My first double braided eye splice - what am I doing wrong?

[axelessbaum]

I am trying to do a double braided eye spice with 1/4" double braid and a "small" Splicing Wand (labeled as being for 3/16" - 3/8" rope). I am following Brion's video for this splice, which seems quite clear.

I mark the cover, pull the core, mark the core, and insert the Wand 5 marks from the core exist. I am able to get the Wand about 2" into the rope (between the cover and core) but no further. I am collapsing the cover as much as possible (for maximum cover diameter) but it seems that the Wand is simply too thick for the task. The cover (containing Wand and core) is rock-hard and will not get any larger in diameter with collapsing / scrunching.

My Wand is 0.19" in diameter. The outer diameter of the entire rope (under tension) is 0.25", the core diameter (under tension) is about 0.14", the outer diameter of the collapsed / scrunched cover is 0.35". Do all these numbers seem reasonable? What am I doing wrong? :-(

Thanks!

- Axel