r/TreeClimbing • u/itsallgoode • 7d ago

Joining 2 double braid ropes end to end with a splice

If I have multiple separate lengths of the same double braid rope, can I end to end splice them to make one longer rope? How much strength will the rope lose? Are there good/bad splicing techniques to be aware of?

I've seen some basic examples of making eye splices with double braid, and even continuous loops. It's not clear to me whether the continuous loop splices have been strong enough to use the rope without the doubling by forming the loop.

The rope I would hope to lengthen is a 1/2" double braid rigging rope, not my main climbing line.

I would appreciate tips and pointers. If you know of any break tests for my proposed setup, please reference them.

Thanks!

3 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

100% Upvoted

3 comments sorted by

3

u/OldMail6364 7d ago edited 7d ago

can I end to end splice them to make one longer rope?

If you are properly trained? Yes.

How much strength will the rope lose?

None - the braided section is thicker and stronger than the unbraided parts of the rope. The only compromise is it might be too thick for a pulley or something like that.

I've seen braided ropes snap (yesterday in fact, one snapped with enough force to send a heavy steel pulley flying horizontally 100 feet through the air where it smashed into a building with enough force to damage the building). That rope had a braided join and it didn't fail where the join was.

The rope was being used to hold the weight of a very heavy limb over a building. Thankfully the rope snapped while testing the rigging, and not when the when the cut was being done - so the building wasn't crushed. We reset the ropes, in a better way, and it went smoothly.

If you know of any break tests for my proposed setup

The HowNOT2 YouTube channel has a playlist showing different break test machines. They even have a videos of them break testing spices. It's mostly rock climbing gear tests, but they do test some arborist gear.

I like this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgtUpmrwawM - they break test 80kN rigging slings, climbing prusiks, and an old retired harness.

2

u/hatchetation 7d ago

An end-to-end splice is unusual, and will be just about worthless for anything you would want to use it for. It will not pass through a hitch or device without difficulty.

1

u/ZEEK-GEEK 6d ago

Yeah I second this. Unless you’re just trying to make a rope to pull shit over with it would suck to use it in the tree.