Whoopie tapers

[Spaceman]

Seemed like a good day to try making my first pair of whoopie slings. All went well and I'm itching to make more, as well as some continuous loops. I have a few questions regarding the tapers. On 7/64th Amsteel tapers, does it make a difference whether you pull 3 strands out vs. 4? I've seen both in the tutorials and was wondering if there was a preference or a recommendation by the manufacturer.

Also, I'm never quite sure which strands to pull. I saw a tutorial for 1/8" whoopies that clearly showed which 6 strands to pull, but I'm not sure how to tackle 7/64". Is there a preferred method? On the two I made today, I pulled 3 strands out and tried to keep them equally spaced around the circumference of the rope. Each strand was pulled out a little bit closer to the end of the rope than the previous strand. Is this an acceptable method?

Finally, how critical is it that the braid of the taper remain intact? 3 of the 4 held together in a tapered braid, but 1 came apart. I would think it wouldn't matter much since the fibers, whether loose or braided, still provide a taper and prevent the abrupt transition in size. Thoughts?

[Redoleary]

When I do my tapers I completely fray the end of the line so there is no way to tell one strand from another then I lay them flat on a cutting board and spread them out a bit (like a paintbrush.. nothing too crazy) then I cut on an angle from the beginning of the fray right to the end. Done. I don't pull out strands and worry about how many etc. It's easy to pull this thru a bury and it's tapered, mission accomplished. This is probably not the recommended way but it works for me haven't had a failure yet.

[gmcttr]

Technically, Samson Rope says to pull half or 4 of the strands. Just pull them out of the same side moving towards the end. On a large diameter rope you would be trying to preserve the braiding but with the small diameters we use it's usually going to come undone so don't worry about it. In fact, it would be fine to simply fan the end and cut on a long angle to achieve the same results.

Edit: Red beat me to fanning the end.:laugh:

[Mouseskowitz]

1/8" is a 12 strand and 7/64" is an 8 strand rope. The end result you are looking for is a taper down to 1/2 the original diameter, so 6 for 12 and 4 for 8. Look at step 2 here (http://www.samsonrope.com/Documents/Splice%20Instructions/12Strand_C2_Eye%20Splice_JUL2012_WEB.pdf).

I know there's some information out there on different ways of doing the taper but I can't remember where I read about that at the moment.

[Dead Man]

Just a tip, but if you have a rotary cutter for fabric, it works very well with the ends spread as stated above. Helps to have a self healing pad to cut on. :shades:

[Mouseskowitz]

Just a tip, but if you have a rotary cutter for fabric, it works very well with the ends spread as stated above. Helps to have a self healing pad to cut on. :shades:

Never thought about using the cutter. I'm going to have to remember that one.

[Spaceman]

Well, my self-healing cutting mat and rotary cutter came in the mail yesterday, so I'll give the rotary cutter a shot. After making the original post, I came across this video (http://youtu.be/7YDW8OwL0Oc) that showed the fanning of the strands and cutting at an angle, like many of you suggested above. Seems much easier than pulling individual strands out of the braid. The video is also well done and I found it easy to follow what he was doing since he was using 1/2" rope. Easier to see some of the details.

FYI-For those looking for a cutting mat, I picked up this one (http://www.amazon.com/Alvin-Professional-Cutting-Green-Black/dp/B0015ASN5S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414977066&sr=8-1&keywords=alvin+cutting+mat) on Amazon. It's high quality and was much cheaper than ones I was finding locally. I decided to grab a big one (36x48). The smaller sizes are great deals as well.

I'm off to make my 2nd pair of whoopies. I saw the suggestion of burying a 2" section of rope inside the adjustable loop in lieu of using a plastic bead and thought I'd give that a try.

[rob317]

I'm lazy and just pull two strands. Works for me but I'm pretty stubborn too. ;)

[thebackupninja]

I guess I fell into the lazy department as well. I only pulled out a couple as well. :)

[mountainm]

I pull 3 out then do a diagonal cut across the end as well.

[ShooTa]

wierd - spent the evening making some for my ladys DD hammock.
2 x 6 foot whoopies and 2 8in continuous loops - made mine from dyneema - as for the ends - i picked 4 out of my 8n trying to keep it symetrical - i would say that 3 of my ends frayed completely (aka paint brush stylee) but the rest held their shape.