You never know until you break it

[shoefish]

Well yesterday I found myself in a room with the greatest invention I've ever seen...okay, I guess there have been better inventions, but this one isn't far off

This rig was made of a system of pulleys that at the flick of a switch are slowly separated by an old elevator drive...this day would be the last for many, many, many pieces of terminal tackle

Over the course of the day we tested line strength, knots, rigs, swivels (both barrel and snap), split rings, solid rings, hooks...basically anything that we could figure out how to hook up to the pulleys

I hope that the other folks who were there can add their comments and observations to this thread as well, and correct me if my memory doesn't quite recall things the way they happened

A few comments on the video and the results that I will talk about- First of all, this was not a true scientific experiment...we didn't conduct these experiments 100 times each and calculate the variances, etc. We built things the way that they would normally be built, and then destroyed them Next, this was not set up with any agenda. Also, this is not meant to tell you if you do things one way, that you are doing them wrong. Finally, these results were the ones we had yesterday, and you should take them for what they are- experiments.

So having said that, there were a few generalities that seemed to repeat themselves throughout the day.

Hooks-
In general, the Hays hooks outperformed all other hooks. In the instances that they did bend, they were able to "snap back" to their original shape better than others. I don't own a single Hays hook (mostly because of price), but after this experiment it seems that you do get what you pay for when it comes to these hooks.

Lines-
All lines tested at or above stated strength.

Swivels (barrel)-
With smaller diameter lines, swivels failed below their stated strength. With larger diameter lines they failed at or above it.

Swivels (snap)-
Though all of the snap swivels started to slip before their stated strength, they would "bottom out" and then held on and wouldn't fail until they generally reached their stated strength.

Split rings-
Though they are fairly strong, they do not fail slowly...they pretty much pop.

Braid to mono/flouro knots-
3-time surgeons knot: This was by far the weakest of all knots, and slipped at a fraction of the line strength. I will never use this knot.

6-time surgeon's knot: This was stronger than the 3-time, but still tested lower than other knots. The knot failed where the braid came out of the knot. This was still fairly strong, and was relatively easy to tie. For all intensive purposes I would tie this knot and feel pretty confident in it.

Uni-Uni: This knot tested almost 100% It seemed strongest with about 6 wraps on each side.

Sebile (I think that is what it's called): This is the one that site member Squid posted a video of a while back, and is the chinese finger cuff with single strand. This knot takes longer to tie, and takes some getting used to, but when done right, tested at 100% and broke outside of the knot in the lighter line. The other thing that I love about this knot is the ability to test it real time- if it slips when you are tightening it you need to re-do it. If not, you're good to go. This is the one that I will be tying from now on.

Solid rings:
You will never break one of these...ever

Crimps
Nearly all of the time, copper crimps slipped and failed before aluminum crimps

In general, almost everything that failed did so at a level of drag that it is hard (if not impossible) to reach based on the rods and reels that they would be fished on.

So have at it....here's the video....have a look and tell me what you think.

Shoe



4244

[JMS-ILM]

very informative....glad i took a trip to the new england site this afternoon! the cold weather really starts to get to you yankees about this time of year doesnt it? man you should have seen the bikinis around wrightsville beach yesterday......

[clt_capt]

Very cool setup and very informative. Thanks

[ElMar2530]

Cool video!!!!!

Thanks for posting that.

[gradywhite273]

outstanding stuff shoe, first class looks like something out of richardson's workshop

[Shortfin]

Very Nice Shoe Glad to to meet you all of you Guy's

Chumtini you bailed early and missed Shortfin and his bag of tricks


Grady White, Richardson has nothing on us Northerners

[dunn6253]

Nice video Shoe, wish I was there and wasn't stuck at work. Maybe ill catch the next one, sounds like it was a good time by Vin's report. Any video of rigging up some hoo's?

[Seaker]

Hey great job on this video Shoe.

I couldn't bring myself to post the comando rock concert photo...

Maybe at another time after a bit of edit under a you ain't got a clue

I picked up about 50 more parts to break today

Maybe upon your return we can get together for a demolition day

I have never seen anyone so happy to explode stuff...

Does a heart good

[Team Boat Show Direct]

cool video, very informative, break more stuff

[Riptide Charters]

Braid to mono/flouro knots-
3-time surgeons knot: This was by far the weakest of all knots, and slipped at a fraction of the line strength. I will never use this knot.

Shoe, if it slipped it was tied incorrectly. I got to play with that machine last year and if the knot is tied and tightened propperly it will not slip, it will break around 90% just where the braid comes out of the top of the knot.

Therest of the observations you have matched our findings. The Aluminum crimps were FAR superior to the copper ones. That was a big surprise to us too when we saw it over and over.