My splicing attempts

[geoff]

Nice work, must be satisfying being able to splice like that!

[High Scale]

Doublebraid is a headtrip at first, but once you have the hang of it you wont want to go back to 16 strand!

 

Agreed, although I do derive a sick kind of pleasure splicing 16 strand.

[Will Hinchliffe]

I was inspired by this thread to have a go at a splice on sunday. I had tried once before but the biro I was using as a fid just wasnt up to it. This time I used a bike spoke bent in half. I followed the instructions from the sampson website for 16 strand class 1. The rope I used was an old bit of XTC. I haven't whiped it yet.

 

I have a few questions.

How long are your wire fids? It took me about 6 separate burys to complete the bury.

 

I found the tape a real hindrance to performing the bury so was just trapping a bite of the tapered cover in the loop of the fid but every time my fid came out of the bury the end of the cover that I was pulling would come off the fid. I would then have to grab it with some grips to get it out. How do you attatch the bit you are going to bury to the fid ?

 

Im going to get some brand spanking new bits of rope to try on next and make a new fid. Any advice on the fid construction?

[DrewB]

attach it like this bro, no tape required:001_smile:

[Jamie]

Mr Old Snake,

 

Get your whipping up by the throat of the eye, don't cross your frapping turns, keep em neat, just shows greater craftsmanship. your marlow rope has a slight twist in the eye. Again keeping the strand lines straight just makes it look slicker and shows you care.

 

Apart from that good work, i struggled on my own with 16strand for ages.

 

here is my whipping, the one on the left had 6 frapping turns as i was feeling quite frisky.

 

here is a link to the house of splice at the treehouse showing good whipping. i've done two tone before like that but it loooked too english in red and white:001_tt2:

 

 

Mr Phenom,

 

My wire fid is about a foot long, i got an old bit of wire (as smooth as possible) and put a tight bend in it, i twisted it slightly so it grips the rope better. then make a big loop at the other end that'll take a crab so you can anchor it to summat. here is my rough as wire fid

 

 

Jamie

[old snake]

Cheers for the info Jamie. The whipping is how we were shown on the course. Not really played about too much yet.

I think ive got the splicing bug though i want to splice everything in sight now!! haha

[High Scale]

Phenom, buy a piano wire fid from Nod or make your own from piano wire, you can get from good craft/model shops but Nods fids that he has made are much nicer.

 

You will find new rope a whole lot easier to splice.

[Will Hinchliffe]

Excellent help cheers.

 

I made a new fid last night a bit like Jamie's out of a thin coat-hanger and started a new splice.

 

When driving through Westbury today in between jobs we stopped at a Model shop and I got some piano wire.

 

I just made up a new fid out of the piano wire and went to do the final bury on my splice but the fid snapped on the tight loop end. The piano wire is .64mm or .025 wire.

 

Is this the same gauge as the piano wire you are using?

 

Did it snap because the Bend in the end was to tight or just the extra effort involved in burying the end in old rope?

[High Scale]

I have snapped a wire fid in old rope, the trouble with old 16 strand is it tends to twist, as you push the fid through it can follow the twists even though it feels like it's going through easy, I can't remember the gauge of my fids but you have to be careful that the bend is not too acute as it can cause fatigue in the metal, also when you perform the bend with pliers make sure you cover the pliers with tape so you don't scratch the fid as I have found any tiny scratch can snag inside the rope.

 

I just finished putting an eye on my old, wet,smelly Tachyon line, it was tough but I did it, it looks mint.

[DrewB]

i use welding wire for mine if thats any help