a splicing question

[Brian Duff]

The yale cordage maxibriad plus instructions call for a small fid (guessing 1/4" ) to pin the core and sleeve at 15 fid lengths down the line. Otherwise the instructions are similar to how I splice core to core with a protective cover.

I was told that tying a knot then splicing with these very low stretch synthetics we use will cause the core to bunch or pull un even resulting in an weaker splice, and that I must use a fid to pin the core to get top results.
I think this is to say that the braided strands will set up around and below the splice perhaps square to where they leave the knot, which after the knot is untied causes some of the strands to be slack, resulting in charcteristic bunches of core beneath the cover at spaced intervals, perhaps 48 line diameters or so (guess and recall, not measured). I am not exactly sure of the cause of these bunches under the cover, but I have noticed then occasionally on my splices and others as well. Any thoughts on this ?

What knot do you use to anchor the line? I will keep trying with the pins, but am using a bowline with greater sucsess . Wish I had a rope breaker with load guage...

[Bob Pingel]

I have always knotted and never pinned, and yes, I do get core lumps.

Not really bits of core that are loose, just lumpy. They do seem to happen a regular intervals. I splice a fair amount of 3/8" T900 and I see them maybe every 12-15".

They seem to clear once the rope is loaded...

Bob Pingel