My homemade soft shackle nacrabiner didn’t turn out the way that Opie’s turn out in the photo instruction sheet that he posted on this forum. For sure, it’s user error on my part, and I need your help in figuring out what I did wrong. In Opie’s example, the buried portion is completely covered by the outer sheath through which it has been pulled. In my attempt at following his instructions, in order for the adjustable loop to be closed when pulling the tail inside the bury, about 3 inches of tail comes back out no matter how carefully I milk the bury. I must be doing something wrong, but I followed the instructions exactly.
--Amsteel 7/64.
--30 inch length of line.
--Mark at 3.5 inches and 12 inches.
--Inserted FID at 3.5 inch mark and popped it out at the 12 inch mark.
--Pulled the line inside the bury.
--Closed up loop.
--Milked bury upward and downward to stretch it back out as long as possible and remove slack/volume in the sheath.
At that point, no matter what I did, even when I made the first mark at 2 or 2.5 inches as is also suggested, I was still left with about 2 or 3 inches sticking out of the bury at the first of the two marks – where I had inserted my FID. There was no way that I could milk any addition length in the buried portion to cover up and swallow up that section that stuck out. So I buried the ends in the little tail and long tail, and tied the stopper knot in the long tail that was poking out through the bury. The result is a soft shackle that when closed has a much bigger diameter than the one shown in Opie’s pictorial. It is also possible to pull the adjustable loop closed by pulling on the tail with the stopper knot. That’s a nice feature, but it’s not at all like the pictorial.
What the heck did I do wrong? I’m using Amsteel 7/64 and my measurements were accurate. Help. Oh, also, is there any reason why the mutant soft shackle I created would be any less effective or strong than it would be if the buried line was completely buried and didn’t have the tail sticking out? The sheath covering the bury is the distance between my 12 inch and 3.5 inch mark, per the instructions, so I believe I have the proper amount of bury.
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