Which 8-plait/chain splice?

[Renoir]

Do NOT hot knife the yarns of a splice when cutting off the ends. Use a good knife and make a cut. Use your fingers to waft over the cut ends making them splay like cotton. Hot knifing a cut results in a hard plastic that when under stress, like passing over a drum, gradually cuts the individual strands adjacent to the sharp plastic wherever the plastic bears. This will not happen otherwise.