Samson Ice

C

Coconut

Location
Bethel, Connecticut
I just got some Samson Ice 5/16" and spliced some new slings for my ascenders.

My question is how long should the buried part be, and should it include the tapered end?

Samson recomends 3 1/2 fid lengths, but this was too long for my application.

I took the braided core completly out before starting, which is something not mentioned on the Samson website.

Made an eye,and buried the tail about 4-5", I pulled the tapered end completly out cutting it off.

Lock sitched according to Samson recomendations and used the white core from one of the strands.
 
That braided core is optional. I remove it.

According to the directions, as you learned, you're supposed to bury tails that run pretty much the full length. If I want a thinner cord, I'll bury a 6" tail with the last 3-4" tapered.

love
nick
 
A guy gave me a split made from Icetail with a long fat bury on one end and a short one on the other. The idea was to tie thge wraps on a VT with the thin part and the braids were the thick parts.

He weighed less than me though, I thought it locked up too easy.
 
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...The idea was to tie the wraps on a VT with the thin part...

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I make mine more or less like you describe. The friction hitch is entirely tied in the thin part. At my weight, maybe 170 with all gear, IceTail is very smooth.

As far as the required length of bury, I don't dare recommend that anyone use one shorter than regulation, but I tested a 4-inch bury, no Brummel, no stitching, and the rope broke at 8000 pounds before the splice would pull apart. If someone made me a split tail with a locking Brummel and a 4-inch bury with no taper or only a very short one, I would climb on it without hesitation.
 
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But I think the question was regarding a tether for an ascender.

Why not make the buries longer with a crossover?

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Absolutely. There is another thing you can do to add to the splice security and that is to girth hitch one eye to the ascender and the other to your pear ring or biner or whatever. The girth hitch weakens the eye somewhat but makes it almost impossible for the splice to slip. In order to slip the rope also has to crawl through all the turns of the girth hitch. The friction in the hitch is so large it can almost hold without a splice at all.

This sounds too good to be true, and in a way it is. The problem is that the girth hitch friction only kicks in when the splice is actually slipping. It stops the slip, but it doesn't prevent that first little sub-millimeter creep. Still, would you rather run the risk of a single catastrophic failure, or know that you will have dozens or even hundreds of chances to detect the slow creep that shows your splice isn't quite adequate? I girth hitch my lanyards partly for this reason, but there has never been any sign of creep.
 
I am totally confused. There is mention of a braided core that was removed? Is everyone on the same page as far as what exactly is getting spliced and how it's done? I have not seen any of the ice with a braided core. It should be a hollow braid much like tenex. Plus I would recommend the crossover.
 
Tyler, you're right, it's a hollow braid. I'm told the core is for Grizzly splicing to hold the shape... I bought some that had a foam rubber core once.

For hand splicing you just discard it.
 
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But I think the question was regarding a tether for an ascender.

Why not make the buries longer with a crossover?

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Why? It's faster, easier, and cheaper to do short tails. Not only that, with locked brummells, the security comes from the lock, not the tail. The long tails would be unnecessarily redundant.

Regarding the core: It could also be not just for the grizz splicer, but also to firm up the rope? Just a thought.

love
nick
 
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Made an eye,and buried the tail about 4-5", I pulled the tapered end completly out cutting it off.

[/ QUOTE ]

This worries me a little. That's pretty short if you didn't do brummels, especially for an ascender tether which is going to be loaded and unloaded many, many times. That whole cycles to failure thing comes to mind.

Got pics?
 
Thank you very much blinky. I had never seen it with a core was why I was asking. I have some sitting right here in my rope collection with no core.
 
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Made an eye,and buried the tail about 4-5", I pulled the tapered end completly out cutting it off.

[/ QUOTE ]

This worries me a little. That's pretty short if you didn't do brummels...

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Agreed. It might hold, but sounds risky. Now throw some locking brummells in there and I'd be super happy to climb on it!

love
nick
 
I did not use brummels because I was following the instructions from Samson. I lock stiched it pretty good with a strand of Ice. I will test it out and make a new one with brummels.

I left it at work but will take and post pics after the New Year.
 
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I followed the directions on Samson's website for splicing 12 strand hollow braid with a class 2 splice.

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Samson directions for class two hollow braid call for something like two full fids of tail being buried. That would be over 10 inches. I say scrap that splice and start over.
 
If you followed those directions, and it's lock stitched (as per the directions) then you're good to go. In the future, check out http://www.samsonrope.com/site_files/Eye_and_Eye_Tail_Splice.pdf

These directions were made specifically for creating an eye-eye sling in icetail rope. The locked brummels they suggest offer more security and will let you shorten your tails of need be in the future.

Do we get to see a pic of what you've made?!?!

love
nick
 
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