Some double Braid eye splices are quite easy, This one was developed by Bob Norsen. however  choose a loose braid to learn with.  Tight braids are difficult to extract the core and more difficult to cover the splice on completion. The core must woven  too for a strong splice. Start by pulling a short length of core out of the cover, this gives the slack you will need later. Go up the rope the length of the splice and stitch the cover to the core, with the slack cover upstream. Snip a couple of strands in the cover and pull out core, cut the cover off and tape tightly. Move further up the rope, the size of the eye, and dig out the core. Your splicing tools are the best weapon for this. Spread the hole and dig, then pull and dig again. Pull out lots of core and insert the splicing part through for the first tuck.

Do another cross tuck, then from a distance away insert the splicing tool and bury the splicing end into the core, do a tuck and a couple more buries. Beware of  tapering with the hot knife it may leave hard spots to chafe, better, pull the bury well through, strip half the strands back and cut, then pull back into the core whilst stretching  tightly. Stitch thru to hold the splice part firmly within the core.

Tie off the long end off and pull the cover down the lengthof the core, helping the splice into the centre of the cover, it might take a few milks, bash it on the ground, milk and knead until the cover of the eye has entered into the cover of the rope. After a while you should have a neat smooth splice.

A  cheat to make the cover easier to pull over, is to taper a third of the core into the eye. You could argue that as the rope is doubled in the eye it does not have to be so thick. Great for dogs leads, decorative hand rails etc.   But really it drives home the point that you should never trust a braid eye splice as you have no idea how it was done, always tie a bosun’s chair to a halyard!

Looks pretty good? you can be proud of your handiwork, you could pay$100 for a pair of splices like this…..How much did you pay for the Kit !!