I was never a splicer, but I worked with one a lot when I was on the line crew. In our area, a big pair count would be 1200 pair. We worked on some 300 and 600 too. Like Ed said, keep the groups together from the start. Those cables weren't filled with grease, so it was very easy for a pair to get lost. Split pairs would make you the talk of the coffee table the next day. We had a special bag that held 4 inch colored ties for all the colors. It could be hung from a support so it was convenient to grab the right colored tie when you needed it. [Linked Image]I still have mine.

Some of our work was done in manholes, but I remember doing some aerial work where a riser cable, from a manhole, spliced into an aerial boot. For example, a 300 pair riser spliced to a 100 pair going one direction and a 200 going another direction. So, you had to know your cable count for that terminal, and have good cut sheets. I ran into an old splicer last week who happens to still be contracting. He said it's pretty tough to get anyone that knows much about that stuff anymore. But that's for another discussion.

Of course, the color coded cables were nice. There were some old lead cables without colored pairs. All pairs were red and white, as I recall. Those had to be toned out. Big or small pair count, those were a pain.

Jim