ALTERNATIVE to a long eye splice
Singlejack
...
I'm not real keen on having more,"links in my chain". I would be interested in the knotted termination method you mentioned. Thanks.
Hey singlejack, lemme get one of those beers...
DISCLAIMER: What follows is an ALTERNATIVE to a long eye splice.
If you like - use at your own risk.
If you don't like - don't use, that's fine.
But, it works for me. After all ...
My rig has only ONE registered voter ... and it ain't .gov!
OK, Here goes:
Some time ago, while working on a new rig, I considered climbing rope with spliced eyes. Advice from
rahtreelimbs urged me to cleanup my rig by replacing the BIG clinch knot with an eye splice. But, I just got two new ropes without eyes. And, the eye wouldn't go through my rope sleeve. So, I started looking for alternatives.
A post by
TheTreeSpyder got me interested in the figure 9 loop. Did some research and found
"Life on a line" by Dr. Dave F. Merchant: (Second edtion, £14.95):
http://www.lifeonaline.com/
In it Dr. Merchant states:
"The figure 9 should be the knot of choice in any full rescue loading where a figure 8 knot would normally be used. The figure 8 has a place as a general working knot, but there is no realistic reason for using it when the figure 9 is identical in operation and a lot stronger. ... It is extremely easy to untie, even after extreme loading. It resists slip and rollover and can be tied in stiff and slippy ropes."
Other sources have
claimed the Figure 9 loop is nearly as strong as an eye splice. If the F9 has a long loop, then the knot does not interfere with the friciton hitch - another important criterion that has been discussed on this thread.
However, a long loop (eye or knot) does not 'grab' the biner adequately. So, rubber bands are often recommended to solve the problems. In a later separate post I'll show three other alternatives to those rubber bands. But, for now, here are pix of the just one alternative to a Long Eye Splice which should keep the
"Knotted termination" from
"interfering with correct hitch function".