Had to show off my first ever chain splice...

[Graham_Wright]

I acquired a quite considerable quantity of 4 strand nylon which I have struggled to make decent eye splices in.

How would it fair with a chain splice?

 

[rustybarge]

Very neat job!

Does anyone know if there is there any empirical data on the weakening effect of the strands being bent back around the small radius of the chain? It's the sort of thing that the PBO splice and knot test might have checked, but didn't.

I suspect that it's not a real problem since there are six strands sharing the load. In fact the book "The Rigger's Apprentice" recommends and describes a back splice which takes only two of the rope strands through the last chain loop, which makes for a very neat splice. The author argues that the load being shared between 4 strands it should be as strong as the 3-strand rope.

Edit: I found this http://www.bethandevans.com/load.htm excellent article on Beth and Evans's web site. It states that a 1:1 bend radius to strand diameter weakens the strand by 50%. But as I noted above the splice has 6 strands, so back to 100% of the 3-strand rope's breaking strain.

estarzinger of this parish is the guy to ask, he has a testing rig and tried out my knot on his 'pull thingy' a couple of weeks ago....

Turned out the shake hands knot was a terrible knot, broke very early under hardly any pressure.:ambivalence:

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?390967-Improved-soft-shackle/page4

 

[DaveS]

Nice job Murv. Anybody know if, or how well, octoplait anchor line splices onto chain?

Yes, octoplait to chain works well and looks symmetrical. The splice is included in Marlow's (free to download) sheet of knots and splices, and they make the point that the trace markings of their brand makes it easy to differentiate between the S and Z strands, but I think that using different coloured tape for the ends would work with any make.

 

[Greenheart]

Cheers Dave!