How to use a ratchet strap. How to store a ratchet strap. How to unlock a ratchet strap. A better ratchet strap. The best ratchet strap. These are questions any user has. Some may be answered here!

There are those who fight change wherever it arises. Believe this: using something just as it is without thoughts of how to make it better is no way to live. It makes me think of a caveman holding a rock saying the idea of adding a handle is stupid, or that projecting a mini spear with a string-bow is no better than using a big spear. It may be stubbornness or it may be fear of learning something new, but that thought process holds us back.

 

Our ancestor who invented the hammer handle may have been tired of hitting his fingers or needed greater force through leverage to perform a task. The one who invented the bow may have been crippled by a too-close encounter spearing an animal. So many of the things we use now were poo-pooed when first thought of, yet now they are everyday staples.

I think of the ratchet tie-down in this same light. The invention of the buckle was genius. Yet at the time, many looked at it and insisted that ropes were for the truly enlightened. The ratchet won us over and became an item that we all use in huge numbers to make our lives better. Now a generation of the same type of “rope-users” emphatically believe the common ratchet to be fully evolved. I don’t.

As I mentioned, the ratchet was born of genius. One genius that comes to mind is DaVinci. I went to the display of his works at the Louvre a few years ago and found that with his genius came severe attention deficit disorder. He appears to have rarely finished a painting, and he left most of his ideas unfinished. It seems the ratchet buckle has suffered that same fate. Genius refocused to another project and left us with an unfinished idea.

So, while the inventor of the ratchet buckle gave us a great way of tightening and strapping, don’t be one to agree that the job was finished. Until now we have all accepted that it was, but my work with them led me to see it as a hammer without the handle. It is an unfinished tool asking us to patiently endure the frustrations of jams, lack of control, storage issues, and more.

In the most simple breakdown, what can you do with any ratchet strap?  You can tighten it and rely on it to hold what you have used it on in place. When it is released, it just pops loose and there is no way to control it. If it jams you may have to use great force, or even cut it to get it loose. If you want to adjust the load, loosening the strap just a little bit is difficult and could even cause the load to be damaged if it loosens too quickly when released.

If the ratchet tie-down strap was a complete tool, we would ask it to do things beyond just holding items in place. We should expect the following.

Control of the motion of the axle. (Also referred to as the windless, the bale, the winder-thing and more.) Control is made possible by adding a graspable knob directly to the axle. Direct control lets us get the axle into loading position easily. It allows you to control the release simply by grasp of the knob. It allows the initial tensioning of the strap with rotation of the knob. And, jams cannot occur as they are simply backed out with use of the knob.

Reliable ‘greatest effectiveness’ of the hook. An ongoing problem of strap usage has been that the operator uses the buckle at the opposite side of the load from the hook. The hook is kept in place most often by the operator attempting to keep a constant tension on the strap while also working to position and tighten the buckle. One moment of tension loss, and the hook falls away. It’s called the ‘trailer triathlon’. Hooks with gates have been invented, but too often the item to be hooked will not accommodate such a device because it is either too large for the gate to bypass, or the surface to be hooked is just configured wrong.

A storage method for the strap when not using. YouTube is full of videos regarding the best method for storing straps. They often involve lengthy methods of wind-up, or ancillary devices that are easily lost or misplaced. Ideas include using socks, cup coolers, rubber bands, Velcro straps, and more to contain a wrapped-up. Keep your socks on, keep beer and soda in the cup cooler, and forget rubber bands and Velcro straps A single elastic band attached directly to the buckle is the answer. It won’t pick up leaves, accidently get lost in the weeds, or force warm drinks on you!

The best way to determine if other people have troubles with a tool and item is to search it on YouTube.  There are hundreds of people posting who are eager to show the correct way, the tricky way, the wrong way, and their way on the use of straps. We like the way OmegaStrap does it!

Follow our  The Knob Magazine blog for more, which may include:

How Biden uses ratchet straps to tie down inflation

Ratchet tie-downs used to slow illegal immigration

Ukraine ratchets-up assault on Russia

Shoplifters target ratchet tie down straps in local crime spree.