splicing Samson ice tail

I

IJB

Location
Ontario, Canada
Howdy all... I've recently purchased a wack of ice tail, which I'm quite happy climbing with: smooth stuff. Now I figure it's time to try my hand at splicing it for eye to eye tails. Now I've spliced 3/8ths tenex a number of times with solid results, however I'm finding this stuff to be much more difficult to work with. I'd greatly appriciate any tips or homeade tool tricks you may think will help me. It's mainly the burry that posses the problem; ice tail doesn't stretch or give worth a darn and I've lost my samson 3/8ths fid. Have tried it using string to pull with (which works great for tenex, but to no avail here) as well as constructed a coat hanger fid, which looks cool but the bulk of snaring the tail won't pull into a burry without picking and mangleing the origional lay the the rope. I have a samson pusher but have never found it much use (perhaps there's a trick to using it?)

Forgive me... I'm a self taught beginer splicer though am a perfectionist with insane patients and splicing seems ultimately facinating to me. Any advice is good advice. Thanks all.
peace
 
I second the splicing wand. Those can save a ton of frustration when doing the crossover, not only on something like ice tail, but 16 strand as well.
 
Hold up, Creepy Avatar Guy...Ice isn't HMPE. HMPE is dyneema/spectra. Ice is mostly technora. Both are similar in that they are low stretch, super strong, and very difficult to cut. Dyneema has a very low melting point, technora has a very high melting point.

IJB- I also use the Wand for Ice and I don't have any trouble with it. The push fids won't be that great, but might work out for you.

You could try to make each tail a little longer, then taper it a little more, so that you're trying to pull through smaller taper. I think we're calling that a "super taper" these days.

love
nick
 
Oops... You are correct, sir! I meant to point out that Ice is made of high modulus fibers, not HMPE, and is subject to a class II splice. Technora is an Aramid... right? I still don't know all the differences.
 
Thanks folks... I may end up ordering me one of those wands, and the Toss dvd while I'm at it.

One more simple question for those in the know about aramids: Technora is said to be slightly self abrasive and I've only ever seen it offered as a slightly loose weave; would there be any possible issues with making a split tail using Ice as a single five foot straight burry, lock stitched of course. I just wonder since the double diameter tightens up the weave into a nice firm 1/2 rope... could there be a self abrasive issue cropping up here once loaded and climbed on? Also, that would lead me to make a lanyard (same idea only 10 feet in length).
peace
 
...just an update...
I finished my new (ice) split tail and it looks beautiful: I'm very happy with the results. A straight burry just long enough for a few inches of tail, then a Blake's hitch, then a figure eight stopper... stitched & whipped at the eye, then again at the end of the tail. I wish I had a digital camera to document my ideas, and share. The most impressive feature of ice tail I find is that as loose and soft as it is, when spliced it firms up yet remains flexable enough to easily tie your friction hitch.

Oh ya... I made a new fid out of a hard plastic straw :) works great.
peace
 
I wouldn't worry about the self-abrasive thing. I think this more applies to sailing lines where the line is subjected to higher loaded and more cyclical loading. In the trees we are barely pushing the SWL of these lines.

Technora is woven loosely because it is known for it's strength, and to maximize that, you want a loosely woven rope with mostly straight fibers. If it get's tightened up a bit, it will weaken a bit, but not enough to sway me from using it.

love
nick
 
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