Alternative to a stopper knot?

TimberSmith

TimberSmith

Location
Sydney
Anyone able to recommend to me an alternative to a stopper knot. I'm looking for something permanent to add to the end of my work positioning lanyard.

I run a 3m rope lanyard. (poison ivy) with a short VT hitch and shizll rope slider.

I find stopper knots have a way of finding tight spots in the tree and slowing me down.

I was considering bending a few inches of the tail of the rope back over its self and stitching it or whipping both ends back on each other.

Any other recommendations? Thanks
 
You'll find that the doubled back end will catch just as much as a stopper

An alternative might be to take a piece of plastic tubing about 1" long, slip it over the end and then use electrical tape to make a taper on both sides. A couple of layers of tape should be enough to bulk up the end so that it doesn't slip through your hitch or device
 
Maybe splice a steel thimble (like the ones on steel core fliplines) onto the end if you don't want it clipped to your harness. The tapered end will slide through more crotches than a bulky stopper knot, although will still get caught in some.
 
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That's a beautiful lanyard, @Tuebor. Now, with the new, black Petzl Zillon installed before the splicing, that thing would be a magnet for unscrupulous arborists. Man, I hate it when Google maps is running slow...

"I don't get it officer, there was half a million in valuable antiques and a bag of cash laying on the coffee table and all they took was a damn lanyard!"
 
Thanks guys for all your suggestions. Looks like I'll try a spliced end with a thimble.

More reason for me to pick up the splicing kit I bought and learn the art. Any recommendations of resources to learn splicing from? I know I'll find a lot on this site.
 
TimberSmith said:
Thanks guys for all your suggestions. Looks like I'll try a spliced end with a thimble.

More reason for me to pick up the splicing kit I bought and learn the art. Any recommendations of resources to learn splicing from? I know I'll find a lot on this site.
Click to expand...

Your original idea of bending a few inches over and stitching it down is good. For reference on what can stop the end of a rope from sliding through a hitch, years back I became dehydrated working long hours on a pruning job in mid-90's f. temps. I was climbing DdRT and knew that I had to re-pitch to get out of the tree on my 150' line. I was feeling bad and had to get to the ground fast, realized I was losing it enough that I didn't want to try and re-pitch. At the end of the tail my feet were still 8'-ish from the ground. I took out the stopper knot and thought I'd pull the hitch and slide off the end. No such luck, the tape wrap on the end stuck in the hitch. Would not budge. Lifted myself up with one arm after two or three tries, unhooked the biner and dropped to the ground. Everything worked out fine.

Ok, back to your stopper. I would pull out a few inches of core, cut a taper, pull the cover back over the core, fold it over, stitch it down any which way with whipping thread or something equivalent. Nothing will ever get past it and the tapered fold should not hang on anything except in some weird worse case scenario.
-AJ
 
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That's a great low profile idea.
moss said:
Ok, back to your stopper. I would pull out a few inches of core, cut a taper, pull the cover back over the core, fold it over, stitch it down any which way with whipping thread or something equivalent. Nothing will ever get past it and the tapered fold should not hang on anything except in some weird worse case scenario.
-AJ
Click to expand...

Moss (AJ)


That's a great low profile idea. I'll give that a go. Cheers
 
TimberSmith said:
That's a great low profile idea.


Moss (AJ)


That's a great low profile idea. I'll give that a go. Cheers
Click to expand...
This is what I do after seeing it on another buzzers lanyard. Super easy and low pro.

I use a long lanyard I'll tie limbs off with sometimes if I can't just cut and chuck it, so using something other the a stopper knot was key
 
Update for this thread.

I certainly gave moss's suggestion a go and it worked great.

A few months ago I was lucky enough to see fids and fibres come down under to Australia. I jumped on board and have been splicing everything I can get my hands on ever since.

Now I have three lanyards at different lengths. The bitter ends are finished with tight eye splices. This is enough to stop my hitch cord from rolling off the end. Aswell as being handy attachment points if needed. Another option I tried was the back splice. Easier to perform than a eye splice however less versatile.

Thank you everybody for your replies.
 
Hi Jack, that's Kong's Kisa, a rethreadable shock absorber. Until recently I was using these, or something similar, as the main attachment point on my harnesses. There were times when a slip would result in a fall factor two, or more. The Hook has eliminated these situations, so I've taken them off.
IMG_0671.webp IMG_1625.webp
When I get to it, I'm going to use the Kisa for when a breakaway lanyard is needed.
 
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