Splicing tools

[David Goss]

Anyone fancy putting up pictures of the DIY wire fids youve made so I can learn how to make one:confused1:

 

Umm try looking at posts 8 and 20 mate

[ben-jammin]

Snapped my fid made from welding wire, also had trouble feeding it back through the jacket/cover as it's not as robust/stiff as piano wire or the wand...

 

...buying piano wire tomorrow.

[ben-jammin]

Think I've missed a trick here, used some Mild steel welding wire I found in the unit, looking at DAK's pictures i clearly should be trying thicker gauge wire!!

Edited November 18, 2011 by ben-jammin

[Dak]

Pics, I'll try get some done tomorrow if you still need them?

 

I use a knitting needle to open the cover fibres before inserting the fid, helps when extracting the core too as cover strands can get mega tight so pry strands open but not so much they sag when you've buried.

*EDIT*

Jusst looked at drews pics and looks his wires a thicker gauge than I use, I snap one now and again but its no biggie, always have a couple made up and at £4.30 for a roll i'm not bothered!

 

Maybe drew will let ya know gauge hes using if he knows.

 

Hope that's helped...

Edited November 18, 2011 by Dak

[DrewB]

er, no idea what thickness the wire i use is sorry but its from an engineer friend, so its some type of welding wire.

[ben-jammin]

The stuff I used was quite fine, going to try get some thicker welding wire and/or some piano wire today and see which works best... Got a whole weekend to play with so hopefully some results by Sunday but unfortunately, only old 16 strand to play with til Monday which won't make things any easier!!

[ben-jammin]

So here's what I've come up with from a hardware shop, a habadashery and a boat chandlery.

[High Scale]

Yep, that's all you need.

[ben-jammin]

Did the job though I now know why everyone sad not to bother trying to splice old rope!!

 

Using some 16 strand Yale Fire, struggled to get the taper in the crossover right, done 3 now, first I didn't taper enough and there's a definate lump, second two I've taken too much off an it's noticeably skinny.

 

Any tips?

[High Scale]

Hmm, it can be difficult to get a nice smooth cross over on 16 strand, pull the same amount of core as cover and taper both the same amount, older, used rope is always more tricky to splice and to get a smooth finish, keep trying though, it takes practise.