Page 272 - Brion Toss - The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice

strands. Make each tuck lie as flat and smooth as
possible, like a ribbon around the wire. Leave no
wire showing. Then taper the last (fifth) tuck by
removing about one-third of its yarns from its lead-
ing edge before tucking (Figure 6-69F). Remove the
tape at the beginning of your tucks. Trim the ends
nearly flush with the wire after the last tuck. Finally,
wrap a bit of tape around the core right over where
the tapered wire ends. This will keep the wire from
poking out sideways.

Splicing the Cover
Pull every possible bit of slack out of the cover;
when strain comes on the splice, you want core and
cover to share the load evenly. It’s good practice to Figure 6-69G. Beginning the cover splice. Pull the
belay the rope behind the knot so you can pull on cover over the core, “milking” out all slack. Tape
the cover with both hands. When all the slack is out, firmly at the point where the core splice ends, then
tightly wrap the cover with electrical tape exactly unbraid the cover strands back to the tape and group
over the end of the core splice. Comb the strands them in three bundles as with the core. Commence
out, wax and bundle them as before (Figure 6-69G). tucking under wire-strand pairs as before.
The cover splice is a replay of the core splice,
except we’ll be making more tucks and a longer
taper to ensure that the splice will run smoothly
through the masthead sheave.
Make four full tucks, then taper by cutting
away two yarns at a time (Figure 6-69H). With the
greater number of yarns, even more attention must
be paid to seeing that the splice is fair. Little if any
wire should be visible under the tucks. Stop when
you get down to six or eight yarns, trim the ends,
and serve over the wire-to-rope juncture with waxed
sail twine (Figure 6-69I), to prevent chafe on the
strands. Remove the tape on the beginning of the
splice, and you’re done.
Figure 6-69H. Tapering the cover splice. After four full
Location tucks, begin dropping two strands with each tuck until
After you’ve made a few practice splices and feel just six or eight strands remain. Trim the ends close and
ready to put one into an actual halyard, you’ll need serve the splice end with sail twine.
to figure how to position it properly along the length

Figure 6-69I. Finished Tail Splice.

251