3 Strand Soft Eye Splice

Click on the links below to purchase items.

3 Strand Nylon Rope or 3 Strand Polyester Rope

Sharp Knife

Swedish Fids

Thread

Electrical Tape

Super Glue

Rope Tidy

Heat Gun

General Splicing Tools & Accessories

Measure back from the end of the rope 10 x rope diameter. At this position, wrap the thread around the rope several times and tie a reef knot. Cut of any surplus thread. Seperate the 3 strands carefully, (wrapping some tape around each strand will stop it from fraying) all the way down to the thread. Form the required Soft Eye size and lay one strand under, one strand over and the final strand beside the 'Standing Part' as shown. The key to a good Soft Eye Splice is the First Tuck. Take the strand beside the Standing Part and hold them together. Line this strand up between two of the strands on the standing part. Look at the 'Eye' part and check it is not kinked. If it is, move the strand over between the next two strands. Keep adjusting until the kink is removed.

Now you are ready for the first tuck. Take the Swedish fid and insert it between the 2 strands on the Standing Part to Open the Lay as shown. Feed the top (middle) strand down into the swedish fid against the lay of the rope. Twist the strand slightly clockwise as you are pulling it along the fid, just enough to prevent the strand from flattening out, but not too much that you induce too much twist into the strand. Remove the swedish fid once the strand is in.

The second strand to tuck is the one closest to you. You can see which fixed strand in the made up rope that this loose strand naturally lies against. Insert the swedish fid under this fixed strand, and slide the second loose strand under it. That's the second strand tucked.

The tucking of the third strand sometimes causes confusion. What you need to do is turn the whole eye and rope 180 degrees. The third and final loose strand is now to the left. If you look at the fixed strands in the rope around the area where the other two have been tucked you will see one fixed strand with nothing going under it. The third loose strand goes under this. But remember, it still has to be tucked against the lay of the rope. This means that the third loose strand has to form a loop first then come in under the fixed strand to the right as shown. You are doing exactly the same as when tucking the other two strands, it's just a little difficult to see when you are learning this splice. That's the third strand tucked.

Now that you have the first tuck in place, all you do is the same again! Tuck all three strands again 4 more times, so that the total tucks for each strand is 5. The end result should look like the image on the right. You now have to finish the splice. There now follows two methods for fininshing off.

With a sharp kinife, cut each strand 3 - 4cms from where they emerge from the last tuck. Cut a 10 - 15cm length of appropriate Rope Tidy or Heat Shrink, ensuring that it will shrink more than the diameter of rope you are using, not just the spliced diameter. Slide the Rope Tidy/Heat Shrink over the rope and position it half way down the splice so that it covers the rope ends and onto the unsplice part.

Now with the heat gun, warm the Rope Tidy / Heat Shrink so that it contracts around the splice. The finished splice should now look something like the image on the right.

Split each strand into two.

Twist up one half of one strand with one half of an adjacent strand. Then tape them together with electrical tape which is the same colour as the rope.

Cut through the taped up strands and drip some super glue on the end and down the seam of the electrical tape. This stops the tape coming off and stops the strand un-ravelling. It is also a lot neater than a heat sealed end.

Do the same with the remaining strandsand the finished splice should look something like the image on the right. To purchase any of the materials required for this splice, please click on a links below.

3 Strand Nylon Rope or 3 Strand Polyester Rope

General Splicing Tools & Accessories

Swedish Fids

Rope Tidy

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