Singeing
Passing rope quickly through a flame to burn off loose surface fibers, a standard step in conditioning natural-fiber rope such as jute.
In textile manufacturing, singeing is a finishing process that burns away loose, protruding fibers to leave a smoother surface, using open flames or heated plates; done badly, it can weaken or discolor the material. Rope practitioners apply the same idea to jute and hemp, usually over a gas flame, to remove the loose fuzz left on new rope. Shibari Study and Karada House both stress keeping the rope moving quickly through the flame, Karada House and Nawa Kenshin call for good ventilation, and Shibari Study and Nawa Kenshin wipe the rope with a cloth afterward to remove soot. Because singeing strips oil from the fiber, it is normally followed by oiling as part of rope conditioning.