Rope shrinkage from splicing

[benz]

Thanks Allen,

I worried about which fid to use, and went with the bigger one for a safety margin. A pox on this metric jive! Of course the question now is: is there a detriment to a longer splice, other than wasting a few inches of rope? I am certainly not keen on pulling out all the splices I've already done, and I like the fid I'm using since the core with a wrap of tape fits snugly into its back end.
Ben