Splicing and rope work are part of sailing culture, for hundreds of years, marlinspike seamanship was an essential part of keeping the ship shipshape.  A desire for self-sufficiency or just an interesting skill, there are many reasons we learn.  Rope work is easy to learn and building lines for your boat saves both time and money. Modern ropes allow us to build lines to replace wire with no loss of strength.  Soft shackles replace knots and metal shackles in a wide range of applications. Below is a collection of links and information that I have found useful in my journey, thanks go to Hugh McGugan for expanding this collection.  The internet has made finding information on splicing very easy, there are lots of videos and instruction sheets for all kinds of projects, Google is your friend.

The slides from the Nepean Sailing Club workshop on 18th March 2015 are here: Intro to Splicing

Tools

• Selma Fids – easiest fids to use for most line, Samson Tubular fids work better for some line – nylon for example.
• Brion Toss Splicing Wand  great tool, makes burying covers easier.  While you are there take a look around Brion’s catalog. lots of nice tools.
• Knife – I use an 18mm Olfa with Ultra Sharp Blades, others swear by a nice riggers knife with a ceramic blade, I am too cheap.

Instructions

• Samson’s splicing instructions  – start here if you are looking how to perform a specific splice.
• Gleistien Ropes Splicing Instructions
• Donaghys Splicing Instructions – A New Zealand company that covers both the dairy and boating markets.
• L-36.com a great site with lots of info and a comprehensive page on soft shackles.
• Evans’s Improved Soft Shackle, easy to tie and very strong.
• Animated Knots – a great site for knots and splices, with a little sideline in napkin folding.

Research

• Evans Starzinger’s load testing covered in this Sailing Anarchy thread, an amazing resource for knots and splice strength and optimal solutions to a range of problems.

Books

• The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice, Brion Toss  Brion’s practical experience shines throughout this book.
• Ashley Book of Knots The book of knots.  Available as PDF for free as in beer from Evans’s site
• The Marlinspike Sailor  A great resource for 3 strand and fancy work.

How to videos

• New England’s double braid eye splice
• A great collection of videos from Premium Ropes
• 12 Strand eye splices 
• Another 12 Strand eye splice