Page 247 - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

The Wire Rope Long Splice

A Long Splice in wire is analogous to one in rope showing. This will give you the bottom illustration,
(see Chapter 4), but instead of three flexible strands, with two pairs of strands meeting at separate points
you’re dealing with six intractable ones plus a heart on the wire.
that may be wire or fiber. It is much more difficult to Go back to the marriage and lay out two more
get a uniform distribution of load over all six strands, opposing sets, this time off to the left, again stopping
but just as vital as with the rope’s three strands; pro- halfway out and sub-splitting.
ceed with infinite fussiness. This leaves a lone set of strands in the middle.
The wire rope Long Splice is for any 6-strand con- Split them where they lay, and lay each pair away
struction, but is most commonly used on halyard wire from the middle, in opposite directions, until they’re
(6 x 19, 6 x 19 IWRC, 7 x 19, 7 x 37, and so on). about one-quarter of the way to the farthest pairs.
To start, unlay the strands in pairs to a length You should now have six pairs of strands more or
indicated in the accompanying table for your-diame- less evenly distributed along the wire. To finish, trim
ter wire rope. Cut off the hearts at the unlay-to point. all ends about 1 foot long, and bury them as for the
“Marry” the two lines. Lay out and lay in two wire rope grommet shown in Figures 6-43D, E, F, G, H.
opposing pairs until the laid-in pair is about half
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used up. For example, if you’re splicing with ⁄2-inch Extra length, each end, for Long Splice:
wire, you’ll have 10-foot tails, and you’ll lay the pair
in until about 5 feet is still hanging out. The top diam. length diam. length
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illustration shows this first step in progress off to the 1 ⁄4 5' ⁄4 15'0"
right, with the other four pairs still married in the 5 ⁄16 6'3" 7 ⁄8 17'6"
middle. 3 ⁄8 7'5" 1 20'0"
Now open up the two pairs of strands you’ve 7 ⁄16 8'9" 1 ⁄8 22'6"
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been working with, leave one member of each pair 1 ⁄2 10'0" 1 ⁄4 25'0"
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3
where it is, and lay in and out with the other two a 9 ⁄16 11'3" 1 ⁄8 27'6"
little farther, until the lay-in strand has about a foot 5 ⁄8 12'6" 1 ⁄2 30'0"
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Parceling sans Service (Figure 6-53). That way, when the rope untwists a bit
Service is a good chafe preventer, but heavy-duty under load, the parceling will tighten and stay put,
parceling is often as good and much quicker for instead of loosening and slipping out of place.
chafe protection on mooring lines.
The old saying is to “parcel with the lay”—that Birdcage Warning
is, to mimic the rope strands’ spiral with the parceling. A serving tool is a form of lever. When it is used
This lets the parceling lay down smoother under the with excessive force, this lever can distort the lay
service, which is put on against the lay. But parceling of the wire, causing the strands to separate into a
in the absence of service should go on against the lay strength-destroying “birdcage.”

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