This is a really sweet splice, and far more useful than I could imagine.
In an effort to keep this thread alive as well as to steer it back on course...
Strand #1 never touches the chain and is laid out away from the link. Strand #2 passes through the link and is carefully laid into the vacant space from strand #1. ... This leaves the third strand, which was passed through the link along with #2. You tuck it under it's self. This forms a half hitch but do not draw it up into a half hitch but let the hitch relax and bring your strand to wrap around it's self. So, yes, the working end is wrapping around the standing part after passing through the link.
Frankly what you do with the third strand is almost a moot point. If you made the laying out and laying in perfect then if you tuck the "third" end over and under or "back it down"... The splice will be fine.
After undoing mine completely, I think there's some information that needs to be added to the basic description. (
More errata, perhaps?)
Ironically, I have been using the exact nomenclature PABPRES suggested.
Strand #1 just exits. Lay it out as you lay in #2. Twist #2 up as you go, so it can't be noticed in the rope. Then tie it off & tuck it as a Long Splice. Nothing to it.
Strands #2 & #3 are where my problem comes in. The instructions I referenced don't specify which is which. It almost seems as if they can be interchangeable. Not. (
And it's not exactly "moot", as that strand takes half of the load!)
It turns out, if I put
my "Strand #3" under itself, it comes out "backwards" for "backing" properly. OTOH, if I use "my Strand #3" for laying in and "my Strand #2" for backing, it falls together perfectly.
I know that doesn't make sense, but if you'll put in this splice, you'll easily see it. In plain-laid rope (ABOK# 106), if you stick the two ends
away from you (i.e. push) through the link, the
RH strand needs to be #3.
That's what I think, anyway.
Right-laid rope = RH strand, Left-laid rope = LH strand?? I never suggested I was right! I'm begging for corrections here.
When I first put this in, I just happened to use the LH strand for #3, but the only way I could back that one fairly was to NOT go under first. If I started my #3
over itself, it backed so sweetly it made my eyes water! If I followed the instructions (
IMO), the "backing" looked like cord cancer & just made me sick to look upon it. If you're having that problem, try swapping the functions of #2 and #3. Put it all back to the point where you stick two strands & just start over correctly.
When I examined ABOK# 2626 through ABOK# 2632 (
detailed instructions on Opening, Tucking, & Backing (ABOK# 2632)) vis-a-vis my messed-up splice, this arrangement suddenly (
finally!!) seemed clear. Now my Strand #3 (
formerly my Strand #2) is backed in as fair as can be, and I'm ready to undo it all to redo it with Tapering this time, "for score".
Or have I just screwed it up again??
Splices R Fun!
(PS: If you're nice, I'll show you how to use a
Brummel Splice instead of this one, for when you have to bend a
hollow-braid rope (like a Spectra/Dyneema core braid) to a chain. The
Brummel is a sweet eye for hollow braid, and the only trick is making a 1 or 3 pic eye & using the chain (or tackle) to reeve the eye through the holes. It's almost enough to make me swear off 3-strand forever... Almost.)