Does my soft shackles looks right?

[RogerLloyd]

Thank you Seaworthy Lass.

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by RogerLloyd

Thank you Seaworthy Lass.

You’re welcome .
I am glad the pdfs may be useful.

SWL

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by Free Rider

Well, I certainly did not think my question would stir a debate!

I found that my first shackle was too large at the eye because the legs did not stay as they were first set when I was tying the button knot. I managed to work one of them back into the button, giving back the intended size to the eye. I was more cautious for the next shackle.

Thank you again for your help. Here is my first 4 shackles (The one in the upper left corner has no lock). I still have to tighten them with a winch :

Hi Free Rider

Your buttons look just beautiful! It made me feel good thinking I may have helped the learning process .

Yes, as you can see, there are differing views about the impact of eye size .
You have already experienced how easy it is for the final eye size not to be the same as initially formed, even with the use of securing tape. It simply gives some leeway making the eye slightly larger (I don’t mean huge) rather than risk all the load being on one leg by having the eye end up too small.

Thinwater is absolutely correct in saying that bumping up line diameter will largely eliminate a huge number of faults when making soft shackles. I think you could make the eye too small, twist the line, divide the strands unevenly when parting them, cut through multiple fibres (crackling sound heard during construction), unevenly tension up the knot, skip the pretensioning (as long as high loads are not suddenly applied the first time the shackle is used, that is about the only sin you can be badly punished for) etc, yet it would be hard to make one so sloppily that you would not achieve at least line strength with the final result, and that may be more than adequate in many applications.

I guess I just get zero satisfaction from making something badly and I am keen to improve on technique . Also it is nice to be able to reach for any soft shackle I make and not worry about variations in strength. Cost and ease of making these does come into it for me as well. I find 8mm line much harder to create good knots with, and the expense of making an 8mm vs a 6mm soft shackle is about 50% higher, so I don’t want to use unnecessarily thick line.

Having a soft shackle open inadvertently is a cause for concern, but given any eye can be freely opened to be absolutely huge, I am not convinced that a small difference in size between closed eyes will stop an eye from opening. If the risk of this very rare occurrence needs to be eliminated entirely then I would suggest using a sleeve to prevent this happening.

Thanks for initiating an interesting debate .

SWL

[Tudorsailor]

FWIW, I learned to make soft shackles from the Colligo video. I have made them in differing sizes
https://youtu.be/jH66tGsWv_Y

Interestingly, Colligo have another video that shows a little ring that they use to keep the eye closed https://youtu.be/MBtUaw0U58o

TS

[Happ]

Originally Posted by Free Rider

Hi,
I just tied my first soft shackle using mostly instructions I found here made by Seaworthy Lass (a very big thank you by the way!!).

I am at the step were I need to put the shackle on a winch and tighten it. But I notice that the noose seems a bit large. I have made it to hold 8 rope diameters as per the instructions. Does it look ok to you?

If you pull the loop and ball apart will the loop come off? Looks like it will. You need to make the loop tight. Otherwise you won’t have a good strong shackle.

[Mike Banks]

That knot looks WAY too small. My Diamond knots are bigger than that--and one does not have any left-over legs to bury inside the shackle bight.

.

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by Mike Banks

That knot looks WAY too small. My Diamond knots are bigger than that--and one does not have any left-over legs to bury inside the shackle bight.

The Brion Toss Button knot is actually larger than a Diamond knot, not smaller.

The reason it was developed is specifically so that the legs emerge at the base of the knot rather than the top. This allows the legs to be buried, enlarging the radius that the eye of the shackle passes around and therefore creating a stronger eye (the weak point in shackles made with Diamond knots).

If well made, this increases the strength of the soft shackle by around 30%.

I also find the handling of these shackles to be better, as they have a smooth round top rather than a stumpy bit sticking out. This enables singled handed operation to be much easier, particularly when hands are cold .

SWL