CAT 5 O' Nine Tails

By: Spatula Tzar

Start with a scrap of category five unshielded twisted pair ethernet cable. The cable brand and colour are largely irrelevant; blue just happened to be convenient for me. It should be about two metres in length.

Measure about 30 centimetres from one end, and make a cut around the cable. Proceed to strip the outer cladding off the longest end. To do this, use the strand of fibreglass you thought they put in the cable just to annoy you. Get a good grip on the strands with a pair of pliers, and pull it right through the insulation.

Now for the longest part: unraveling the twisted pairs. It's not too dull if you have a decent entertainment source to distract you, but it takes about half an hour to do it alone. You could speed things up by using an electric drill, but this has a tendency to bend and tangle the wires.

Now would be a good time to put a drop of epoxy on the ends of the sheathing to keep the wires in place.

Lastly, tie a small knot on the end of each wire. You'll probably need a pliers for this. Once tied, clip off the very end of the wire.