The Book of the Sailboat: How to rig, sail and handle small boats

by A. Hyatt Verrill

You will also find it far easier to learn how to splice if you wax or grease the strands and this applies to ropes which are used when practising simple or fancy knots also.

When you have the ropes ready, place them end to end, as shown in B, B, and with a marlinspike, a pointed stick, or some smooth, round, sharp tool open the strand 1 C and through this push the strand A of the other rope. Next open strand 2 and pass the next strand of the other rope through the opening and treat the third strand in the same way. Now open the strands of the second, or right-hand, rope below the seizings and push the strands of the first, or left-hand, rope through the apertures. The two ropes will now appear as in D, D. Next untwist each strand, cut off about one-half of the yarns, twist the strands tightly and seize with twine. Each of the reduced strands must now be poked under the whole strands of the opposite rope in the same manner as you passed the whole strands before cutting them down. After drawing each strand tight, pass them once more under the whole strands and finally trim them off close to the rope.

If a really fine, neat splice is desired, you may trim off a few of the yarns in each strand every time they are passed under the others, thus gradually tapering the ends and in this way forming a splice which is scarcely distinguishable from the rest of the rope.

An eye splice (Fig. 19), is made in the same manner as the short splice but instead of splicing the two ends of separate ropes together the end of the rope is unlaid and then bent around in a loop and the ends are spliced into the strands of the standing part as shown in the illustration.

A cut splice (Fig. 20), is made in a very similar manner but instead of bending the rope around in a bight two ropes are spliced together overlapping, or a short rope may be spliced into another rope at both its ends.

Where a very strong splice the same diameter as the rope is required a long splice must be used (Fig. 21). This is the most difficult of all splices to make and it is even harder to describe than to make, but when well spliced it will pass through a block or eye as readily as a plain rope and the splice cannot be distinguished from the rope itself.

To make a long splice unlay the strands of the ropes about four times as much as for a short splice, or from four to five feet, and unlay one strand in each rope for half as much again. Place the center strands together, as at A, so that the long strands appear as at B and C and the spiral groove, left where they were unlaid, will look like D, E. Take off the two middle strands F, G, and lay them into the grooves D, E, until they meet B, C, and be sure to keep them tightly twisted while doing this. Then take the strands H, J, cut off half the yarns in each, make an overhand knot in them and stick the ends in as in making a short splice. Do the same with strands B, C, and F, G, dividing, knotting and sticking in the ends. Finally stretch the rope, pound and roll it until smooth and trim off any loose bits and ends of yarn close to the rope.

While making any splice or knot where the strands are unlaid and are again laid up, be sure to keep the strands tightly twisted by turning them from right to left. Then when they are laid in place they will hold their position snugly by their tendency to untwist. If you examine a rope carefully you will discover that the various strands are not merely twisted together, but that two of them are twisted and that the third is then laid into the groove between the other two. In laying up a rope after making a knot or splice this should be borne in mind.

Sometimes a ring of rope is required and this can be quickly and easily obtained by making a grommet (Fig. 22). To make a grommet unlay and cut a long strand from a common rope, bend it around in a circle of the desired size, lay one end over the other and with the long end follow the grooves or lay of the strand until it comes back to where it started, thus forming a ring of two strands. Continue laying the free end into the groove between the two strands until the ring is completed with three strands all around and then finish by dividing the yarns of the two ends where they meet, making overhand knots in them and then passing them underneath the nearest strands, as when making a splice, and finally trim off all loose, projecting yarns.

These grommets make very good quoits and they may also be used as handles to chests and boxes, rings for masts of small boats and for many other purposes.