Page 153 - Barbara Merry - The Splicing Handbook

SIXTEEN
Liverpool Wire Splice

The instructions here are for a basic 7 × 19 “soft-eye” splice that can be used as
a lizard (which works like a bungee cord) for a temporary fairlead. The ⅜-inch-
diameter (9 mm) 7 × 19 is easy to work with; if you haven’t made this splice
before, use galvanized wire, which is less springy than stainless steel. Stick to a
soft-eye splice (no thimble) until you get the hang of this wire splice: a thimble
makes the eye harder to keep in the vise.

The splice is shown here with a tight service through the whole eye area. This
protects you by preventing the individual strands from shifting and popping the
eye out of the vise while you’re making the splice, and it ultimately protects the
wire from weather and early wear. The strands of a wire bent into a curve
become compressed or flattened on the outside edge of the curve. This distortion
causes the wire to lose strength. Service corsets the wire, holding it to its rounder
shape and protecting the splice and eye from moisture.

TOOLS & MATERIALS

6 feet (1.8 m) of ⅜ inch (9 mm) 7 × 19 wire
“Parrot-beak”-style and
diagonal wire cutters
Rigging vise and marlinspike