john reeves wrote:
This is about those extension power leads ( usually orange coloured
from B & Q etc). Quite often sold for use with electric lawn mowers.

These cables seem to have 'a mind of their own' every time you reel
them up and unreel them.

It's like a 'memory effect' they have, ( as if they are not flexible
enough ) and want to keep moving in a direction that they must have
been stored in previously.

This probably sounds like a minor thing. But the total time wasted and
frustration trying to unravel the thing mounts up time after time.

I've tried that trick sailors use in giving it a small twist every
time you reel it around your arm, but its just a bit too stiff to do
that successfully. Has anyone else found a good way to deal with
this? It has crossed my mind that this cable is just too old and has
lost what flexibility it did have once.

I use one of those cheap orange cord reels which has a handle that slides in a
track in the center of the reel. Add a little silicone spray to lube the track,
and they make winding and unwinding the cord fast and very easy. Never any
tangles.

Like this:
http://www.acehardware.com/product/i...ductId=1291467