the splicing blues

Well I've attempted a double-braid eye splice on a slightly used blaze for the second time and I can't seem to get the final bury

Here are some pics of how close I got, but with all my strength (and even some persuasion from the GRCS), I can't seem to get it to give any more

I was pretty conscious of the taper and the amount of bunching on the core and cover when doing the final bury on this one (the first used blaze line bunched up pretty good ). Any suggestions or recommendations. Do I scrap this and start over or only attempt on brand new line. Thanks for the help!

jp

How much did you massage it? I'm assuming that if you got out the GRCS, that the throat is about rock hard. Finishing a used blaze splice is not about brute force, but rather, finesse.

I bury a bit until it starts to get difficult, then I stop and flex the splice sharply at the throat in all directions. This brings up slack from further down the body of the rope up to where you need it. Now bury a little more, then flex more, then bury, etc.

I've always been able to fully run home used Blaze splices by hand.

I notice you're doing the Toss method of leaving a strand out for later stitching. I wouldn't do that with this rope. When you finish running home the splice things will be so rock hard near the top of the throat that you'll never get the needle through there...the stitching needs to be done a few inches down where the rope is at least a tiny bit flexible.

If you've GRCS'd it, I'd chop it off and start over.

love
nick

Thanks Nick for your help on this. When I was burying by hand I was massaging every couple minutes or so, maybe ten or fifteen times. The splice got to a point where it just wouldn't move any more. I even marked the core to see if it was sliding in further, but nada.

Any tricks for making the taper a little smoother so it doesn't get so rock hard there at the throat?

jp

You know, the thing that I found really important when I spliced some used blaze is to TRY not to stretch out the core too much. That was where using mechanical advantage helped for me, but... it was mostly just useful to hold tension in the splice, which kept the core nice and flat over the tapered cover. That way, when trying to bury the splice. I would only keep enough tension to hold the splice from getting baggy as I pulled up the cover, and every so often, I'd have to take up the tension that was introduced as the cover came up.
Also, if there's any bumps in your taper, that also makes it harder cause the cover will get caught up there. It's especially important to make the taper a smooth transition with that old 11mm.


Ohh... and if you are going to pull a bunch to get the cover to come up, you may want to find a little pulley or roller that fits in the eye. I have one of those revolver carabiners, and I think it allows the eye to roll through it much easier than a regular carabiner, which helps.

Wagnaw- great idea with the roller! I might have to invest in one now!!!

Another trick is to stitch the crossover together tightly to make it more compact and easier to swallow. It still needs to be malleable, though.

How long is your buried core tail and cover tail?

love
nick

When doing DB splices i always lock stitch the crossover, if anything it stops them sliding apart while i'm carelessly throwing it around the room.

For the blaze that i've done i've tied it onto something and used my bodyweight to massage / milk the sheath back down then i bend the throat a lot and i have sometimes hit it with either a large fid or a rubber mallet. As i progress through the final bury i bend the throat more frequently.

After its buried i keep bending it for a bit, i've managed to whip lock it pretty close to the throat.

Jamie

oh and i broke a whipping needle last night.

Jamie

NickfromWI said:

How long is your buried core tail and cover tail?

love
nick

Click to expand...

10 1/2" bury.

jp

That's for the cover, right?

How far down from the exit point do you bury the core?

love
nick

Oops, yeah the cover gets 10 1/2" and I go about a third of that for the core.

jp