Page 220 - Barbara Merry "The Splicing Handbook"

Sharp knife or scissors

Small Swedish fid
Tape measure

Cut a 5 foot 9 inch (1.75 m) piece of the ½-inch (12 mm) manila and lay it out
straight. At a spot 7 inches (175 mm) in from each end, tape or seize the rope

tightly (see page 127 for seizing instructions). Unlay the rope to the tape or
seizing. If the strands themselves want to unlay, tape their ends as well.
You’ll splice the ends together to make an endless loop. If you simply stick the
ends together and do the splice, you’ll end up with a twist in your loop. To avoid
this, arrange the rope as shown in the illustration on page 202. First, tie in the top
loop; then, marry the ends, execute a short splice of two tucks, and taper the

strands for the remaining tucks. Undo the tie that holds the closed loop, and
you’ll end up with a nice, round, endless loop.