Rigging wire rope with thimbles, who still splices by hand?

Been on a few high rise jobs in Chicago and every ironworker I see now uses those preformed wire rope slings. I get it, theyre fast, but I had a cable snap on me back in March because a thimble was seated wrong in a field made eye. Hand splicing takes practice but when I do it myself I always trust the lay. Am I the only one who thinks the machine made stuff cuts corners on the load rating? Anyone else still carry a splicing fid in their box or am I just old school?

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jadew6310d ago

March of this year? Man, that could have been a lot worse than a close call. I still keep a fid in my pouch for certain jobs, but you are the first guy I have met in years who admits to trusting a hand splice over the store bought stuff.