Taking Tension

[rfwoodvt]

Been seeing a lot of thoughts on using lube for buries and using various means of setting tension on the lines for burying splices. Am curious of the thoughts behind their use and limits.

For example, lately I've been using unscented fabric softener as my bury lube. Not as slick as I'd prefer but I figure its whole purpose in the first place is to lube individual fibers in the fabric and can be left in without much concern for the rope itself.

I've also begun to think teflon might work as well as KY as mentioned here. What are your thoughts, whys and why-nots about the various lubes you use or have considered?

For the mechanical tension we've all seen the fiddle block setups and the Liros sailing winch set up. I've made my own version of the Liros that seems to be the dream-machine especially when doing 16 strand. Takes me less then an hour to whip up a ring-ring saver in Yale 16-strand with most of that dealing with pulling taper strands and the initial cross-over bury.

Again, when using machines for pulling tension what are your thoughts, whys and why-nots, and limitations you may have regarding how or how much tension you may pull?

 

[Leroy]

just a guess but I think teflon might not dry up and dissipate the way that KY does if that makes sense

 

[rfwoodvt]

I was thinking the same about the teflon, LR.

My major concern about KY is it will attract dirt and grit. Also, it is a glycol base so won't that stay around until it is washed away?

 

[JTree]

Following this thread. I've never used lube on my splices, but have been considering it

 

[TylerHoffman]

x2 Jtree. The come-a-long hasn't been working so well on 24 strands

 

[NickfromWI]

This is going to be an awesome post...so I'll just go ahead with it:

I keep the KY handy in case times get tough! (there...I said it)

I use it on MAYBE 1% of my splices...usually a dirty used rope or maybe when I'm trying to accomplish something that isn't supposed to happen like trying to bury a cover that isn't supposed to be buried on a core-only splice. It washes away well and helps get the job done.

The most I've done for adding MA while burying tough splices is hanging the rope from an overhead anchor, then clipping in and dropping my body weight into it. You'd be impressed by what a meager shock load will do to bury a stubborn splice!

love
nick

 

[rfwoodvt]

This past week I've done about half a dozen eye splices in various 24 strand climbing line as well as several 16-strand E2E setups using the pseudo-Liros to help with the buries. The double-braids really benefit from tensioning the core. Coat the throat and part to be buried with fabric softener and the final buries are just a dream. No more blisters. No more rock hard, bunched up crossovers.

I was helping my buddy splice up three tight eyes today in some rocket line. Most difficult part was pulling the core! Even so we got them done in just under two hours. While that may seem like a long time it usually takes me more than an hour to do just one so the Pseudo-Liros has made a tremendous difference.

Next couple I do I'll throw the dyno on it to see how much tension I'm actually pulling. If I had to guess I'd say 250# is about all I'm putting on it.

 

[gmcttr]

Keep in mind that other then lots of splicing in small diameter hollow braids (Amsteel, Dynaglide, etc.) I've only done one 24 strand eye splice so I know nothing. I also have a hard time wrapping my head around the short buries when I'm used to 2-2 1/2 fid buries.

When lube is used, is it then washed out when the splice is completed? Otherwise it seems like it would also lube the way for the splice to come undone producing a greatly weaker product.

 

[Stihlmadd]

various lubes you use or have considered?

back in my printing days we used silicone spray lubricant on any item we did not want to leave thick films or any kind of permenant lubrication behind - would that be a usable product when splicing ropes?