As much as I love leather, I’m not big on bondage. I don’t even own a good pair of leather handcuffs|Leather tethercuffs (shh, don’t tell). I do, however, like restraining people, and what I call quick-and-dirty bondage-- sneaky and utilitarian instead of the intricate rope version of bondage. (Yes, I know rope bondage|Sexual Fantasies: Bondage rope fantasy and kit can also be utilitarian.) These tethercuffs appealed to me for that very reason- they’re like handcuffs and rope built into one handy item.

I’m always skeptical about d-ring adjustments, but the handcuffs part of these hold strong. Initially, I put one on myself and tried to wriggle my small wrist out of it, and couldn’t. There is some shedding (little bits of leather), but hopefully that will decrease over time. The leather itself is fairly soft and flexible right out of the package- at first I was worried about durability, but after playing with them a bit I think they’re plenty strong.

Now for the fun part- I put them on my willing friend to find out what I could really do with these straps. Precise adjustment is necessary to make sure they’re adequately tight- they may pinch a bit, if you’re overly zealous with the tightening (I can’t help my enthusiasm). The one downside was that I couldn’t just throw them on him and go. The bottom has to be still and wait through the installation period, which kind of ruins the sneaky part of bondage. Oh well. Once on, they were great for dragging him around my apartment and attaching him to various items. We ended up in a quick wrestling match- the tethercuffs were quite handy to hold on to and keep his arms wrapped up with.

The crowning moment of my tethercuffs experiment, however, was definitely tying him to the bathroom door. One of the nice features of these: sliding d-rings on each strap to attach clips to, so there’s a range of possibility for adjustments. I fastened the simple swivel clips of each end to the other cuff’s d-ring, and he was stuck (I would recommend only trying this with a solid door). He spent awhile, both standing and sitting, trying to wiggle out somehow or reach the clips to open them himself. My door happened to be the perfect width, lucky for me, and even though there was is no locking mechanism, the angle of the clips made it impossible for him to reach them. After watching him squirm for a good 30 minutes, I detached him and took the cuffs off for the night.