Had the occasion to run the flexy snake through a kitchen drain that turned out to be not as plugged up as I expected, which is always good news. Replaced the cleanout plug, hosed off the snake, coiled it up, and applied the usual three nylon cable ties to keep the snake together.
It took me years to figure out that last step. None of the old-school tricks work for me; I can’t tie knots in string / twine / rope while simultaneously holding those coils together and the snake resists any attempt to weave the loose ends into the bundle.
Mercifully, I don’t use the snake all that often and I don’t feel at all bad about tossing three cable ties each time.
You figured that out long ago, right?
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 
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2 responses to “Constraining a Sewer Snake”
My snake coils up into a funnel-shaped apparatus that holds it. When deployed, the narrow part of the funnel has a thumbscrew to make it hang on to the snake, and a pair of pivoting handles. One to guide the snake, and one at the back to rotate it. It’s pretty simple, and works well. There’s a pic of a similar one in this writeup: http://fivepercent.us/2009/05/10/clogged-drain-plumbers-snake-better-than-drano/
This is the fifty-foot monster I unleash when there’s no other option, so it’s not nearly as cuddly and coil-up-able as it looks. I should have stuck my foot in the picture for scale.
I also have a five-footer with a crank-shaped tube on one end that sees more use; it extracts the mighty hairballs that accumulate downstream from the shower drain trap with ease. Our young Lady of the Long Hair now has that assignment, though.