My bad I posted the wrong link, it was a product that they had that was recommended for halyards I considered using and it had different process for the cover.

Jake

Imagine my surprise when I found the same thing with my new 600 ft roll of 1/4" Sta-Set.

The story is very similar; I could not fit a fid with a core into the jacket with the other core present, when making the official New England Double Braid eye splice, no matter how much I tried to expand the cover. I don't have a Micro or Small wand, just some fids. I really like the design of the wands - a very clever design, but none here.

I ended up using a length of thin iron wire commonly known as mechanics wire. It is probably about 16/18 gauge wire. I cut a length of wire about 2 1/2 feet long and folded it in half back onto itself. I used pliers to make the bend fairly sharp. I used this wire loop as a threader. (Think - threading a needle) I pushed the folded end of the wire loop into the cover at the core exit point and pushed it out of the cover at the splice crossover point. I fanned the end of the core and slid it into the "eye" of the wire loop with about 1/2 of the fan sticking out the side of the loop. The wire loop was pinched tight enough at the end to allow the core to be grabbed by the wire loop as tension was applied. Then I could quickly pull the core into the cover and out the exit point with little effort. This worked much better than I expected, and did not require any tape to secure the core to the wire pulling loop. The wire loop worked so well pulling the core into the cover, I used the same wire loop to pull the cover into the core (again without tape). I've done several splices now on this small 1/4" Sta-Set rope using this technique with great success. Thanks for the inspiration! :)

Wire fids
 

Hi again,
I'll just add that, with the extremely tight rope that was mentioned above, I was unable to splice it with any tool, including a wire fid. Tried not burying the core at all, but even then I couldn't run it home. Sometimes it really is a matter of bad rope.
Many splicers use wire fids for regular splicing. I like to think this is because they either can't afford a Wand, or never learned how to use one properly. Every once in a while, as above, I try to use a wire fid, just to see if I am missing something, and I still come away thinking, nope, not as good, mostly because it isn't stiff enough either to clamp over a bench, or to insert easily when splicing freehand. Clearly I have a vested interest here, though...
Fair leads,
Brion Toss

Splicing
 

Hello all,
This thread has attracted a very large number of views, so it is safe to say that the topic of difficulty with double-braid is of considerable interest. So I will just add that this stuff has been a challenge for people since it was invented, partly because most instructions are so bizarre, and partly because some skill is required, even when the rope is not defective. So if any of you have further questions/frustrations/observations about splicing, please feel free to start a thread. I'd really like to get splicing into people's hands.
Fair leads,
Brion Toss