Splicing Hard-Lay 3 Strand Rope

[chris_girard]

OK, so here’s a question that I’ve been meaning to ask all you 3-strand splicers out there. I have a Maasdam Rope come-along that I use with a hard-lay 3 strand line and I want to splice an eye in the end.

I use Samson ½” TreeMaster line with the come-along, which works best with the pawls and doesn’t slip the way the soft-lay Samson ProMaster line would.

When I tried to splice the hard lay line, I darn near tore my hands apart trying to it. Any suggestions to make it easier?

 

[SingleJack]

[ QUOTE ]
... Maasdam Rope come-along that I use with a hard-lay 3 strand line and I want to splice an eye in the end.

I use Samson ½” TreeMaster line with the come-along ... Any suggestions to make it easier?

[/ QUOTE ]

Chris,

I use the same rope & come-along - very handy! I'm quite sure you're aware but for those that don't know, it should be said that a spliced eye won't thread through the Maasdam. If you know a way to thread an eye through the Maasdam or how to rig it mid-line, I'd sure like to hear it!!!

Anyway, I made a very looong tapered fid (marling spike) specially for splicing Samson ½” TreeMaster. Hockle the rope just enough to start the fid then run it in 'til you can thread the strand through.

If you don't have a lathe, you can chuck an aluminum bar in your drill press and file it to get a long taper. Have a file card handy. Removing that much aluminum will really clog a file. I suppose you could also taper a hard oak dowel which might work equally well as long as you don't pry with it.

If you don't want to make one of those, you could possibly use one of these:

One of these days, I'll get around to making a Hollow Fid ...
Hollow Fid is the preferred method:

Point Hudson splicing phid for 3 strand rope from Brion Toss

Marling Spike

Japanese Marling Spike

Rolling Head Pry Bar (Ladies Slipper)

Spud Wrench

... just some options.

 

[Norm_Hall]

I use the hollow fid (1st pic in previous post) for all 3 strands. It comes in 2 sizes, the large 1 works best for 1/2" hard lay. Available at West Marine stores.
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/sto...2&langId=-1

 

[chris_girard]

Thanks for the info guys. I'll be giving it a try again the next time that I buy another length of TreeMaster line.

Yeah, thanks SingleJack, for mentioning it to those that don't know, that the spliced eye will not fit through the come along. If they didn't know they would find out pretty quick I guess.

It's pretty easy to hold both pawls with one hand and back the line out without evening have to disingage the little metal spring though.

 

[SingleJack]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for the info guys. I'll be giving it a try again the next time that I buy another length of TreeMaster line.

Yeah, thanks SingleJack, for mentioning it to those that don't know, that the spliced eye will not fit through the come along. If they didn't know they would find out pretty quick I guess.

It's pretty easy to hold both pawls with one hand and back the line out without evening have to disingage the little metal spring though.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, the Maasdam is a great, easy tool to use ... just couldn't bear the thought of anyone trying to use it after splicing both ends ...

 

[Fernhorn]

Perhaps this isn't the thread for this question but it's the only active one that I could find that involves the maasdam puller.

I have been using my rope puller with an old hank of bluestreak rope but the rope would slip occasionally and was really past the point of retirement. so...

I recently bought a 200' hank of treemaster just for the puller but it slips way more than the bluestreak. I'm guessing the reason for that was my bluestreak was very furred up and gritty and the treemaster rope was new out of the bag and still had the slick waxiness on it. I guess I should just do some natural crotching with it and fur it up a bit but just was curious what you guys were experiencing with the Treemaster.

 

[chris_girard]

I seem to remember the rope come-along slipping just a little bit with the new TreeMaster line, but haven't had any problems with it now. Line is around 2 years old now.

I also never pull it near its 1500 lb limit either. I use it a lot with a DWT to give me a 2:1 MA and that also allows me not to have to pull as hard, thus reducing the chance of slippage.

 

[southsoundtree]

Re: rope puller
I find that pulling the rope through the RP to take out the slack, then holding it against the wheel to get it started, and tensioned, prevented the slipping. Never had it slip when heavily tensioned.

 

[Fernhorn]

Well as a saftey-
I wound up attaching a webbing loop prusik on the incoming rope side of the RP then I hooked up a micro pulley to the prusik and tied a VT on the outgoing side of the RP line in behind the pulley as a progress capture until I become more comfortable with the new TreeMaster. The Micropulley also helps tighten up the rope by hand by adding a little Mechanical Advantage. Plus if it gets too close to the RP just pop loose the prusik and VT and move the whole assembly up the rope. (After I read the paragraph above it seemed confusing so I might take a pic sometime).
I also tried using the RP with a 3:1 MA system and it seemed that the extra MA didn't allow the rope to pull into the puller as well, causing the line to slip, since it seemed that there wasn't as much pressure on the line.
Gonna give that another shot soon though to retest, it could have just been the situation (Pulling a big hickory top out of another tree and a thicket of rhododendron).

Thanks for the feedback on that guys!

 

[SingleJack]

Yeah, I agree with Chris and Sean. You have to wear the 'new' off Tree-Master (or any waxy rope). Mine was well broken-in before I got the Maasdam. But, I still have to put some tension on the out rope to get it started. Though once it grips, it's good to go.

I sorta followed Chris' lead and spliced up a short hank of rope, with one thimbled eye, to keep in the RP for most work and only change to the longer ropes when necessary. I'm hoping it will save the hassle of threading the RP every time - just quicklink the eye to a butterfly anywhere along any bull rope. Most of the time, RP pulls aren't very long anyway. We'll see how it works.

BTW, Chris, I just picked up one of the Hollow Fids (Norm shamed me into it, LOL). It really does work the best.

 

[chris_girard]

[ QUOTE ]
BTW, Chris, I just picked up one of the Hollow Fids (Norm shamed me into it, LOL). It really does work the best.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just bought some myself, though I haven't had a chance to try them out yet. Thanks for the tip.