Make the Lock with One End: The animation shows how the Locked Brummel Splice is tied when only the working end is available to be threaded through the rope. It is, of course, much easier to tie when both ends are available, because then there is no need to invert the two holes first.

Warning: in practice use a much longer tail and a more gradual taper – see below. The short ends were used here to allow close-up photography. The technique tends to be confusing and repetition is required to memorize and master the details.

Measure: Mark the length of the long buried end by measuring off 72 diameters of the rope, e.g., 3 feet for a half-inch rope. Then measure off the length required for the final eye plus 3 rope diameters and make a second mark. Note: this additional length is necessary because the Brummel Splice consumes some of this measured length.

Create Two Inverted Holes: The whole key to making a Brummel Splice is the creation of Brummel holes with spiral twisted sides. When a bight is passed back through them later, it restores the twists back to normal without using the long end. The two holes can be made in any order. Each hole should be made by carefully separating the strands – exactly an equal number on each side of the hole. The process of passing the end through the rope, creates the Brummel hole. The two holes should be made so that they line up and face the same direction. The section between these holes becomes the “Eye“.

Restore the First Hole: Choose the hole nearest the end and tuck the Eye through the hole followed by the second hole and some extra rope. This process can be awkward. It helps to stretch the hole first. A large fid may help or a bight of line can be wrapped around the rope and used to pull it through.

Restore the Second Hole: Tuck the Eye through the second hole. Now, the fibers around both holes are restored to normal and the lock of the Brummel Splice is complete.

Dress the Splice: This process may have restored the spiral twists around the sides of each hole but the rope is still distorted. The rope either side of the holes should be massaged back to restore normal spacing of the strands. Snug the two holes together. These maneuvers achieve exactly the same result as when both ends are available.

Finishing the Splice: For maximum strength and reliability, the long tail end is tapered, buried, and stitched. Finally the throat of the splice is whipped – see detailed descriptions of these procedures in the Long Bury Splice.

Simpler Method: To obtain the same result using a simpler technique, visit the McDonald Brummel page.