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Title: Review of "The Splicing Handbook" 2nd Ed by B. Merry
Review: I bought the book because I wanted to splice high-tech yacht rope, especially the 12-strand braids like Amsteel. This review pertains only to splices related to such rope.The photos are not always of the splice being described (p.84). The illustrations appear to have been cropped to fit the page, which is especially confusing for complex splices (p.88). The hollow braid splice on p.83 results in a weak splice with a bump at a vulnerable location - I believe this is a dangerous splice and that the authors have failed to grasp the workings of the Chinese Finger Puzzle principle mentioned in several places.Conclusion: don't waste your money. Go to the web sites for Yale, Sampson, and New England Rope to get better illustrations and text for free. Also, study the test results from Layline.com on the importance of tapering the buried eye splice tail.
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