Making a Dyneema Soft Shackle

How to Tie a Dyneema Soft Shackle

In this tutorial, I have combine the unboxing of the soft shackle kit, also following the instructions to create a Dyneema Soft Shackle. Well thanks to a secret donation, I was able to go out and purchase a Dyneema Soft Shackle Kit. As you will see from the video the kit comprises of enough Dyneema cut to length to make 4 soft shackles. Four lengths of whipping twine for the release mechanism. One long splicing needle, which has D splicer written on the handle. And finally, Selma Splicing Fid?? Not sure if that is the correct name or not.

Dyneema Soft Shackle Instructions

I have to say that following the instructions was very simple, and as you will see from the video I managed to produce a rather lovely soft shackle.

How Strong is Dyneema?

Dynema is reported to be 15 times stronger than steel.

Dyneema also has the ability to resist stretch, it is extremely lightweight and UV resistant. One down side that I found with the Dyneema was that it was not very resistant to heat. Therefore, if used on a winch where heat may be generated, then this could cause the Dyneema to fail.

Dyneema Soft Shackle Safety!

We have now established that Dyneema is exceptionally strong, but the thing that we need to remember is, that the strength of the shackle is determined by the strength of the knot used! In this particular review I use a simple lanyard knot as the button on the end of the Dyneema soft shackle. However, this particular knot can be improved upon by using a variation of ABoK 880, a wall and crown with then ends tucked down the middle of the knot. I personally know this as a Manrope Knot. The Manrope Knot is I believe more stable and secure than the Lanyard Knot. Like all things that are used for critical loads, you will need to test the strength of the materials and knots used.