What is rope splicing?

Rope splicing is when two ropes or two parts of a rope are untwisted and then interwoven to form a semi-permanent joint between them. A splice sometimes is preferred over a knotted rope, as a knot can reduce the strength of the rope by up to 40 percent.

There are various ways to splice a rope, such as an end splice, eye splice, long splice or a short splice. A handmade tool called a fid is often used to separate the strands of rope for splicing, but a marlinspike, pick or other hand tools, such as a screwdriver, may be used.