Little tiny fid

[Action Tiger 181]

When you score some 3mm spectra for halyard and downhaul for the cute little lug sail on your canoey thing, and learn how simple but fiddly it is to splice, you make something.

If you're me...

Please don't judge the splice, either. I made the fid so in the future they will be smoother. A bamboo skewer is not all in it.

[Ken_Potts 82]

   Looks good.  How did you make the fid?  Did it start life as a nail or is the nail just in the picture for scale?

[Action Tiger 181]

Editors help you realize when you are not being as perfectly clear as you imagine...

The nail is the fid stock. I had some that were close to the right diameter. I cold forged the eye area, to flatten it and provide a "ramp" to open the hole a little large. The eye was intended to take the end of a messenger line to allow the tapered tail to be pulled through. Fail.

The rest of the work is bench grinder, draw filing, emory cloth, sharpening stone, and a little polish. It has a sort of rounded duck bill shape on the tip.

The real biz with splicing this stuff, I discovered, is a splicing wand, AKA folded in half piece of stiff wire...

Here's the downhaul I made. Two tucks, round eye (set in there crooked enough to bug me, but good enough for this experimental splice), two more tucks, then the tail down the tube.

[Action Tiger 181]

Here's the end product. Yes, there is some oiled cotton at the bottom of that cane. The little one is a wire coat hanger.

[Thrillsbe 133]

I also use a knitting needle.  They're cheap and silky smooth.