Splice tidying

[PabloPicasso]

Ok I did my first rope splices today. Nothing to write home about, just splicing some eyes in triple platt.

I see splices finished with some sort of binding, I presume to tidy up the loose ends. Is this essential to hold it together or just for neatness.

 

[Stork_III]

neatness.

 

[lustyd]

I never do, I taper the splice instead by cutting out a thread on each row of tucks which I personally think looks nicer. very much personal opinion though.

 

[johnalison]

It depends on the use for the splice. In some cases, just cutting each ply in turn and burning to a flat will be enough to stop the splice unravelling. This won't be nice to handle, so in most cases I bind my splices with self-amalgamating tape since I don't have the patience to serve and parcel.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Tapering adds materially to the strength of the splice by doing away with the stress concentration caused by the change of thickness in the rope at the splice. The downside is that it lengthens the splice, which may be a factor in situations where the rope passes through a block. Serving a) looks tidy and b) saves the rope from chafing at the shoulder of the splice. However, it is tedious to do and also requires a great deal of tension to do it properly. Old-time riggers would use a serving board or similar tool to ensure the tension was both correct and uniform; it is hard (and painful!) to achieve the same result with fingers alone.

 

[LadyInBed]

A 2" length of heat shrink is another way of tidying up the end of a splice.
Note: You need to put it on the rope before you start splicing, as it's a hell of a drag running it back along the rope from the other end