Pascale wrote: ↑Thu Nov 08, 2018 1:49 pm
....There are so many videos on different techniques that it got me confused: Brummel splice, Longbury etc etc.
On kitelines, leaders, depower lines, and bridle lines, I just bury and sew 2 lines of stitching about 1-3" long on a 9"long bury. If you use contrasting thread (white line with black thread) you can easily use a seam ripper to undo the splice and adjust for unbalanced stretching if you do not have a good pre-stretching technique. I also utilize the ease of undoing to replace sleeving on the loop. My method of sleeving only covers the loop part, not the splice where the return line is covered by the line coming up to the loop.
For bridal slider lines (where pulleys wear) I upsize the line to 1/8" and match the factory "tape/sew the tape/knot". No splicing here.
Pascale wrote: ↑Thu Nov 08, 2018 1:49 pm
Also, I saw that some use a guitar chord to splice, others use a microhook and others a splicing fid (see below).
I have that hook, but I like the guitar string way better. Actually, I use a piece of .030" stainless steel MIG welding wire. You can also find .023" in the same wire that would be slightly better for thin race lines.
Pascale wrote: ↑Thu Nov 08, 2018 1:49 pm
Let's say I want to try my hand at splicing on my old set of lines and also on commercial rope like the ones one the pictures below, what kind of splicer should I use and what technique is appropriate to make an eye and to fix broken lines?
I had access to a real fid set at work, so I took it and went to the store. There I matched the various sizes up against knitting needles. This got me a decent homemade fid set for about $15. You need to cut the ends off at an angle to match what the end of a fid set looks like, then sand smooth. But the anodized knitting needles are way smoother than a real fid set that has not been anodized. And since you get 2 knitting needles in a set, you can make one long and one short fid. The smaller size knitting needles are not hollow, so I just drill a hole in the back end to pull a a sleeve in with.
But for that pesky 7/64ths" bridal slide line, I use a piece of dacron line as a sheath to pull it in ahead of a special fid/slug.