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Best DIY Fid there is

g2outdoors

g2outdoors

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Oct 3, 2014
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Savannah, GA
As far as I know...@Erniepower invented this style of fid a couple of years ago.

Regardless, for those of us who like to splice amsteel, you definitely want this fid. It's the best one I've ever used.

Good luck!



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Last edited:
That finger trap material is a cool idea. Will have to try it.


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Well there's that.
27436bb55219303f438210fbc654936d.gif


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@g2outdoors , how does that work with 1/8" Amsteel?
I've made several 1/4" splices and a 2117 aluminum arrow works well for 1/4" but I just got some 1/8" Amsteel and figured I could rig some sort of fid from something around the house...NOPE. So I just ordered a $15 kit from chinazon yesterday. No way I'm spending $85 for the fids from Samson.
Thanks for posting.
 
Allegheny Tom said:
@g2outdoors , how does that work with 1/8" Amsteel?
I've made several 1/4" splices and a 2117 aluminum arrow works well for 1/4" but I just got some 1/8" Amsteel and figured I could rig some sort of fid from something around the house...NOPE. So I just ordered a $15 kit from chinazon yesterday. No way I'm spending $85 for the fids from Samson.
Thanks for posting.
Click to expand...
Yes it will work with 1/8 amsteel if you find a fid similar in size to what Ernie made. The larger one is only for larger amsteel.

@Erniepower what did you use to make the smaller one?

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And for what it's worth, if you use two part epoxy to put the sleeve in the needle you don't have to worry about them falling out.


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Erniepower said:
It's a leather splicing needle from Tandy and 1/8" expandable sleaving. The needles come in a few sizes, I can't remember what size that is. The back of the needle is threaded so you need to cut a taper in the sleeve and twist it into the needle.


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Click to expand...
I found some of the 1/8" sleeving, but I'm a little unclear on the Tandy needle. would a small knitting needle do the same job? I'm a bit out of my lane when it comes to knitting, sewing etc. LOL.
 
You need something hollow so the expandable sleeving will fit inside.

Pretty sure this is the Tandy needle.

tandyleather.com

Perma-Lok Needle

Flat point for easier work with chisel slits. Sharper threads for super tight hold. Lacing will not pull out of needle. Threads in seconds, no hooks to break. Amazing needles that almost never wear out. Specifications Regular Dimensions: 2.2 in. x 0.1 in. (5.6 cm x 2.5 mm) Regular Lace Sizes...
tandyleather.com tandyleather.com

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Okay...I got 1/8" Amsteel, and I got some leather splicing needles and I got the expandable chinese finger trap stuff... Check, check and check.
The hollow section of the needles is pretty shallow so I had to epoxy the expandable stuff into the needle. Check again, and all seemed well. But then reality set in. Trying to construct whoopie slings in 1/8" Amsteel with modified tools (made for a different purpose) was quite tedious. And the expandable sleeve stuff started to frey and unravel on the end making it harder to insert the Amsteel which also was slightly unraveling at the cut end. Grrrr.
This homemade tool was working just barely okay for making the loop and doing the brummel lock too. But it kinda sucked for completing the bury. And I don't think that I could do an actual end-bury with it. I like an end bury on whoopies to prevent the end from ever pulling thru.
If I needed to make only one whoopie sling I could live with it being a bit tedious but I need a couple dozen in the 1/8" size.
So I got disgusted and bought a set of real fids...ouch $$! But this is to make a safety mod for diy stands so I guess the expenditure is worth it.
Now I guess I will need to spend more money to by more Amsteel so I can justify the money I spent on the fids! LOL!
Anyone need any 1/8" spliced?
 
If I sent some 1/8th amsteel, some 7/8 amsteel, some fleece material, and some googly eyes can u splice me up 1 of these?

Screenshot_20211213-211433~2.png
 
Lol I'm kinda surprised by your experience. Granted I haven't spliced small diameter amsteel in a long time. But from what I remember... The fid Ernie made worked great.

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I like a doubled over wire for doing the bury... can do full burys without issue just need a long enough wire to go all they way to the brummel splice.
I have never tried the expandable material he suggested, but I was tempted.
Also, haven't done more than a couple of daisy chains.
 
Cool tip, will have to give that a try! It's worth noting that some of the smaller diameter knitting needles are actually solid, so give them a tap before you buy to make sure you're getting one that's hollow.
 
I watched his splicing video, but don’t remember seeing the fid mod. Heck yeah! I just ordered 5’ of 1/4” expandable sleeve for like $5 on eBay. This should be much easier than running a wire and taping and removing tape from the ends. I’ve also been using hemostats to push through and pull back out etc….thanks for sharing!
 
Here's a little "mod" that might help make the expandable sleeve a little easier to use.

1st off, keep in mind that I've only tried the sleeving with 1/8" Amsteel, and only one batch of the sleeve from chinazon, so larger diameters or other brands of sleeves may act differently than my specific application.

I was having trouble inserting the end of the 1/8" Amsteel into the sleeve. The tiny fibers of the sleeve was grabbing the tiny fibers of the Amsteel. The more that I tried to insert it the more the sleeve fibers would frey and unravel and as that happened the end of the Amsteel would also frey out. One made the other worse. The more they freyed, the more they freyed.

I tried putting a light coat of 5 min epoxy on the outside of the sleeve...just a little towards the end 3/8" or so. I went very light with the epoxy on the very end 1/8". As it cured I mushroomed-out the very end in order to form a larger throat for inserting the Amsteel. The epoxy is keeping the the integrity of the very end of sleeve intact, making the @Erniepower invention a little more durable and easier to use. And once again...I have not tried this with 1/4" Amsteel so YMMV.

I will also say that with the 1/8" sleeve, it takes almost 12" of sleeve to tightly retain the Amsteel. Shorter ~6"ish lengths of sleeve allowed the Amsteel to easily pull out of the sleeve during splice construction. Maybe larger diameters behave differently, IDK.
 
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