Splicing USED 16 strand

[fourcamsam]

Hi everybody!

Thanks for such a cool place to learn stuff! I have been a lurker for months before signing up, and boy am I glad I did! Scored a great deal in treebay the other day!

Anyhow, I've been learning about splicing lately, (Thanks for all the great stuff from Nick and Oldfart!)

I used to use a split-tail, but have recently become a fan of the hitch climber system so the knot had to go.

The general opinion on 16 strand is only use NEW rope to splice, but I'm pretty stubborn and cheap, so I gave it a try on my favorite piece of climbing rope...some Yale XTC Spark.

Yes, it was tough. A lot of muscle, some sore skin on the hands, and a few drops of water on the crossover...BAM! Nailed it on the first try!

So the questions: Is it safe? What is the true reason to not use USED rope(other than new is slicker and less effort to manipulate)? Would you climb on it? I'll post some pics for you guys to critique.

Thanks for any feedback, and let the flaming begin!

 

[fourcamsam]

This was the original setup. The knot got in the way too much.

 

[fourcamsam]

This is how i dealt with the knot...not much better (pun intended) but still slow to change TIP, plus can't get very close to TIP if needed.

 

[fourcamsam]

Have not done the whiplock yet, I wanted to load it and test for pullout, so far, very stable...I am not afraid to climb on it...but feedback is welcomed.

 

[Adam_P]

It's just harder to splice the used stuff. There's no safety issue that I'm aware of.

As far as is it safe goes... only you know! If you followed the 16 strand instructions you should be good to go.

How'd you make the long bury, wire fid?

I'd rather splice fly and tachyon than used 16 strand.

 

[fourcamsam]

Yes, a loop of stainless mechanic's wire in a bench vise.

My motivation was two-fold: 1: My 120' piece of Spark finally got nice and fuzzy (kinda slick when it's new) and want to keep using it for now. 2: A new rope with a factory splice is not in the budget right now.

I have since bought an odd lenth of New Hi-Vee on ebay and will be making a new home made CE lanyard and FS.

 

[evo]

i think samson has instructions (tips) for used 16 strand. should be fine with what you got

 

[fourcamsam]

Made my first loopie sling...a small one for redirects or very light rigging. (10mm Tenex)

It was so easy that I'm upset that I spent money for my pre-made ones!

 

[fourcamsam]

Yeah, Samson's tips are where I got the idea to wet the rope for pulling it through at the crossover...still almost pulled the workbench over onto the car!

 

[Tr33Climb3r]

Welcome to the world of splicing. I also prefer double braid over 16 strand. Haven't done a 16 stand in awhile. Tapering that final cross over always seems to give me problems. Just can't get it right.

 

[flyingsquirrel25]

We do a fair bit of industrial rope access, and I spliced up a few eye and eye tethers out of a used piece of 16 strand. In my experience, different ropes splice harder new or used. Two that baffle me is Safety blue hi vee (orange) and safetly blue (white). Same rope, same contruction, different color. I can splice the SB all day, new, used, even beat and not have a problem. Put my wand into a piece of SBHV new or used and I have nothing but issues.
Is it safe, that depends on how comfortable with your splice you are. It is hard to tell in a picture, best way to tell is get your hands on it and feel the splice. It looks good though. But looks can decieve (not saying they are). welcome to splicing

 

[John_Hartenburg]

No doubt about it, used rope is almost always more difficult to splice compared to new rope.

Our shop has flat rate charges for eye splices in new rope, but if it is used rope we bill by the hour. It's the only way to be fair to the customer.

Word of warning.... If you have some used arborist rope that you want spliced, and some guy offers to splice it for something in the $20- $30 range, beware.... That guy probably hasn't spliced much used rope....

 

[scrat]

I had damaged my Poison Ivy 150 within 3 feet of the eye and decided to cut it and resplice- well I think I erased all of my fingerprints and couldn't fit another quarter in the swear jar! but it turned out beautiful as usual.

 

[NickfromWI]

[ QUOTE ]
Word of warning.... If you have some used arborist rope that you want spliced, and some guy offers to splice it for something in the $20- $30 range, beware.... That guy probably hasn't spliced much used rope....

[/ QUOTE ]

Or they are so good that it doesn't matter to them that it's used!

I tell folks that it's going to be 2 prices. If I can wash the end of the rope then splice it and it takes as long as a new rope would, then it's $30. 80% of used 16 strand I splice takes just as long as normal. Every once in a while it puts up more of a fight. Then I make them pay!

To the original poster, from what the pictures show, the splice looks great. I would just to some quick stitches to lock it, rather than the full whipping.

Did you massage the rope a lot? That will help. Also...KY Jelly

it works way better than water.

My 2 biggest pieces of advice for splicing used 16:

1. Wash the rope first.
2. Use a Super Taper.

We usually make the first mark at like 28". Make it at like 40" then make a longer smoother taper. If possible after pulling your 10 strands, try to pull a few more...or if you wanna be super hard core, try pulling out half-strands. The half-strands doesn't work in XTC or Arbormaster. But in braided safety blue it is a great way to thin that taper down more without the whole tail coming apart on ya.

Finally- i figured this one out once while doing a huge order of Tachyon splices. After like number 20 my hands were tired and I couldn't do the final buries. Options were to wait a few days for recovery...or find a plan B. I set up this crazy pulley system in the shop and I would have my wife pull on the eyes while I milked and massaged the throat. It worked, but was very tedious and made for a not-so-pleased assistant.

She suggested I hang a rope from the roof, harness up and clip in to the half-spliced eye. I told her it was a dumb idea and proceeded to set it up merely to prove that power of the pulley made her way more powerful than just my body weight hanging on it.

It turned out I was WAY wrong. It worked SO good. I hung a skinny piece of Amsteel from the rafters (I wanted to lose no force due to stretch), clip in, then sortof plop into the eye while pulling downward on the cover.

I now keep a spare new tribe harness (they ARE the comfiest) next to my splicing desk and it gets used on lots of splices.

love
nick

 

[Treezybreez]

I think an important thing I learned about splicing 16 strand is to make a comfortable wooden handle for the wire fid. I took a piece of cherry and used an old prussic cord and biner to attache it to the wire.

Here is a picture of a lanyard I made from a piece of Arbormaster my groundy cut.