Soft Shackles

[John D]

I'm not talking about loupes or grommets, but a ropework loop formed from a line with an eye at one end and a knob at the other which you can "unbutton" to open and "button up" again to close. This doesn't use a toggle or a spool, just soft rope. In three strand this would be a spliced eye just bigger than the manrope knot at the other end.

A soft shackle in 12 strand has an eye made near the middle of the original line with the untapered bury emerging from the body at the desired length, the two legs are then tied together to form the knob. I've seen several variations made by sailors. Some use a simple square knot for the knob, others use a diamond knot or a doubled figure-8 . There seems to be two schools of thought about the best type of eye, fixed or sliding.

The fixed eye is usually a locked Brummel sized to fit over the knob knot.

The sliding eye just dives the bury straight into the body, leaving an eye just larger than the diameter of the body with the bury. To fit the knob through the eye you have to slide the bury out of the body to enlarge the eye and then milk the body back down to close the eye.

My question to the forum: If I'm going to be be making some Soft Shackles out of Amsteel (or some other UHMW 12 strand rope) which type of eye should I use? And what is the best knot to use to form the knob?

Thanks

John D.