In some situations there is not much room to feed through a fid. Soft needles may prove to be the solution. You can easily make one from a Dyneema cover and a single braid Dyneema rope. Make sure you use a Dyneema cover because they are smooth and thin. Feed the rope you want to pull through the Dyneema cover. This cover will become tight around the rope once you try to pull it. Once the soft needle is eased out you can slide the cover off.
1. Use a pulling needle to feed the soft needle through the rope.
2. Insert the core one fid length into the cover of the soft needle.
3. Pull the core through the rope cover with the soft needle.
A soft needle comprises two ropes: a thin Dyneema rope to grip, and a Dyneema cover that holds the rope to be pulled through. Join the two ropes with a lock splice.
1. Take a Dyneema cover of around 50cm length and a single braid Dyneema rope of at least one metre length and a diameter of 3–4mm. Insert a fid about 5cm along from the end of the rope and pull through the cover.
2. Insert the fid through the cover, just next to the junction from step 1, and pull through the rope.
4. Insert a pulling needle into the rope and pull the cover back out.
5. Taper the cover by cutting it diagonally.
6. Pull the end of the rope through the cover.
8. This creates a soft needle.
