If you are stuck on a trail and need a quick fix this is a handy trail splice to use
A ball point pen, tape, and a knife is all that is needed to direct bury a rope. Depending on the diameter of the rope you are using a direct bury involves burying three fids, shown below.
For liability sake, I will say that I do not recommended anyone doing this and Master-Pull would like all of our ropes to be sent back if they are damaged so we can repair them. We are in no way liable for what happens to any of our ropes if you modify them or try to splice them yourself.
Step one- Taper 1 pen length of the line at the end, so you don't have an abrupt edge where the rope starts and stops. We taper by pulling 2 strands, skipping 2, pulling 2, skipping 2, pulling 2. After that you can taper half of the remaining strands (6 should be remaining of the 12 you started out with) about 2 inches from the end of the line.
Step two- Take the pen and measure out two more fid lengths on the line (in addition to what you just tapered) plus whatever rope wraps through or around the thimble. Mark this spot on the rope so you know where to start burying the end. Three 3/8ths fids are about equal to four ball point pen lengths.
Step three- Tape the tapered end of the rope into the flat end of the pen (or an easy thing to do is pull the ink out of the pen and shove the rope in and then tape it. We use masking tape or electrical tape. Just make sure you get enough on there to hold the rope to the pen.
Step four- Go to the mark on the rope (where you had marked out three pen lengths PLUS the thimble length, and start burying the rope back inside of itself. You will want to push the rope together like a Chinese Finger Trap so it loosens up and then you can slide the pen down. Don't try to pull the pen through, instead gently push it and make sure the rope doesn't get caught or bunched up. Once the three fids are buried you can pull the pen out and milk the rope tight.
Step five- Stitch the rope, so it doesn't come loose. It doesn't matter how really, as long as you get a few in there that can hold the outer strands to the onces you just buried in.
-Alex