Nick,
Regarding the splice in the yellow tech cord, yes, that splice is actually the "factory designed splice". I personally have a few of them spliced like that and have been climbing with them for a couple of years. For me, those split tails are used in conjunction with a micro mouse and distel hitch. The interwoven part of the splice is flatter compared to a brummel and I like that on these split tails. On top of this, when the eye splices are made extra tight they don't slop around on the carabineer.
Needless to say, these have proved to be very stable and reliable. I have never had one go bad on me, that splice locks down real tight and I feel very comfortable using them. They are stitched for extra security.
In any case, the ones we send out the door are done with a brummel splice unless the customer specifically wants it spliced like the one in the picture.
That smaller tech cord is a sweet little number though, I like it a lot.
That ceramic knife idea sounds like a good one; I'll have to give that a shot.
Thanks for the tip.
