Tapering ?

[resnikov]

I made some whoopie slings and continus loops out of dynemma last year and they are holding fine. I used the guides on here to make them but I did not taper the cord. I assumed (and still do) that tapering is just to make it easier to get the cord to go through the core of itself. Am I wrong with this assumption?

If so why do we taper?

Cheers

[Youngblood]

I think there are two reasons to taper. One is as you mentioned, to make it easier to get the cord to go through the core itself. The second if to make a bury smoother where the inner cord ends.

[Detail Man]

+1 on what youngblood said.

Tapering the tail end eliminates an abrupt change in diameter at the end of the bury. A smooth transition causes less stress on the rope fibers.

[oldgringo]

An un-tapered bury is a stress riser, and will lead to failure of the sling at a lower loading. Tapering is widely recommended for good reason.

[resnikov]

Cheers on the replies guys.

I'm glad I now know why you taper. I could not find any where on here that said why you do taper, just that you should and I always like to know why I am doing something and not just blindly following.

[Detail Man]

Here's a link to a thread about Amsteel that's very informative. http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/s...ad.php?t=12319

Do a forum search for "Samson" and you'll find several posts about tapers, buries, and more. Samson is the manufacturer of Amsteel, so they know what's best for their product. The Samson website http://www.samsonrope.com/splicing-instructions.cfm has good instructions on splicing. Just so you know 7/64 = 8 strand, 1/8" = 12 strand amsteel. Reading a bit on fid lengths and splicing will help you better understand whoopie slings and why they're constructed just so.

[Knotty]

You may be able to pull the bury out, taper the end and rebury.

[warbonnetguy]

no need to worry i don't think

leaving off the taper may be weaker than doing it with the taper, but not by much. i bet it's 90% as strong as the tapered version, so if you used amsteel 7/64", your whoopie would still be well over 1200# i bet.

really no reason to do the taper (imo) unless you think it makes it easier to splice because either version is probably stronger than your tree straps are.

i've been using knotted 7/64" for the line strap suspensions with no issues, and an un-tapered whoopie is alot stronger than that.

[ChrisH]

I agree with warbonnetguy, it's not really necessary to taper IMO. I don't taper most of what I make out of amsteel and have never had a failure. Yes, it can fail at a lower rating but like WG said, it's like 90-95% of the 1600lb rating for 7/64". This was discussed in a thread here a while back.