Wire rope braid

[kiko]

So I have a long lead for my blue tick hound that is nylon rope, the two half hitch knot kept coming undone, so called on my Boy Scout days and braided a loop to the clocker chain. Does anyone have experience braiding a wire rope in either a loop or a splice, or is this a lost art.  I can understand what needs to happen just like with the nylon rope, but not sure how to make it happen. I have no practical purpose for this just curious .

[Rockn H]

I've braided a loop on wire rope a lot... it holds good and you don't need cable clamps.  I was always told it was called a Molly Hogan, I don't know if that's right or not. 

You start with a clean end on your cable.   Split and unwind the cable so that you end up with say 3 strands on one side and 4 strands on the other (seven strand is pretty common).   Unwind enough so that you get the loop size you want.  You want the ends of your strands to stop just inside of the loop.  You can check roughly by just bending the two sides to form a loop.  Make sure the strands in the two sides are wrapped tight, you should notice a spiral in the strands.  This spiral is what is going to lock the two sides together when you wrap them back together.   Bend the two sides together and start wrapping them back together at the top of the loop, working your way down both sides toward the bottom of the loop (cable).  You have to wrap the two sides ( groups of strands) so the spirals fit together.  If the spirals don't fit, you need to wrap in the opposite direction.   I've used this with a lot of cable and never had it fail.  Braiding cable is easier than braiding most ropes...  you don't have to worry as much about securing the ends of the strands.

[Offthebeatenpath]

Yup, it's called a Molly Hogan, at least regionally.  Good description Rockin H.  Here's a couple images:



 




 

You can also use wire rope clips which is probably what most folks do these days for basic usage.  Here's an illustration of that: 



 

I often add a wire rope clip or two or three to a Molly Hogan. But I graduated from the Department of Redundancy Department...

Jed

[Offthebeatenpath]

By the way Kiko, I've been looking at getting another dog recently.  Blue Ticks are high on the list.  My trusty Plott Hound passed away a couple years ago and the little rescue dog we now have is very sweet but just doesn't quite have enough hound in him...

[Rockn H]

Offthebeatenpath, great pics!   I had an old oil rig hand tell me once not to use cable clamps and to stop the ends right inside the loop where you have the red tape.  He didn't say why and I didn't ask  :D   As long as it works, right? ;)

[Stephen Alford]

  Hey kiko,couple more pics ,hope it helps.     Check out Nova Scotia Duck Trolling Retriever.  Great pup.


 


 

[Offthebeatenpath]

Darn it Stephen- you're always right on the mark.  The Nova Scotia Duck Toller is the only non hound (except for maybe a Chesapeake Bay Retriever mix) that we're looking for.  Ideally a Duck Toller/ hound mix.  The only one I know is a great woods dog.  If you know of any on the islands in need of rescue, let me know.  The gal and might just take a trip...

As not to totally hijack the thread, here's a wire rope clip table.  Done correctly and re-torqued after the first load, wire rope clips should retain about 80% of the original wire rope strength.  I'm working on a rigging manual for trail work with the USFS so I have more info like this than anyone would wish for me to share.



 

[Morewood]

I have always called a eye used on wire rope a " Flemish eye " , there are two other names , " Molly Hogan " and a " Dutch eye  " JMO .

[Dave Shepard]

I was just researching this last night.

Here is a video from Jerry Beranek. There are a few videos on YouTube of splicing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBlvFRDHdgM

[thenorthman]

Loggers eye splice, is in the video, very similar to splicing 3 strand rope only there is six strands and a lot more work...

Flemish eye and Farmers eye is the one where you uncoil the end and rewrap it opposite, to be safe it needs to have some sort of clamp or ferule

A Molly Hoggan is just one strand wrapped around its self to make a loop, the ends being rolled in to secure.  These are useful in a pinch to replace a shackle/clevis, or to hold the pins of shackles and clevises in although osha frowns on using them for this.


With practice and some good marlin spikes a guy can make a loggers eye in about 20 minutes solo, with lots of practice and someone helping about 5, you don't necessarily need the marlin spikes, a flat blade screw driver will do, its just better to use the correct tool for the job.

The big difference from cable to rope is you tuck 1 strand through 2, and start your second tuck on the 2nd or 3rd first tuck, and you want to tuck the core with #4 at least twice.  All strands need to be tucked a minimum of 3 times, and the core a minimum of 2, you'll find tucking the core a 3rd time to be quite the chore.  And finally cut the ends a little long, they will pull through a little ways until everything snugs up under a heave load, once its all settled in you can come back and trim em smooth or get excitable and wrap em with seizing wire so they look all professional and stuff.

[Rockn H]

Cool video Dave 

[enigmaT120]

That guy in the video made it look so easy, except I don't have a press with dies to clamp on those crimping parts.  Now I want to get some tough leather gloves on and play with wire rope. 

[kiko]

I tried to watch that video before the post, but the internet here in the country is to slow for videos most of the time.  Blue ticks are excellent trackers and very vocal when on the scent. The hard part is keeping them from getting to far out in front of you.  I am starting her with a twenty foot check rope and will later transition to a radio collar.  She will be deer tracking dog rather than a deer hunting dog. You cannot hunt deer with dogs in this part of the state, however blue ticks are a favored dog for deer hunting in South Georgia . Thanks for all the post about wire rope braiding, might give it a whirl one afternoon.

[thenorthman]

That guy in the video made it look so easy, except I don't have a press with dies to clamp on those crimping parts.  Now I want to get some tough leather gloves on and play with wire rope.

I seem to have better luck without gloves, which is odd cause about the only thing I wear gloves for is handling cable...

for splicing though I always try to find a spot without jaggers

I'm self taught for splicing (Hel just about everything) started with a chunk of 1/4 aircraft wire, and a screw driver... it was wrong but it still holds.

check out worksafe BC, they had a pretty good pdf on splicing, eyes, butts, flemish eyes, haulbacks, long line, short line.  All step by step with B/W photos.

[Stephen Alford]

 Will do OBP.   Great dog very smart loyal (as in not buggerin off every time you turn around) and just great with kids. Maybe that is why he got along with us so well.  When the saw mill was running a lot of older guys started showing up and hanging out. Price of admission was a coffee. If you had stories to share had to bring donuts.  :D   Anyway , a great guy and neighbor had a pup named Billy.  They burned wood and as a joke to taunt me he encouraged Billy to carry a stick of firewood home every time he was on site. Guess it was natural being a retriever.  Once started down the road to piracy ol Billy carried on his life of crime. What a chuckle, sometimes he would prance off with a stick, head held high , on occasion the stick was so large he would drag it backwards.   All the time his owner was going on about how Billy paid his way working in the woods.  Then came the day it snowed. Now ol Billy had one weakness. He could get distracted from the job at hand. Maybe a bird, maybe a squirel chirp or just a cloud passing by.  Well out comes my buddy and fires up the snow blower . He was in the wood chippin business in a heartbeat.  As for ol Billy he just never stopped haulin.  My buddy might as well sold his blower.    :D :D :D

[CCC4]

By the way Kiko, I've been looking at getting another dog recently.  Blue Ticks are high on the list.  My trusty Plott Hound passed away a couple years ago and the little rescue dog we now have is very sweet but just doesn't quite have enough hound in him...

I ran one of the roughest (5) count packs of old blood Plotts probably to ever put their feet on Arkansas soil! Super good dogs! I could hog hunt in the day and tree at night! They were good bobcat dogs and even ran a big cat once for 10 or 12 hours! Really loved my Plotts. The bloodlines were from Wisconsin area and I bought the dogs in Ok City, Ok.

[thecfarm]

Stephen Alford,must of needed a pocket full of shear bolts??  :D