gemrod:
You have the thread count in a Shorb loop all wrong! In Step 1 of making the loop, you pull the standing leg back through the center of the three-strand-each-side terminal loop (between each leg in the standing part), which does divided the six threads into three on each side of the standing leg. In Step 2 you pull the six-thread terminal loop-leg back through the standing leg, leaving three threads on each side of the loop leg on each side of the six-strand standing leg. When everything is pulled tight, you wind up with a figure "8" knot consisting of 12 strands of thread in the knot itself and all six original threads of the terminal segment making up the loop per se. This is equivalent to doubling the tippet end back on itself and bonding the the six-threaded sides together to make the loop.Thus, the leader has not lost any threads, and therefore strength, at either end in the making of the Shorb loop. If you slip a ring over one leg before you twist is when you will have half of the threads on one side of the ring and the other half on the opposite side; thus dividing the terminal threads as you suggest for the Shorb loop. The 'handclasp' knot joining the ring to the tippet end would produce a knot equivalent in strength to the Shorb loop. If the Shorb knot at the tippet end is properly sized, it should be just as easy to loop-to-loop to a Shorb loop as it is to a small metal ring at that end.
I also fail to see any real significance to the loss of 1", or more, of leader in the making of a couple of Shorb loops, one on each end of the leader. I dare say that darned few, if any among us, who made their own knotted leaders came any closer than this to our intended leader length. Furthermore, I seriously doubt that anyone who makes (made) their own knotted tapered leaders, or used knot-less tapered leaders, ever actually measured them to determine how long they actually were to begin with, and definitely did (do) not do so when adding a new tippet. Therefore, IMHO, to bring this up is an exercise in jousting at windmills, and only adds chaos to confusion for the beginner. This is leader making; NOT rocket design. To go down that rabbit trail leads one directly into accounting for the extra leader length that the radii of the pegs themselves add to the overall leader length, and how best to compensate for it.
I don't understand your profoundly negative attitude towards the UK forum, as you keep selling it short. In fact, there is information there on more than one way to furl, not just one as you claim. Jim Williams presents his way, but several others, many from this side of the pond, also discuss their methods and provide photos of their boards and how they do things. And none of them claim their method to be better than any of the others. I completely rebuilt my board shortly after the first of the year and included a number of improvements to it that I gleaned from the posts of others on that site. My original was almost a direct copy of Skip Shorb's board. When he saw my new board in February, he commented quite favorably on the changes that I had incorporated, and indicated that he may rebuild his and incorporate some of the features of mine, all of which, to be redundant, came from the UK board. Personally, I feel very strongly that anyone doing furling, except perhaps for a few, should go to this forum and study the various postings rather thoroughly. I particularly recommend this to ALL furling beginners. Sorry, but I view that forum quite differently than you do.
As a college freshman in the mid-'50's, one of my profs had a motto on his office wall that has withstood the test of time with me. It read: "As long as you are green, you continue to grow. As soon as you ripen, you begin to rot!" As a mid-septaugenarian, I like to think I am still green and am continuing to grow! I ain't ready to start rotting just yet! Learning all I can from others is very important to my continued growth; and staying green.
aged sage
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