Network cables can be bought at reasonable prices but it's handy to be able to make up your own, especially for long runs passing through walls and floors. Here is what you need:
   RJ45 Crimp tool
   Cable sheath cutter
   Cable tester
   Supply of CAT5e cable and crimpable plugs

Use the cable sheath cutter to remove about 1 inch of the cable sleeving. Our cutter is the type that you rotate a couple of times around the cable to make the cut. (Our crimp tool has a couple of blades that purport to do this job, but we don't use it as it tends to also cut through the individual wires).

Unwind the pairs and straighten them put. Now the fiddly bit! Holding the cable in your left hand arrange the wires such that they are in this sequence top-to-bottom:
   Orange/white
   Orange
   Blue/white
   Green
   Green/white
   Blue
   Brown/white
   Brown

Shuffle the wires so that they lie adjacent to one another and offer them up to the blade on your crimp tool which will cut them to length. With a bit of experience you will know what length to cut, but at first hold a plug alongside for reference. Cut them using the blade and, without letting go, feed them into the plug held in your right hand with the gold contacts towards you. Juggle the leads into the plug as far as they will go.

Check that the leads have all reached the and of plug and are still in the correct sequence. Check that the sleeving on the cable is sufficiently far into the plug that it will be grabbed. If all is well then crimp.

Now repeat with the plug on the other end of th cable and check with your tester. All being well it should report all four pairs in good working order and in the correct sequence.

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