Comments on How to cut and seal backpack straps?
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How to cut and seal backpack straps?
My backpack has straps that are way too long and I would like to shorten them, both to save weight and to make it more organized.
How can I cut the straps and then seal them so the ends don't come unraveled, and should I sew them back to itself before sealing?
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I'll echo what Sigma has said: the best way to do this is heat, by one application or another. If you know someone who climbs or otherwise works with ropes, talk to them - they may well know of some good ways to cut ropes cleanly that would work on webbing too.
I work for an outdoors adventure company, and the tool we use for cutting ropes is a small Dremel Versatip butane torch with a blade attachment:
(That image has the soldering tip attachment on it, but you can imagine a small blade attachment instead.)
If you're not likely to use it more than once, that might not be worth the expense for you, but there's also a cheaper alternative: an old butter knife you don't mind destroying, and a lighter to heat the blade up.
I wouldn't recommend trying to sew the strap to hold it together: webbing is tough stuff and anything short of a sailmaker's needle will just stab you rather than the webbing. Even most machines short of industrial models aren't set up to handle that kind of material.
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