside still looks like new but the other one was outside for a long while and sure is showing signs of UV damages, color is much lighter and sheating much less flexible than the other one. Could the sheating shrink enough to twist the cord? I think so from others I have seen. Boil it and stretch it.
