Class II eye splice--preferred method and suggestions for final bury.

D

dmonn

Branched out member
Location
Port Washington Wisconsin
I used Atlantic Braids splicing instructions for a Class II eye splice, and I'm having an incredibly difficult time doing the final bury. I've tried all the tricks I know, and still have about a half- to three quarters-inch to go. I have beat on the throat of the splice many, many times with a rubber mallet, worked the throat by hand to loosen the fibers, applied tons of tension to the rope, and repeated and repeated. I have not tried using any kind of lubricant (like detergent). I've also tried pulling a few inches of core out of the other end of the rope and milking the rope to get more cover slack in the end with the splice. Any suggestions?

I really don't want to abandon the splice and start over. It's for a sailboat, and the length (with splice) is as short as it can be to function properly.

I looked at Samson's instructions, and they use a slightly different set of "core marks" (Z lengths) for the two parts of the core. Does that make the final bury easier?

Whose instructions do you prefer?

TIA
 
I’ve always used Samson’s instructions. Did you zero out the core and cover? A quick snap or the line at the final bury while pulling helps. Try beating it some more with the mallet. KY jelly helps and is water soluble.
 
I don’t know if ky evaporates, natural or artificial saliva might be better. Adding the cover might have been equaled out by burying less core. Possibly making it longer to compensate?
 
I got almost all of the final bury done. Only about 1/4 inch left to bury. My hands gave up for now.

Good thought about the KY drying or not. It did seem to make a difference. I'm soaking the splice in water right now to rinse it out. I'll work the splice by flexing it several times and soaking in a fresh bucket of water to get the jelly out.

The rope I'm working with is 3/8". The "half fid length" in the Atlantic Braids method is therefore just shy of 4 inches. The two Samson Z-lengths for 3/8" rope are: Z-1 of 5.5 inches, and z-2 of 4.5 inches. I think Brocky is probably right (I wouldn't doubt Brocky, but he DID say "might").
 
So hard time on final bury - maybe snagged some core fibers when pulling the core or crossover along the way? That'll do it. Before burying the core/ crossover try pulling the core back and forth a bit to make sure nothing is snagged. Have you got the sides for entry/ exit sorted so the core and cover aren't twisting? Maybe try the D Splicer soft FID? Dave Stice in one of his videos showed taking a prussik to pull the cover slack during final bury. And I have a sturdy pipe length between two joists that I rig the rope on, for the almost finished eye and connect a biner to a harness and jump on the rope a couple of times if the thing is being that stubborn. This has never failed and saves the hands. Cheers.
Some videos:

Tapering Question

Rookie splicer here. I've been making eyes of various sizes for practice. I've been working with 3/8" and 9/16" stable braid, and 1/2" Nystron. Just realized I have been doing my tapers wrong. I've been pulling and cutting every 5th strand in the cover, rather than 4th and 5th. So I tried the...
www.treebuzz.com
 
ghostice said:
So hard time on final bury - maybe snagged some core fibers when pulling the core or crossover along the way? That'll do it. Before burying the core/ crossover try pulling the core back and forth a bit to make sure nothing is snagged. Have you got the sides for entry/ exit sorted so the core and cover aren't twisting? Maybe try the D Splicer soft FID? Dave Stice in one of his videos showed taking a prussik to pull the cover slack during final bury. And I have a sturdy pipe length between two joists that I rig the rope on, for the almost finished eye and connect a biner to a harness and jump on the rope a couple of times if the thing is being that stubborn. This has never failed and saves the hands. Cheers.
Some videos:

Tapering Question

Rookie splicer here. I've been making eyes of various sizes for practice. I've been working with 3/8" and 9/16" stable braid, and 1/2" Nystron. Just realized I have been doing my tapers wrong. I've been pulling and cutting every 5th strand in the cover, rather than 4th and 5th. So I tried the...
www.treebuzz.com
Click to expand...
I've milked the cover slack toward the eye several times by hand, but not with a prussik. I even pulled 6 inches of core from the opposite end of the rope and milked the whole 70 feet of rope (by hand) to try to get a little more room in the cover at the eye. I tried tying the rope between two concrete pillars, snugging it up using some MA, and then pulling (like a bowstring). Probably equivalent to jumping on the rope like you described. I suspect I didn't get the core to core set tight enough before trying to do the final bury. At this point the splice is rock hard and I still have that 1/4 inch left to bury. My hands have mostly recovered, so I'll give it another shot today. I'll try milking with a prussik (along with all the other suggestions). Thanks.
 
If it's that hard to get the eye buried, personally I wouldn't use the eye, at least for life support. To me it means there's something wrong along the way somewhere - it shouldn't be that hard. Consider the stress the core fibres near the eye might be already under just in getting the final bury. Personally I don't like stressing stuff that much. Easy does it. It might be a failure point just like lumps and bumps in the core - see some of Richard Mumford's pull test videos on AdTube too. But just my 2 cents. Good luck.
 
I finally got it buried. It seemed like just giving it a day loosened things up just enough to do the last little bit without too much of a struggle. Thanks for all the suggestions. ghostice, I agree. After all the stress I've put on it, I would not use it for life support. It's going to be used on a sailboat, in an application that won't see a lot of stress. The skipper got it primarily for its lack of stretch compared to what he had been using. I think your point about overstressing a splice has a lot of merit. Thanks.

Now all I have to do is lock stitch it and help the skipper put it on the boat.
 

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