Quote Originally Posted by nothermark View Post
Not quite correct.

Prof Hammock started using rings then decided it deformed the rope and changed his mind because the loose tubular braid on Amsteel deforms when squished. It does deform and the coating on the fibers might rub off but as far as I know nobody has tested it for strength changes. Having squished some I am not sure it changes much, if at all. The bundle changes but the fibers don't seem to.

I'd really like to see somebody with the right equipment break some to see. Until then I would heed his advice because there is no point in taking chances when there are alternatives.

I can tell you the hard solid braid Hennessy uses does not behave the same way. The fibers are not coated and the braid is solid and hard. Webbing is even less susceptible as it is intended to be buckled with camlocks, rings, and similar compression devices.
The whole deforming thing threw me off and I did not like the thought of possible failure. But I thought there was already a failure recorded, my bad. I still dont like the idea honestly. I would like to see actual failure numbers though, the more data out there the better I think.