I carry a purse.  I carry useful things in it.  Anybody who’s got a problem with that can go screw.  And I freakin’ LOVE quiche.  Same goes for this technique, I use it all the time.

Additionally, never use an extension cord without fully paying it out. To leave it coiled up is to risk a fire.

You can either over-under coil it or if it is small enough (or your arm big enough) you can figure eight wrap it. You can even butterfly coil it if you want. There are lots of ways to coil an extension cord that don’t twist it nor violate the bend radius and thus provide no-knot payout.

This isn’t one of them.

PS re video: Thank you internet! I like how once it’s done you can “pay out” what length you need and no more.

I never saw this method until I came to North Carolina.  But the electricians I worked with here also insisted that this is not the proper way to do it.  It’s always plumbers or HVAC guys that treat their cord this way.

“Over and under” — which I know as flip-coiling, which can be searched for if you aren’t sure how to do it — is definitely the technique which puts least strain on the cable, and if the cable starts flat then it will be flat when it uncoils — which means, among other things, that it can reliably be tossed and uncoil nicely. Emphatically the way to go for any electrical cable you intend to coil and uncoil repeatedly. And for any rope that you intend to bet your safety on (climbing lines, for instance, or lines being used to hoist something heavy.)

If you’re coiling line for a boat, there are different practices and different conventions, to meet the specific needs of that environment and the material being coiled. Even there, I tend to flipcoil and then do the wrap-around-the-middle-and-loop-over thing to secure it if it needs to be secured in a traditional-looking manner..

The exception is line or cable that lives on a reel. In that case, letting the reel wind it in is indeed the right answer — but make sure you take the twists out of it.

So I didn’t.

The Gaffer didn’t *quite* rip the new kid’s head off.  

But the air was thick with expletives.

Over and under is the way to go with lighter cords like stingers and sound cords.  (Heavy stage cables, probably plain ol’ flat coil; but ask your Gaffer if local convention is unclear.) 

Make ties out of waxed round braided shoelace (cut ends never fray).  Fasten ties to one end of the cord with a lark’s head, tie the tie around the coiled cable with a reef knot (square knot).  To unfasten, spill the reef knot and slide it apart.  No huhu.

But do *not* use the method shown here if you want to get hired on the next shoot.

For very long line, randomly piling it in a bag, unless it’s very very stiff.  No one screws up long lengths of line quicker than a sailor(they know everything)because they want to coil it.  Long line coils poorly, no matter what method you use.

For very thin line, like kite bridles(single line stuff, not traction kites)we will braid the line as shown. There are about 4 different ways you can do it.

YMMV

I don’t know what happened. Now I just toss the things in a corner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MziOBf60Kn0

I use a slightly different technique that I find a little faster and easier with heavy cables, holding the coil low and pushing each loop into place while half-twisting to the left and right alternately.  I’ve never known anyone who’s learned the over-under correctly to switch to any other coil for cables.  

Rope is a different story.  It’s more flexible and less delicate and can tolerate a lot of different coiling techniques, though the over-under is still among the best.  If you want to learn one coil you can use for everything, the over-under is a great way to go.

“friend zone”

“friend zone”

I’ve seen other comments reference the same thing, but they seem to disappear.  

Video explaining the technique here:
http://members.cox.net/mactop/