And @Donald_Petersen and @drew_millecchia, this tickles my funny bone. 
I’m gonna continue over over, and I dare anyone to try and stop me!!
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They’ll start to chase you, you’ll trip over the cable tangled at your feet, and that’ll be the end.
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I was taught the old over over, with each over actually being a half-twist. Seems to work, but obviously I’ll have to try the heterodoxy out.
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The key thing is to know how to do it both ways and then do it whichever way let’s you come back to work the next day.
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Just don’t let both coilings come into contact. It’s all I ask.
This has the potential to be worse than python vs. php vs. perl vs. Java (ick, Java, ick).
Rugs and duct tape, rugs and duct tape, rugs and duct tape!
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Well, yes. Passing the bitter end of a string or line through such a coil is actually also an old magic trick for producing a series of overhand knots from a coil. The term for this type of coil is an alternating half hitch coil.
The “trick” to not doing that is using proper cable wraps (trick line, velcro rapes, whatever) to secure the wrapped coil to prevent either bitter end of the cable from being passed through the coil.
Coiling any torsion resistant long cables in hand without using twist neutral alternating half-hitch (or figure 8) coils means you are going to get a shit ton of twist in the cable. That may work for twisted hemp rope but I really, really hate it for any conductors I care about and want to lay flat when I uncoil them.
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For the big thick and long ones, most of the shows I’ve worked did figure-8 into a monster road box.
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Does anyone have any advice for longish, not so flexible coax cables (RG400 and similar)? I often have to roll up maybe 20m cables, and they always come out a mess. I tend to use over-over, because nobody every taught me anything else, and I’ve not really thought about it as much as I might.
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Figure eight? Banned. 
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I learned from a friend of mine whose band I was helping out to take the cord & halve it, basically putting the plug ends side by side & flaking the cord out again, then halve it again, then again so on & so forth, till it made a neat overhand knot. Never broke a sound or power cable, stores nice & neat, as easy to use as any other method I’ve ever used & it makes a fairly dense & easy to throw package to get a power cord up a story or 2 on a house
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I would be remiss if I didn’t post this.
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Duck tape.
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You are correct, the thing duct tape is infamously bad for is ducting. It works on ducks Waaaay better.
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I’m so pleased to see your avatar is back.
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There’s a self propelled cable rolling machine I’ve seen on at least on set for coiling heavy power distro cables, but I’ll be damned if I can find it on Google. My Google Fu isn’t strong enough to get through the chaffe…
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I was taught (by an old school stage electrician) that for the really think multi-core cables, just to coil them the way they naturally already curled. Not for any reason other than it was a right bugger to get them to coil in any other way.
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do you even have one single unfunny bone in your body?
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Yes the humerlus.
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