Page 220 - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

fitting. More important, the taper makes a splice This bit of slander refers to the temptation to
stronger. rely heavily on this step, which involves pounding
After making four full rows of tucks, peel four the finished splice with a hardwood or soft metal
or five adjacent surface yarns off each strand for 6 x mallet to smooth out any irregularities (Figure
19 or 7 x 19 wire, or two adjacent surface yarns off 6-37). You can’t beat a poor splice into a good one,
each strand for 6 x 7 or 7 x 7 wire. Separate them all but any splice will benefit from a proper fairing.
the way to the splice; simply make sure they don’t Using a stump or the like as a base, strike glanc-
stop on the right of the strand they were peeled ing blows toward the standing part with the mallet,
from—you’ll be tucking to the right and don’t want constantly turning the work, trying to get any slack
separated yarns to be in the way, preventing the worked out. It might be useful to think about strik-
tucked strand from lying fair (Figure 6-35). When ing just hard enough to get a tone. That means you
all the strands have been reduced in size, tuck all six have compacted the wire enough to make a differ-
large remainders once more. ence. Go over the work two or three times.
Next, separate the center yarn(s) out of each It is difficult to describe in print exactly how hard
strand for 6 x 19 or 7 x 19 wire or two more adjacent one should strike to fair different-sized wires, but
surface yarns out of 6 x 7 or 7 x 7 wire, and then once the matter is important, so as an aid I will tell you a
again tuck the large remainders of all six strands. little story. A sailmaker and I once had a loft on the
Those are all the tucks you really need to make, but top floor of City Hall in Anacortes, Washington. Ours
the taper can be further elongated by tucking once was the only unrenovated room in the old building—
more, with or without splitting the strands again. below, city employees typed and filed away in car-
Finally, unroll the heart that you rolled in previ- peted, fluorescent-lit comfort. Trying to work quietly,
ously back to the splice by entering the spike behind I discovered how little muscle was actually needed
it and rolling the spike toward the vise (Figure to fair a splice. Since gentleness is a good thing for
6-36). Just ease it up to strand #4’s last tuck and wire, imagine, as you fair, a nest of bureaucrats
leave it there; then tie all the loose yarns and strands below. For wire up to ⁄16 inch in diameter, the noise
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to the standing part. will not bother them at all; pounding ⁄8-inch wire
Note that there are lots of ways to taper a splice. is noticeable but reasonable; ⁄16-inch can be tolerated
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My current preference is to make two full tucks, and anytime except first thing Monday morning; ⁄2-inch
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then lay out just one yarn for each subsequent tuck should be done only during lunch or after hours;
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(for 7 x 7), until there are three left. All tapers are and ⁄8-inch and up will drop plaster into the type-
time-consuming, so people can be inclined to skip writers, so should be done in the parking lot.
them, or to use quickly done ones. If that is your
inclination, use #2809 from the Ashley Book of Trimming
Knots. But avoid the “Frisco Taper,” in which some One more chance to ruin the whole thing. Ends cut
strands are given extra tucks, but produce asymme- too long are “meathooks” that will work their way
try in the wire. through service and then through your hide. Ends
cut too short will untuck themselves. So hold the
Fairing work still (you can put it back in the vise with some
“Svensken splejser daaligt, men han banker godt.” tension on the standing part) and gently pull the
—Frank Rosenow, The Ditty Bag Book last-tucked bundle toward the thimble, breaking
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the lay. Nip the wire just above the splice— ⁄16 to
That’s a Norwegian saying that means, “The Swedes 1 ⁄8 inch above—and the ends should fall back until
are lousy splicers, but they’re good at pounding.”* they’re nearly flush. If the wire is too thick to cut
all at once, take successive bites, working toward
* No doubt the Swedes have a corresponding proverb. the thimble. Be extra careful at the ends of the

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