Great to actually see these connectors tested and not just talked about anecdotally. Nice work.

You need to add the crimp with 3 turns at both ends. This works well. The crimp and 3 turns is great for end connections also.

ive never had a knot fail before a foot lifted. This is a very interesting channel. I'm blown away by the experiment. Crimps extra cost ,Not keen on them.

I really enjoyed this one, Tim. Watched it a few times in fact. (Slow mo is fun!). Information is power... and money saved. Now we will all know not only which tools and talents to invest our time and money in but why as well. Thanks, mate. Looking forward to more of these as well as all the good content you consistently provide. It makes my Saturday morning to see a notification come up that Tim Thompson is at it again. (I’m in the US.)

Amazing content Tim, can't wait to go over the fence. Miss ya

Great content Tommo, miss you heaps and I'm glad I can still see you producing great content :)

Another awesome video. For someone who is about to do a LOT of fencing, you've certainly helped me a huge amount Tim. Thanks mate!

another great vid Tim enjoy them every time

Great to see the comparison - However I don’t have knot failures in my fences - I am proficient at tying all these knots and will continue to rely on them. Do use a gripple very occasionally. Still have the original bundle of spiral grips in the bottom of my tool box. As for crimps IMHO they appear slow and clumsy, and you need extra paraphernalia

great job Tim get that extra large assembly out into the field I will be very interested in the review

Thanks mate...most interesting....still love the figure 8 when in a hurry !!

Great vid Tim, looking forward to the knot tying vid, re Donald and Tex.

Hi Tim, I've watched many of you knot tying videos and I'm glad you did this video on wire and knot strengths. I plan on building my first fence later this year and your video has certainly helped me to clear up a few things. Hopefully in the near future you will include the barbed wire test as well as a few other knots like the speed knot and the reef knot. I'm particularly interested in the reef knot due to its symmetry and would be interested to see if the strength would be increased if one were to put a small diameter aluminum pin within the center of the knot preventing premature kinking from occurring.

Thanks fellas, great video. Now I'll have to go and check up on those knots and fasteners.

That's very interesting. I had 3 tex browns fail on netting recently. I think I'll have to learn your strainer knot.

Great Video - Thanks. I'm fencing over the ditch and we only use Strainrite crimps as they'll take a greater load than the Hayes ones (bourne out over here with tests and in the field). Be really interesting to do a price comparison with the fencers "time to complete" in the equation

Great video Tim. Awesome testing rig. I'd like to spend an evening with one of these. Test Gripples with wrapped ends, try some max tensors, test Crips with different adjustments on the Hays pro crimp tool. Test that reef knot I tied one day when learning to tie a figure of eight. And do it all with Galvanised wire compared to the Warata "long life". I suspect the harder coating on galvanised wire works better with crimps.

Legend mate great video very informative

Love your vids Tim!

Excellent video 👌

Ha Ha Double loops. 3/4 of my fences are held together that way! Never breaks on the join though, it's always somewhere else on the wire. Nice comparison Tim.

Great ! Looking forward barbed wire test.

Interesting test, a lot of end assemblies would be struggling with 5kn of strain but very interesting. Also as a 2.5 high tensile wire like a TyEasy from Waratah which we seem to use a lot is recommended to strain to 1.8kn most of those knots would still work until something lent or ran into the fence. In some cases I still like a gripple for the ability to re tension at a later date if required.

Top stuff!

Very Interesting vid, I was surprised by the gripple but i still dont trust them.. I have another test for you, the fastening to the post, so termination knot like the D knot, gripple T clip, hard stapled down the post etc

I've been using crimps for strain joining and I usually leave the tails long through the sleeve, then I bend the tails over the crimp and wrap thrice on the opposite side of the crimp. I call that a butterfly knot cause that's what it looks like. Or even just bend up the tails and trim them off to prevent the wire slipping through the crimp.

Good one! If you can access the test bed again maybe test how much tension you can produce with truckers hitch (and multi rope pully variants) compared to ratchetstraps.

Great video Tim, I've heard the spiral fast is stronger than the wire it is joining, so I will go with 585.

Hi mate, been a fencing contractor for too long now and I'm sure we do things slightly differently but these clips you do are very interesting. Good work.

Tim, great video. I'm guessing 565.

Do you have a video showing how to tie each of those knots? I would've liked a close up of the knots and joiners under pressure, but very interesting video. I live way out in the country in texas and have had to stop many times on back roads to chase someone's calves back into the pasture and try to patch the fence until they can get out to fix it.

wish you had a similar set up video and test for regular ropes and knots too.

Spiral fast holding the ends, it was always a given, I'd guess a longer spiral would give more too having more traction on the main lines

I reckon the spiral fast eliminates any pinch points or compromise in the wire

I use crimps with six tight clockwise wraps. Sometimes I use one lazy wrap followed by six tight wraps.

U should do a test where u put a little knick in the wire w a knife or a file. Amazing how much tiny damage can weaken the wire.

575 and I followed instructions. Last test.

Some good testing, except on the Gripple. I say this, as every time I've found one on an old fence, I do it myself, as I figured it was the way to do it. The wire that pokes through the Gripple, rather than cut off short like you had, is bent back around the gripple onto the same wire and tied off by looping it around, on both wires. I was told this was done to stop the Gripple sliding to help prevent loss of strain if the Gripple moves.

Spiral guess 420, but definitely your best video yet, I learned a hell of a lot, thanks mate..ok..holy shit...new guess for the spiral..550.....I was also really surprised by the gripple, which I do not like to use after your information about one giving way, but a fencer recently said on a very short run of brand new fence that they were the best choice as you can restrain easy, but I twitch the ends as they scare the shit out of me

nice test, I would have liked to see a bit more of a scientific approach ie. multiple tests with an average but it obviously takes more time and money. Those gripples are not cheap ;)

This is factual scientific research with good results which stand. So well done. However, In situ, in practice, a fence wire is not like these experiments. The figure 8 knot is designed to spread the surface area pressure over a great area. That's one advantage. And of course it's easy to tie. The figure 8 is designed to be able to cinch up over many years as live stock and tree limbs. It's supposed to be tied so it has room to cinch up if the wire is put under stress by live stock and tree limbs. It's a forgiving knot that is more than strong enough for any fence. The reality is that the figure 8 knot future proof's a fence line wire. It's supposed to have "give" in it. Now, and as for straining using figure 8, the action taken here is to know your wire and slightly over strain so the relaxation of the strainers allows the wire to still be under maximum tension without deforming the figure 8 which you have made with some in-built stretch (future proof). NB : I would suggest that any kind of impact on a fence that brought its wires to breaking point will be a rather large mess in any case. The type of knot would be irrelevant. So, to iterate : Out in the paddock where real animals live and trees grow you can confidently use a figure 8 knowing it will take the knocks and strains. I love science but the lab can't duplicate what happens on a pastoral grazing property. The figure 8 is great with 8 and 10 gauge soft fencing wire. There's nothing wrong with using the double loop knot either.

Wonder if the gripple with tail curled around wire would have helped, but I prefer knowing the cheapest was the strongest 😎

Yeah interesting.😃

Money is on the spiral fast being the the same as the wire. But i would just use a knot or a crimp if I didnt have much wire to play with.

I tried to find a good video on the Tex Brown Knot. Would you by chance be doing a how to on the Tex Brown in the near future?

I use porcelain insulators , could you test them against plastic ? I often use the barrel ones as terminators too be good to know if they are strong as the wire, i expect them to handle just twisted knot if you can call it that but maybe not a real knot. thanks Col.

620! So the wire breaks first?

So the spiral fast it is then 👍 Knots I'd go the figure 8 as it still holds before snapping like the spiral fast 👍 gripples best used as a sinker then.....go fish 🍻

Could we see a test like this with barbed wire knots?

great video, one Question plz , "how big' is the sheep to be able to break the simple double loop at 260kg ....

So there's nothing wrong with a gripple then. 👍

Hi Tim, just wondering did ye consider using a reef knot and would it have been able to contend with the others? Great video by the way

You test rig uses Spiralfasts to secure ends each time....the Spiralfast in middle should be the same as control test...👍🏻

Let the first slip through to the keeper and beeped the second

Just a reminder for those of us watching in ‘Merica, it’s 2.2 pounds per kilometer and uhh... exchange rate for pounds to American is about $1.40 / pound soooo.... I don’t know, like 2 tons or something- which is like 10 yards, or first down in Football. *chugs a Coors light and high fives a bald eagle* Cheers👌🏼

Wow! Super interesting,Tim. Been trying to make a decision about ringlock join.Had to cut 8 line to allow a gravel truck in,now have to join it all up again,along with two hot wires. Just for my curiosity,Tim,what would you use? I need to add a small piece on each strand,i.e. two joins. Gripples,{16?}fig 8,or any other suggestion welcome. A huge nuisance,but,have do it....soon!

Tim do crimps work well enough for end boxes ie when the two wires aren't 100% parallel to each other.

Tim, do you have a list (or reference for) what knots can be used to join different gauges of wire? Lots of "how to tie this knot" vids out there but don't usually include that sort of info (even the state Ag education materials rarely even list Orange and Speed knots). I find myself repairing lots of fences with a range of sizes (4/3.15/2.5mm plus various gauges of hard and soft barb), even 4mm that's oval/tapered/eroded down in size. Any tips pls?

500

Sorry Tim, but this was basically an ad for Spiralfast. What about Gripples with a twitch each end, as that is the only way that I will use them, but all cases using the extra joiner fittings are going to cost someone wanting a basic fence extra $$$.

Would have been nice to see each knot made before testing. And each device installed.

Like the dont like cheaters bit tell that to a couple of your cricketers!!!

520kg

your video is great. Subbing before 100000 subs :D

Guessing 570

560

490

Have you tested a speed knot?

625

520

Donald know how good

Plus 50 on the crimp 🤔

How about a wld

570

600

I’d like me to see where the taihape speed knot holds up against these. Would probably beat the Donald

290

I was optimistic ....... Can you tell me Tim are there any strainers that have a strain gauge built in ?

One knot you forgot!! The REEF knot!!

would have like to seen the tails wrapped on the crimp and the #8 ...

545. Doh

510

540

497

580

535

Sorry for double comment but no western union splice? Leaned it from my grandpa has never failed me. (Lemme specify that ive had lots of broken fences in my life but never had a proper w.u. splice fail)

Can you redo the test with 3.15mm trellis wire?

450, did I get it? Let's roll the film

575 kg

385 - The high tensile wire will fail .

555

240

630 kg

breaking polnt 495

525 ish

Could you please test knots for electric fences on insulators ? I Don't like the idea of just doing 6 twists , seems weak to me ..

587

I’m thinking the spiral will fail at about 502

My guess 525