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Splicing Predator rope

enkriss

Well-Known Member
SH Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2018
Messages
6,025
I have read it is difficult. Who has done it? How hard was it?

Any tips?

I would like to splice all the ropes I got with my Kestrel to eliminate the knots.
 
Where can you find one of those wire fids (for 11.4mm rope) and that spike tool?
 
I just use a regular scratch awl for the spike tool. I made my own wire fid using some small diameter (.020 inch) stainless steel wire and a dowel (I actually used a 4 inch chunk of wood hockey stick). I folded a 3' section of wire in half and ran the tag ends through a pair of small holes drilled next to each other in the dowel. A couple of wraps after that around the dowel and a little tape retains the wire and provides a handle to pull with.

Edit: For reference when he's using the fid to measure and referenceing fid lengths, a fid length is commonly accepted to be 21x to 22x the rope diameter. A short fid is 1/3 of a normal fid length or 7x the rope diameter (i.e. for a 7/16" diameter predator rope a fid length is approx. 9 1/2").
 
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DON'T DO IT lol

After much thought. I concur!

When ordering spliced rope from WesSpur say you want a 8’ lineman’s would you order 8’ of rope and 2 eye splice services? Or do they make the splices with 8’ of rope and my linesman will end up being like 4’?
 
Lol I've heard from enough people over the years that splicing that stuff is a nightmare. Most people just pay the $30 and are done with it. I've never actually tried it.

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If you try to bury the core with a standard splicing fid, it is a nightmare!!!!. The secret is to use a wire fid like the video above. I have done about 6 splices using both methods.
 
I have spliced samson predator several times following "how to do a double-braid splice" and it's really not as hard as everyone makes it out to be. I use a homemade wire fid and a piece of folded electric fence wire to enlarge the holes trough the outer sheath as for spike I use a variation of needle nose pliers with rounded points. When laying it out a sharpie is really hard to see on the outer sheath so I use saftey pins to make all my marks and a good tie off point is essential you must pull hard and alot of times to bury the crossover sometime it only moves about a 1/16 on an inch at a time but with patience it will work.
71fd630c2d81ee4898694d5acfaa388a.jpg


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Hmmm... maybe I will try it out then. I have a bunch of piano wire and wire coat hangers I might be able to make something.


I have spliced samson predator several times following "how to do a double-braid splice" and it's really not as hard as everyone makes it out to be. I use a homemade wire fid and a piece of folded electric fence wire to enlarge the holes trough the outer sheath as for spike I use a variation of needle nose pliers with rounded points. When laying it out a sharpie is really hard to see on the outer sheath so I use saftey pins to make all my marks and a good tie off point is essential you must pull hard and alot of times to bury the crossover sometime it only moves about a 1/16 on an inch at a time but with patience it will work.
71fd630c2d81ee4898694d5acfaa388a.jpg


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Nice job!. As pointed out above the wire fid is the trick. Without it trying to get the core fed down through the cover before the bury is darn near impossible. The other two differences in the video between the other methods I have tried is tapering the core before pulling it through and then tightening the crossover before burying the cover in the core. Those two subtle changes made all the difference in the world as far as splicing predator goes.
 
How far do you need to bury the core past the Y? I went a full short fid length on the 1/2” fid and man was that a pain in ass! Battled it for a while. I think I am going to bury it half of what I did this time. Anyhow the tether is done. I don’t think there any more to milk on this rope. I only have two blisters...:oops:23274C44-A91A-4512-89B9-88E11D8B28FE.jpeg
 
How far do you need to bury the core past the Y? I went a full short fid length on the 1/2” fid and man was that a pain in ass! Battled it for a while. I think I am going to bury it half of what I did this time. Anyhow the tether is done. I don’t think there any more to milk on this rope. I only have two blisters...:oops:View attachment 11230

Most of the recommendations that I have seen say a short fid length. Sampson pdf instruction file on splicing says just get it back to the Y which I am assuming is a mistake. Did you thin the core prior to your bury attempt and use a wire fid to pull the core? Those two tricks make all the difference.
 
I am going to try that today. I have 3 more to do.


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