See Part 1 of this guide here. Thanks to Bart Patrzalek for the tip, and Brian Adams for the instructive How It’s Made video segment.
Projects from Make: Magazine
Cord Curling Part 2 – Reversing the Coil
Reverse the coil for a tighter curl!
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Steps
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Step #1: The starting point

- First, here's what the cord looked like after our initial curling operation. This is the same cord, BTW, that I made when I first wrote about this trick three years ago, and it has held its coil quite well in the intervening time in spite of regular use.
- You can see that the coil in the cord, in this state, follows the right hand rule. Also, I count 19 loops.
Conclusion
There's no doubt in my mind that the reversed coil is considerably tighter than the starting coil. What I should've done, in retrospect, is take before and after photos showing the cord hanging freely in space. This would clearly have demonstrated that the "after" coil is noticeably tighter, because it doesn't stretch nearly as far when hanging freely. Alas, I didn't get the necessary "before" photo, so you'll have to take my word for it. But if you do decide to try this for yourself, don't repeat my mistake: get that shot! And then share it with the rest of us! Please!