Years back, I probably spliced miles of line ("rope" to you landlubbers) including splices to stainless steel cable and other things. I had a Marlin Spike knife for this work. (Wonder if my ex still has it? :sneaky2:)
One essenial tool for such rope work is a fid, an integral part of every marlin spike knife. If you want to make your own fid, here's a good site with instructions on how:
http://www.ropeworks.biz/reader/fid.pdf
This is a Marlin Spike Knife:

