Rope Thimbles

A rope thimble is the tear-shaped or D-shaped metal insert that reinforces the eye of a rope or wire rope splice, protecting the rope fibres from the concentrated pressure and abrasion of a shackle, hook, or anchor fitting at the loop point. At the DIY Hardware Store, our rope thimbles are available in the sizes used for wire rope, natural fibre rope, and synthetic rope spliced eyes in rigging, load securing, marine, and agricultural applications.

Without a thimble, a rope eye bearing directly on a shackle pin or hook experiences extreme localised pressure at the bearing point, which crushes and abrades the rope fibres at that location and significantly reduces the eye's load capacity. A thimble distributes this bearing load across the full width of the thimble groove, and its smooth, hard surface allows the rope to bear on metal rather than metal-on-rope-fibre. The result is a much stronger, longer-lasting eye termination that performs closer to the rope's rated breaking strength.

Available in galvanised steel and stainless steel in rope diameter sizes from 4mm to 20mm at the DIY Hardware Store.

  • Protects rope eye from crushing and abrasion at bearing point
  • Distributes load across full thimble groove width
  • Significantly increases eye termination load capacity
  • Used in wire rope, natural, and synthetic rope spliced eyes
  • Galvanised steel and stainless steel options
  • Rope diameter sizes from 4mm to 20mm available