Okay, there! I've said it! Yes, I have lived in shame for lo these many years.

I finally did my first one after watching a Samson video about five times along with regular reference to the printed directions. This was using 5/16" double braid New England Ropes StaySet and a Samson 5/16" fid.

It went pretty well until it was time to bury the core back into the throat of the splice. It required a finger-numbing amount of force to get the fid through and three repeats to keep the core attached to the fid to complete the job.

The final result wasn't horrible for a first try and for the application will be plenty strong.

Any suggestions about how to make the process go easier the next time?