First and foremost, thank you for stopping by my thread and leaving a post! It’s always so much more fun when other people become engaged in what I’m trying to accomplish!
I do agree with you insofar as the inconsistent hitch cord diameter that results from a spliced eye on either end. When you first begin using a newly completed spliced eye to eye, as much as 60% of it feels stiff and it isn’t as supple as the hitch cord is in its natural state.
That being said, I just got four new spliced eye to eyes and I began using them perhaps a week or two ago. Already, after moderate use during some of my free time, they are all “breaking in” very nicely and it is becoming much easier to use the buried sections on both sides to tie functional hitches. In other words, the best way to make your spliced hitch cords more “supple” (ew, sorry, but that word is cringeworthy) is to use them frequently. Also, my secret sauce is that I use my 9:1 mechanical advantage system to pull on my new splice eye to eyes. Nothing crazy; just normal forces that a hitch might see on an average day of safe use. Stretching it while it is tied into various hitches is the best way to do this as it produces stretch in more than one axis.
After all of this talk about hand tying your own hitch cords (which is what I used to do when I was first starting out), I think I’m going to get back to basics and buy a length of quality heat resistant hitch cord and start making hitch cords that are as long or short as I want using simple Poacher’s knots to create the eyes.
I’m delighted that you think seeing my hitch designs is fun. I appreciate your candor in suggesting that all of my efforts could be reduced to a means for killing time in a constructive manner. I’d be lying if I said that there wasn't some truth to that. Tree climbers do not necessarily ‘need’ my new hitch designs, but I do believe that - in many instances - climbers could benefit from many of my designs.
The way I look at my attempts to create new hitches is this…
I have been designing hitches as a way to use my free time, but I have also always seen what I do as being important to arboriculture and as being potentially beneficial to anyone who climbs ropes. It’s important to keep everything in perspective. I have only claimed on perhaps 2-3 occasions that one of my hitches is considerably better than what is currently being used. The vast majority of my hitches are equally as good and reliable and efficient as what is being used right now. This means that my hitches also serve as an opportunity for climbers to be unique and to start using hitches which a) function just as well as what they are used to but it b) allows that climber to be unique and to express themselves.
My hitches are not necessarily supposed to revolutionize any aspect of hitches nor of climbing (although, my hopes is that someday I’ll develop something which is revolutionary), they allow hitch connoisseurs like me to learn how to tie/regularly use cooler looking, sometimes better performing hitches; all of which are at least comparable to what is already being used.
It’s a lot like an infusion of art and design with engineering. Anyways, it’s something I enjoy doing and, from what I can gather, there are enough people on this forum who appreciate what I’m doing in order for me to want to continue.
Sorry for how long that was. It might be a little hard to follow, but I think you'll get the gist. =-D
