DIY soft shackles

[Low_Sky]

I made soft shackles this weekend and thought I'd post the particulars for anybody that wants to make their own too. I googled different designs pretty extensively and settled on this one that terminates in what's called a button knot. The other commonly seen knot is called a diamond knot. The difference is that the button knot is fatter, and the ends come out towards the eye of the shackle, so they get buried instead of cut off as in the diamond knot. This means the knot is less prone to pulling out, and the strength of the eye is increased because looping around four lines results in a bigger bend radius. I found one website that says they tensile tested this design and it failed at 230% of the line strength. This is also the design made and sold by my local rigging shop, and they rate them at 150% of the line strength. Good enough for the girls I run with.

I bought 3/8" and 1/2" Dyneema fiber 12 strand single hollow braid rope.

3/8", 20,000 lbs line strength, $1.99/ft
15' made two 14" soft shackles with 2.3' of waste.

1/2", 30,000 lbs line strength, $2.99/ft
20' made two 18" soft shackles with 5' of waste. (18' would do, with less waste)

AnimatedKnots.com can describe how to tie it better than I can.
http://www.animatedknots.com/softshackl ... /index.php

I got the knots as tight as I could by hand, and buried the tails with the excess coming back out. Then I chained all four together and seated the knots with a pull on my winch before cutting off the excess, tapering the tails and pulling them back into the shackle.

I spent $90 on rope and spent about two hours on these. If bought them pre-made at the rigging shop, they'd have cost me $190. Not too shabby.

[continuecrushing]

looks pretty good! I don't know if I trust myself enough for this lol.

[Colibri]

Good job sir! I’ll have to try this now, thanks for posting

[OffroadTreks]

Not bad at all. $89.65 spent in materials for 4 shackles. Seems like a fun little DIY project.

Although comparatively, the cheapest Bubba Rope Gator Jaw is 32k $42.99 with the 52300K costing $47.99 which is what I have two of. About $95.98. But I don't have four.

[trk4sale]

This is a good price per foot if you don't mind green
https://www.westmarine.com/buy/samson-r ... cordNum=18