Page 217 - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

Figure 6-31. Break the lay of #6 before tucking a sec-
ond time by making a small counterclockwise loop, or
bight, and twisting it just enough so that the yarns do
not completely spring back when tension is released.

Make a small bight, close to the splice, by arcing
the end of a strand around counterclockwise (Fig-
ure 6-31). As the bight tightens, you will see the
strand yarns open up. Relax the tension and they
spring back. But if you apply a little more tension
they will lose some of their elastic memory and stay
open when the tension is eased. The trick is to break
the lay without completely dissociating the yarns or,
worse yet, kinking them, so be very gentle. This is
the hardest part of the splice to master. As you pro-
ceed with the splice, you will find that the act of
passing the strands around to be tucked also helps
open up the yarns. I put off describing lay-breaking Figure 6-32. From below, strand #6 would look as
until I’d gotten the niceties of entry out of the way, in A after the usual entry sequence. Traveling farther
but in future splices, start breaking the lay from the before being tucked, it would not lie as fairly as other
very first tuck of #1. strands would, so would be less likely to take an even
So, to return to the splice, break the lay of #6, strain. Part B shows how #6 should look after being
tuck it again, and roll it home; it will settle smoothly tucked as in the text.
into place, wrapped flat around its strand.
two strands with #6 (see Figures 6-24 and 6-25).
That Odd First Tuck Finally Explained Without that tuck, the strand would have had to
Figure 6-32A shows from the underside how the travel a considerable distance from the seizing to
splice would look had you begun in the conven- its entry point, so far that it would be difficult to
tional manner and not made that first tuck under make it lie fair and take an even strain. But now it

196