Fid

File:US Navy 060614-N-2659P-025 Seaman Jamie Lewis uses a fid to repair a snag on a mooring line aboard Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74).jpg

Fid in use on a rope aboard a ship

A fid is a conical tool traditionally made of wood or bone. It is used to work with rope and canvas in marlinespike seamanship. A fid differs from a marlinspike in material and purposes. A marlinspike is used in working with wire rope, natural and synthetic lines, may be used to open shackles, and is made of metal. A fid is used to hold open knots and holes in canvas, and to separate the "lays" (or strands) of synthetic or natural rope for splicing. A variation of the fid, the gripfid, is used for ply-split braiding. The gripfid has a jamming cleat to pull a cord back through the cord split by the fid's point.

Modern fids are typically made of aluminum, steel, or plastic. In addition to holding rope open to assist the creation of a rope splice, modern push fids have markings for precise measurements in a variety of sizes of rope. The length of these fids is typically 21 or 22 times the diameter of rope to be spliced. A diameter rope would have any accompanying fid Template:Cvt in length with hash-marks denoting the long and short fid measurements. A short fid is 1⁄3 a fid length and a long fid is 2⁄3 the overall fid length.

Modern major rope manufacturers such as Yale Cordage, New England Ropes, and Samson Rope Technologies each have full sets of published splicing directions available on their websites. Typically, all splice directions measurements use fid-length as the unit of measurement.

Below is a chart that shows exact measurements of full fid lengths, short fid lengths, and long fid lengths, using 21 times the diameter of the rope.

Rope Diameter (in or mm)	Rope Circ. (in or mm)	Short Fid (in or mm)	Long Fid (in or mm)	Full Fid (in or mm)
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See also

• Eye splice
• Marlinspike
• Rope splicing
• Top

External links

• Animated splice & image of fid in use
• Instructable for creating a fid for use with paracord