Jamie

doubt it mate, everything is pretty quiet Jamie

i make a big daisy chain and chuck it in, at the other end i may have a slight tangle to sort out byt not much Jamie

hate marlow, it's too baggy. tons of cover to milk off Jamie

got it at first, i got used to teh sensation. strangely enough i got it on the aerial assault course at ratho the other week Jamie

We're busy with firewood, we take friday off to do it and i go in on sundays too. shifting rakes of teh stuff. in 3m3 baskets Jamie

well done to the wife. hope all is good Jamie

if you look at the number of passes the twine takes in a sewn eye i think you'd be surprised at how dense it is and how much each pass stiffens up teh rope. I'd imagine with a lot of very careful stitching you could sew it, but i don't thin it'd be worth the effort. marlow used to do instructions for siezing eyes but i'd give it a miss, i've never tried it as the eyes it produces don't look load bearing. i'd acccept that you now have 4 pieces of short useless rope. Jamie

i've spoke to a few spliced rope suppliers on splicing but i beleieve it's up to them to state how their business operates. I'm under the impression that most come factory spliced in set lengths, hence most folks sell rope in 35 / 45m lengths Jamie

rock and run are doing a pretty keen deal on them ROCK + RUN - Climbing and Mountaineering Equipment Suppliers Jamie

I've not read any benefits but here are my thoughts. When you pack the throat of the splice nice and tight there is a lot of rope in there, if the splice were to start to slip there would be more room for movement, the whipping should be able to 'catch' or arrest the pull of the splice quicker. the whipping is there to hold the splice together during low loads. you will have a full complement of rope strands before the taper. does that make sense. i've never had a splice slip, but i always stitch as close to the throat as possible. And it looks a bit neater i think but i would cos thats the way i do it:biggrin: you done any other splices yet? what does Nod teach you on the course? Get some Tenex and make whoopie slings to your hearts content easy as to make and a whole load cheaper than buying them. Jamie

I like XTC splice. try to get the whipping closer to the eye. it is possible. my tips, Buy some sail making needles, a sail makers palm and a rubber mallet. Then take you splice and bend it around in every direction you can also gently tap it with the mallet on a smooth surface to help soften up the splice a bit. then insert the needle and push it through with the palm then pull the needle out the other side. I've done blaze this way to get a whipplock close to the throat and blaze is a pretty tough splice. Jamie

Liked this Jamie

that makes sense. it'd be the same as sitting a CS unit, you'd expect that the folk in charge of drawing up teaching and assessing the unit would know what they're talking about Jamie

I believe that we are seeing a whole load more stitched eyes on pre cut rope because stitching eyes can be easily assessed, repeated and inspected. A splicer can make mistakes that from the external appearances of the splice are not apparent. I know i could make a splice that looked safe but was badly put together. To me the only way to prove you know what you are doing is to sit a test and the oly way to prove you keep standards high is to destroy splices and keep records. Jamie

Unless thre is a course and qualification i don't think you could easily prove competance across an entire industry (by industry i'm implying all rope applications). As we're all aware rope only develops a function when it's put into use. Until, say, Yale XTC is used as a lifeline it could still be used as anything from a washing line to an anchor line, it may not be ideally suited to that application but it's still just rope. Following on from that i'd say a splicing course would have to ultimately be applicable to all end users. The splices are the same but the end use is different. I know the guy who splices for the MOD and the Navy, he orders his rope by the multiple container load and has redesigned splices for pulling subs off the sea floor so I reckon it's safe to say he knows his stuff. While chatting to him he told me that he knows of no one / organisation who'll / that'll say that you're competant to splice. I have contacted Marlow to ask if they would break test / inspect my splices on Marlow rope so they could provide me with a statement that i was competent. Marlow refused simply saying that they didn't do that. I've had splices i've designed broken by the MOD and the breaking point was at or above the minimum breaking strain of the rope. Does this say that i'm a competent splicer? Does it prove that i understand how and why a splice works as well as how to carry out a splice? How would i say competence is proved? Training and assessment followed up by inspections and destruction of samples of ALL splice constructions carried out. Maintenance of a detailed record of all splices carried out. I have a folder of all the splice instructions i have round on the net, included are also myinstructions for my splices i have created. Where i have created my own i've also included the reasons behind altering the splice. Does that put my point across well enough? 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

Go on Bob show us yours then Jamie

oh and i don't have a dog. Jamie

thats the smallest whiplock i've ever done. it's not a 'proper' load bearing splice, well it's been load tested to about 16oz:001_cool: i've never really tried other throwlines, i've always found it worked ok for me. Jamie

Tim, why is Zing it a waste of time? I've been a bit of a geek and spliced my zing it, it makes attaching it to the bag simple, a quick girth hitch and its on Jamie

the boss has one, they're great. it's been down with a gear box problem for a few years. very good bits of kit. you'll stop going places before it will Jamie

are you doing the course bob? Jamie

sounds like something ain't quite right then. in my experience 16 strand is alwaystight to get the final bury on, a wee bit of force needed to help it through. i've never seen spark never mind spliced it. Jamie

79kgs, i'm on a mission to lose at least 5 kgs so i can (rock) climb harder. I'm aiming to hit 7a+ by the end of the year. that's my motivation Jamie

My main area of interest was in splicing, i've had a few broken and i've redesigned a few. I'd imagine splices have to be tested. my main concern was forking out cash (i don't really have) and it not paying for itself. I've missed the booking date for it now anyway. maybe next year. Jamie