Splice an eye loop

It's not often I have a need for a specific knot or in this case a loop. I invariably have to look up instructions when I do. 

There are lots of instructions on the internet for splicing a loop in 3 strand rope, however, I found them all lacking in what a novice might need to know. I found these animated instructions helpful, but they did not tell me everything.

https://www.animatedknots.com/eye-splice-knot

I'm typing this after having only made four of these loops in my whole life. I find that typing instructions for beginners is often best done by a novice because, at this point I can still remember what confused me and what information I needed that the instructions did not give.

The large eyes shown in the photos is made from 25mm Polyhemp. A rot resistant cord made to resemble old hemp or jute rope. I practiced using 6mm jute cord. The larger rope was much easier to work with. The strands being more visible and easier to thread through. For the smaller cord an embroidery or knitting needle would have been handy to separate the strands.

Tools:

I used, scissors a knife and electrical tape.

Start - lengths:

My preferred solution to get the size of the eye and enough loose length to form the splice is to count 16 tops of the twists along the same edge and wrap a bit of tape round the rope.

Count a further 12 tops and wrap another bit of tape round.

Bringing the the two bits of tape together indicates the size of the eye. Obviously, this can be adjusted to any specific need.

Unravel a short length at the end of the rope and wrap tape separately round the ends of each of the three strands. I found the strands much easier to work with this way.

Unravel the remaining length up to the first loop of tape forming the eye.

The first tuck:

This is where the descriptions in the instructions I read, was inadequate. I know why, because it is very difficult to describe, but is surprisingly easy to understand when I had the rope in my hand.

I lay the separate section out so that the three strands naturally lay with an upper strand away from me, a middle strand and a lower stand closest to me.

Grabbing just before and just after the second bit of tape forming the end of the eye, I twist to open up the three strands. When doing this, it is fairly easy to identify an upper, middle and lower strand. I kept those in your mind while carrying out the next bit.

Taking the middle free strand, tuck it under the middle strand of the main section of rope, just after the second bit of tape. The strand goes away from you.

Taking the upper free strand, tuck it under the upper strand of the main section of rope, just after the second bit of tape. The upper tuck is behind the middle tuck and the strand goes away from you.

The lower stand gets a bit confusing. The tuck is under the rope. Taking the lower free strand, tuck it under the lower strand of the main section of rope, but it comes towards you, out of the surface you are working on.

I found it easier to turn the rope over for the lower strand, in which case, the tuck is again, away from you.

The remaining tucks:

This is another place that I found other instructions lacking for beginners. Again, this is because it is easier to understand with the rope in your hands.

With the rope back the original way, take the top strand, bring it over the middle strand of the main rope and through under the next top strand of the main rope. In all cases this is the main rope strands. The loose ends do not go directly over the other loose ends. The loose ends go over and through the main rope strands. 

For each set of three tucks the end of the strands are going in the opposite direction, either away from you or towards you. It's obvious when you have the rope in front of you. Flipping the rope over for the lower strand, means they all go the same way in relation to yourself at each stage.

Repeat with the middle and lower strands. It does not really matter which order each group of the three tucks is carried out in. They all go over one strand of the main rope and tucked through another.

All three must be completed before starting the next three. I tried to keep the twist of the strands intact.

According to other sources, a minimum of 5 sets of tucks is required for a strong splice. Apparently with modern synthetic rope, 7 tucks is required.

Finishing off:

I pulled the loose strands tight and generally evened out the splice. I then removed all my temporary tape.

I do not know how to make the frayed ends tidy. My solution was to put a simple whip round the splice to avoid the frayed ends being able to open. I understand there is a way to tuck the frayed ends into the splice. I have not researched how to do that.

Hopefully these instructions add a little bit to the numerous other sources of information available.

I enjoyed making the eye splice.

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Bow Sling Knots

Inspired by the Olympics being here in the UK I've been thinking about doing a bit of archery again. 

It's been over 6 years since I last strung my bow so I've been doing some reading to bring myself up to speed.  I was also watching the Olympic Archery on the BBC iPlayer and the TV.

Olympic Equestrian
The only events we wanted to see live was one of the equestrian events. We were lucky enough to be able to get tickets for the finals of the 3 Day Eventing at Greenwich Park. 
My wife has some pictures and more info. on her blog:
http://tomandhenry.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/greenwich-park-equestrian-eventing.html

Equipment

Every archer I saw on the Olympics had exactly the same setup.  If there was any deviation I did not notice it.  Even the arm guards were almost identical and everyone used a finger sling that looked like it was made out of a shoelace.  While I was looking to find out how they tied the shoelace finger sling I came across a few braided wrist slings which I liked the look of.

The wrist slings were not expensive, even the nicest ones that would have to be shipped from the USA were only about $20 but I just fancied trying to make one.

The above picture shows what I ended up with after a couple of attempts.

Knots

Although I've tied a few knots in the past and somewhere I have a small book on how to tie them, it was much quicker to do a search on the Internet.  I found loads of web sites and videos and quickly discovered that the string to use is called Paracord and the type is described as 7 strand or 550.

I bought two colours I thought would match the bow.  There are lots of bright colours available as well but I decided on subtle for the time being.  I found lots of choice on Amazon and finally bought from:
http://www.hunterscampingandbushcraft.co.uk/ via their Amazon store:
Very prompt delivery.

I watched a few videos but to tie the knots I ended up finding everything I needed at:
http://www.animatedknots.com/

I used a single rope braid for the main length and a Cobra lanyard knot for the thickened wrist section.  Both are in the decorative section of the web site:
http://www.animatedknots.com/indexdecorative.php

The single rope braid is exactly as described on the site but I slightly changed the Cobra knot after some trial and error.

Changes to the Cobra

On the example I followed it had a loop for the lanyard part.  That was unnecessary because I was using it round the braid.  To start I just ignored the extended loop ending up with just the first knot round the braid.

The other change I made was the way I finished the knot to hide the ends.

On the example I followed both ends were looped back under the rest of the knot on the top. This is done by keeping the last few loops loose, tucking the ends in and then pulling tight.

I found that with both ends on the top of the braid, one side would pull the Cobra knot out of shape when I tried to tighten them.  All I changed was to loop the offending end under rather than over the braid which allowed me to tighten it without distorting the rest of the knot.

A little tip if you try making this yourself.  Don't make the Cobra knots too tight.  I needed to slip it along the braid to get it in the centre.  The first time I tried this the Cobra knot was so tight I could not even edge it along the braid.  The next time I tied the knots I checked that I could just move it.  Deliberately tight but it would move.


Attach To The Bow

This type of wrist sling attaches using the long rod.  The more decorative slings typically used a leather tab and the more modern used a plastic plate with holes in.

Looking through my bits and bobs in the shed I settled for cutting a rectangular shape from a bit of plastic packaging.  Tough and flexible, should outlast me.

The holes are just punched with the largest size on my hand punch with two holes next to each other to form an oval just large enough for the braid to pass through.  It needs to be tight so the in and out has enough friction to hold the braid at the desired length.

Looks much nicer than the type of sling I used before.

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Follow up.  I enjoyed making this and tried it out a few times but I ended up preferring to use a finger sling the same as all the Olympic archers used at the previous tournament.