3Strand Splice Question

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  • #27
Before I order, I might give one in copper a go. I'm not sure it would hold up, but it would be cool if it did. Aside from being easy to work, it's my favorite metal. I have bits and pieces all over the place I fished out of containers to make /something/ with.
 
It works ok, nice for 12 strand and 3 strand. The stainless ones are worth having for opening up tight cover double braids. The copper will definitely bend on something like ocean poly. Bonus patina if you live 500 feet from the ocean (for you landlocked peeps, I've heard pee ages copper beautifully) 20211218_202058.jpg
 
One winter we We're invited in for soup by this nice couple, friends of friends. Their stove was going and the wall Heat shield was maybe 12 feet of copper panels All nicely distressed. I commented on how cool it looked and they said that was the builders secret trick.
 
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  • #35
That's why I like copper. Not the peeing part so much, but that it wears its' age well, and gains character with use.
 
One of the most resounding, counter-intuitive points from the late Brion Toss training vid to me is,
to flatten the fibers on the (what i call) the control side of the seam.
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As always and always target keeping what would be the Standing Part(SPart)pristine w/o deformity as possible.
If the 'off-side'(Dent term for side opposing side lean as face target, making it the control side against that sidelean)/control side of the bight are what he called 'flat ribbons' they disturb the primary side of the bight less than if those 'secondaries' were left round.
ALSO, the now flat 'ribbons' have more surface area of contact thru the splicing than round would, for a double win!
This one very simple concept helped me look at all knots and rigs much harder from the maintaining the sanctity of the pristine SPart and then providing collective frictions, arcs and nips as best could .
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A Bowline eye is weaker than splice because of the deformity in the SPart as a support column is increased many times in Bowline by comparison/ pristine sanctitiy of the SPart as a support column more fully violated in Bowline, than proper splice.
Both strategies use the primary force to lock secondary, Bowline has to deform more to make this lock to not burst 'seam'.
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i wasn't concerned so much about pretty finish, so feeding the tails out of the end of the splice, and giving a Brion Toss patented:P 'butane backsplice' to make a bell on the end that could not possibly pull back thru the opening, let alone the gauntlet of arcs in the weave .
The sailor twine finish to appropriate same end is cleaner, and more finesse; but probably never went to class enough to have much class; just went with what worked! Generally very tight and bright taped over that end for identification and internal pressure on splice, leaving the bells out as inspection point.
 
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I used water pipe, 3/4”- 3/8”, the smallest a discarded torch tip. The Point Hudson has a more rounded tip than most Swedish Fids for easier insertion under the strands. Can isolate the strand being tucked to keep the twist.

Don’t think that the loose splice would effect the strength much, the twist only keeps it together.
 
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I used water pipe, 3/4”- 3/8”, the smallest a discarded torch tip. The Point Hudson has a more rounded tip than most Swedish Fids for easier insertion under the strands. Can isolate the strand being tucked to keep the twist.

Don’t think that the loose splice would effect the strength much, the twist only keeps it together.
I think the twist has a lot to do with strength. I can take a straw wrapper and twist it up and it will hold quite a few pounds before it breaks.
But then again I have a few slings I’ve spliced up that the strands became loose and they have held up well over the years. So maybe it is a moot point.
 
Nick too promoted the untwisted strands for the splice of 3 strands. I tried both ways when I began to make my rigging slings. With the flattened strands, the splice is more streamlined, more compact, sturdier and less prone to move/open with the handling. I make a lot of self-rigging cuts with my slings choked on both ends. The splices are in first line to take the beating but made this way, they hold pretty well and are easier to work with.
 
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I think the twist has a lot to do with strength.
I agree for natural fibers as the twist keeps the fibers in close contact and maintains the strands together by their internal frictions. But synthetic fibers don't rely on that because every fibers goes from one end to the other. The overall strength is a function of the fiber's number, no matter if the rope is compact or loosened. Straight fibers give their best in holding power and you get it with the round slings and the high end guy ropes in sailling. Twisting the fibers, or braiding them, make their paths helicoptering around the rope's axis. That gives more slack in the rope and a good part of the so-called elasticity when the load tends to straighten them up. Good point or bad, it depends of the intended use/properties. A very good one is to hold a splice together but only the rope needs to be twisted/ braided for that, not the strands themselves (I don't speak about the ability to keep the twisted rope from unraveling). Actually only the "traping" part of the rope have to be twisted/braided because like so, it shrinks under load and squeezes the trapped end of the rope/strands.
 
To splice the 14mm 4 strands twisted polypro rope for my slings, I use my Leatherman plyer as a fid. I sneak the conical noze between the strands, push it through, open the jaws, put in them the end of a strand, close firmly the jaws and pull back draging the strand. It works very well.
 
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