Chris,
Gently warm it up in the steam off the kettle and strip back with your nails or teeth. Easier to trim it with your teeth than scissors but tastes bloody awful and you end up spitting tiny bits all over your kitchen.
I've just knocked up some new bottom rigs using snakebite gold as the boom and stripping part back to form a knotless knott and supple area of 2 inches and couldn't agree with you more Steve. Good luck Chris, the pains we go through to make the ultimate rig huh?