*Eye Splicing 3 Strand Rope*

By Eli

15 May 2003

Splicing rope takes time and practice to get good at. It is also relaxing and a good stress reliever.

I’m going to splice an eye (loop) into the end of a piece of rope. Once you’ve done it a couple of times it’s easy. I’m going to try to explain this the best that I can. It’s hard to explain to somebody. It’s a lot easier to actually physically show you.

First of all you need to decide how big you want the eye.

I want mine about this big

Then guestimate about 8" back from the end and wrap a piece of tape around the rope. Sorry, all I had was black electrical tape, it’s right in front of my thumb.

Then unlay (unravel) the strands until it stops at the tape. Then wrap tape around the end of each strand.

You’ll notice that there is a middle strand; this is going to be the first one that you tuck into the rope.

Always start with the center strand first

Place the 3 strands on top of the rope like so. The center strand will be on top and the other 2 strands will be on either side. Just like the above pic. Make sure the eye is the size you want. Open the rope by holding and twisting it against the direction of the lay and then poke the center strand down through the hole, pull it all the way through. It should look just like the above pic, if it doesn’t, STOP, you’re doing something wrong.

Now that the 1^st strand is through its time for #2, the left strand which is closest to you. Turn the rope slightly away from you. It’ll look like this-

The left strand is the one you see

Take this strand, go over the strand and under the next one.

For the 3^rd strand it’s the same thing, roll it away from you and do the "over under". If you’ve done it right the strands should be even in the rope. The pattern should be like this as you turn the rope. Strand, lay, strand, lay, strand, lay. That’s about the best I know how to explain it. There should not be 2 strands side-by-side and coming out of the same hole. If there is, it is wrong.

Alternating stands and lays. Strands surface evenly in the rope

Now that you have all three tucked, pull them taught.

Now to continue, just pick a strand and tuck it on the next lay, rotate away, take the next stand closest to you, tuck it, roll away, take the next strand closest to you, tuck it. They should once again be even. Pull them taught.

Keep following the same steps until you are finished. Be sure to pull them taught each time you finish a tuck or it’s going to be a loose (bad) splice.

For natural line you should make 3-5 tucks

For synthetic line you should make 5-7 tucks

By tucks I mean how many times you finish 3 of them and they become even again.

I think I did 7 tucks on this one. From where I started to where I ended each stand was tucked 7 times. When you get to the end like this, just cut off the ends and melt them with a cigarette lighter. Then while they’re still hot, use the lighter (NOT YOUR FINGERS) to mash them flat.

This is a good eye splice. It will not come undone no matter how much strain you put on it. The rope WILL break before you’d have to worry about the splice coming apart.

There, I’ve explained it to the best of my abilities, like I said, it’s a lot easier to sit down and show somebody how to do it.

Try it, once you get it figured out, PRACTICE!!

Eli