A more user friendly Soft Shackle

[DemostiX]

Allen Edward describes some of his procedures to set the diamond knot tight at www.l-36.com. eg. ,but go to http://l-36.com/soft_shackle_9.php for more and other pages there on testing.

I hope commercial makers are taking those or similar steps. Otherwise, the delivered shackle is not a finished product. The only reasons for the tail are to allow further settling and to tighten it further. Nothing I've read suggests, though, that tightening should come from anything but work. An Italian marine fabricator sells these for more than $25, and they have no tails. Using them is easier when the stopper knot is no tails at all.

[mophead]

I'm at work and don't have time to check Allens page. I'm tapatalkig. But youre right about the tails I cut my tails off after I hang a couple times and am sure to bob up and down some lol.

The ideal thing to do would be to pull them to whatever the highest possible weight before they would break. Once that's done the knot has tightened as much as it can and the tails will no longer shrink.

[Redoleary]

I hope commercial makers are taking those or similar steps. Otherwise, the delivered shackle is not a finished product.

I hope commercial makers have a more sophisticated method that that! I dress the knot a few times with a pick to get it good and tight, then I do a marline spike hitch on the tail, and put a fid thru the eye and pull like hell, then do the same for the other tail, then both tails together.
Allen has a great page, he's got a handy little calculator for making soft shackles, and heaps of other good info.

I'm at work and don't have time to check Allens page. I'm tapatalkig. But youre right about the tails I cut my tails off after I hang a couple times and am sure to bob up and down some lol.

The ideal thing to do would be to pull them to whatever the highest possible weight before they would break. Once that's done the knot has tightened as much as it can and the tails will no longer shrink.

I kinda like the tails, makes getting the knot thru the hole a bit easier with gloves on etc. But they do look a bit cleaner sans tails.

[SmokeBait]

I hope commercial makers are taking those or similar steps. Otherwise, the delivered shackle is not a finished product. The only reasons for the tail are to allow further settling and to tighten it further. Nothing I've read suggests, though, that tightening should come from anything but work. An Italian marine fabricator sells these for more than $25, and they have no tails. Using them is easier when the stopper knot is no tails at all.

I do something very similar. Though the tensioning is done by hand. I'm working on a machine method tha will run the load up higher. I leave the tails on and state that they may be cut off after the SS has been hung on a few times.

[DemostiX]

Cranking up the load is not difficult. Levers do that easily. The challenge is to approach the knot as you would a puzzle, figuring out a set of tightening steps, in a specific order, so the tensions are even in the knot and it gets compacted uniformly. But, that is why there are professional splicers: to do it right.

My next efforts on this, given Allen Edwards data on breaking strength and knot failure* is to sleeve the cords making up the diamond knot with polyester jackets so that the turns of the knot are tied with larger radii. I expect the knot to be stronger that way.

* The shackle is stronger than the raw cordage, but not as as strong as it might be, considering the four cords carrying the load.

[Phantom Grappler]

For fast exit doors I tie a Siberian hitch also called Evenk Hitch
Can be tied and untied fast in the dark
For another version of a soft shackle see my YouTube videos
Grapplers Hitch
And Phantom Grappler Suspension
This version of soft shackle is permanently stuck on whatever closed loop it is attached Can not be moved to other gear and can never be lost

[gmcttr]

...My next efforts on this, given Allen Edwards data on breaking strength and knot failure* is to sleeve the cords making up the diamond knot with polyester jackets so that the turns of the knot are tied with larger radii. I expect the knot to be stronger that way.

* The shackle is stronger than the raw cordage, but not as as strong as it might be, considering the four cords carrying the load.

How about a "knot" that moves the failure point to the bend radius of the noose providing a SS with 230% of line strength?

http://www.bethandevans.com/pdf/improvedsoftshackle.pdf

(Found here... http://www.bethandevans.com/load.htm)

[f k]

I like that. I will have to give it a shot. Only thing is the closing loop on the knot end. Will have to be careful not to pull it through. Thank you for the link.

[Phantom Grappler]

And for fast door tie untie if both doors have cord, a shoestring type bow would work
Or sewn in magnets or Velcro
Might work

[cougarmeat]

You might want to look at this method: http://l-36.com/soft_shackle_9.php
I've used it on all my soft shackles. No worries about putting the loop through. No problem opening the loop up. No additional "rigging" in the shackle.

BUT, when making it, you do have to pay attention to the diameter of the loop and the stopper knot you will use. Don't want the loop too big.