All I am using is a blunt tip small darning needle. I think the trick is to remove 3 of the 8 strands for the taper. I really struggled when I removed 4 before. Now I still struggle but pull it through.
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I think you're talking about the little spliced-in piece of smaller line to open up the eye. If you make your soft shackle/soft shackle prusiks properly, the eye is relatively easy to open up - I think that's why we don't see cottage vendors offering the little "eye-opener" spliced in. Theirs are measured and made properly.
On Amsteel 7/64" or larger soft shackles, I definitely don't see the need. In fact, I prefer to make my Amsteel soft shackles out of 1/8" because they're easier to open.
On Zing-It 1.75 soft shackle prusiks, I also haven't found the need because it is very rare that I disconnect the soft shackle prusik from the ridgeline. In my experience, the eye only becomes hard to open after repeated opening, and I don't do that much with my soft shackle prusiks.
Thank you gentlemen. SilvrSurfr, that's what I was asking and thank you. Dutch, sorry for the confusion, but, that is also welcomed info.