Greetings to all Slingers!

     This will be my first attempt at writing a tutorial so feel free to give any criticism you feel is necessary… And if somebody has done this already, sorry.  I believe in giving credit where it is due so let me know!  Okay, on with it!

     Since I started slinging a little under a year ago I found myself constantly trying to make the “perfect” sling.  Well, we all know that there isn’t any such thing, but I think that the LightSlinger Pouch is about as close to perfect as I can get (For me anyway..).  I wanted and needed a pouch with a quicker and cleaner release for throwing golf balls with a reduced amount of spin.  It was pretty frustrating.  I even toyed around with the idea of making an explosive release pouch that would fly away from the projectile faster than it could start to roll.

     One day I was desperate for pouching material and saw an old bicycle inner tube being useless.  I took a pair of scissors to it and got the LightSlinger pouch.  

     When I first tried throwing a golf ball with the new sling I was amazed at how smooth and fast the release was.  I had been seriously concerned that the thin rubber would actually cause problems because of it’s stretchiness and was pleasantly surprised to find that not only is the stretch negligible, it also causes the pouch to open very quickly upon release as it springs back to it’s normal shape.  

     You will probably find that there is a very short adjustment period that you will need to get used to the release time, but, for me it felt very natural and was under control after the first 3 throws.  Even though this pouch was made specifically for throwing golf balls, it is now my pouch of choice for throwing everything from golf balls, rocks, up to tennis balls(with a slightly bigger pouch of course.)

     This pouch type is very easy to make and a person should be able to make over two dozen of them with no more than a couple bucks (Or maybe nothing at all if you have the materials lying around like I did.) and about 15 – 20 minutes per sling.

     What you will need
Scissors
Mason line or some other kind of whipping material
1 standard bicycle inner tube.
Whatever cordage you want to use for your retaining and release cords.  The Slings I make with this use boot laces (the stiff kind).

First, Cut the inner tube in half.  Then use the scissors to open the tube along one of it’s seams.

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It should look like this now.

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Then cut the pouch out in the following shape.  This image is to scale so if you print this page out you can use it as a template. (Sorry bout the quality.  I’m not super good with drawing utilities..)

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It should look something like this...  You'll probably notice right away that the rubber is a little rougher in the inside.  make sure that this is the inside of your pouch and it will naturally create a lengthwise cupping.

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Next, Tie a standard overhand knot in one end of each of your cords.  These will serve as stopper knots when you secure them to the pouch.  Place the knot where shown below...

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Begin Securing the cord to the pouch using a West Country Whipping.  Just tie the alternating knot directly behind the stopper knot and work away from the pouch. Tie the knots tightly and you'll find that they grip the rubber nicely.  I usually do the whipping down the length of the rubber tabs and about half a centimeter onto the cord before I quit.

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Trim the ends of your whipping and heat seal if desired.

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And now you’re done with one cord.  Just do the same with the other side, tie your retention loop and release knots and have fun!

Here’s some pictures of completed Slings…

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and another..

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Tha's a pretty good tutorial.  You may want to mention when and why you put the beads next to the pouch.  How does the rubber compare to leather?  How does it handle rocks?

I could use another all weather sling ::) and now I know what  to do with all those old  bike tubes. Thanks!

Walter

NICE. but how does it use rocks? thats pretty much all ive got, except broken TV glass.

@ Bill skinner:  darn it! I knew I was forgetting something when I was posting this thing.  Well the truth is that I don't recommend the beads near the pouch.  I put them there purely for decoration.  As it turns out, they may be a little counterproductive actually.  When I release the sling in a position to get top spin(palm facing in), you can hear a little "click" sound as the projectile hits the bead.  I don't know how much it actually effects things since the beads are pretty lightweight, but why risk it eh?  But it DOES look really nice, so I included the pic...  As far as how it handles rocks, see below...

@Walter: I'm glad you like it!  I quite like its all weather aspect too and the rubber has just enough friction to hold those pesky slick golf balls even in wet conditions.  Another thing I like about the pictured slings is that they are super compact.  I can fit at least two or three in my pocket comfortably.

@Squirrelslinger:  well, I've thrown most common types of ammo from golf balls, racquetballs, rusty sling balls, rocks and even a couple of strangely shaped marbles and it works very well for all of them.  I have to admit though that raquetteballs are not my favorite things to throw with it.  The fact that they are made out if very similar material makes them grip each other tightly resulting in the same kind of release time you might get from a more standard sling.  Not bad in and of itself, but if you go from throwing a bunch of golf balls to throwing a racquetball, you may find it ending up in the dirt in front of you...
 As far as throwing rocks goes specifically, I love it!  To be fair I feel that I must admit that I haven't had much opportunity to throw lots of rocks from these slings as I live in the city and have little free time to seek out places to launch rocks, but on the few occasions that I did have, it worked like a dream.  I found it easier to put rifle spins on the egg shaped rocks I did get to throw than with any other sling I've ever used.  I really have no idea how long the rubber will hold up to the greater friction of throwing rocks, but I think they may prove to be surprisingly tough.  I'd love for someone to test this out and let us all know how they work out..

Update:  
Yesterday I had the opportunity to finally spend some time throwing rocks with this sling.  They were the nasty rocks that they use on railroad tracks (cause that's where I was).  You know, the jaggedy quartz rocks with the black stone mixed in?  They were pretty terrible as far as ammunition goes, but the pouch worked like a charm!  I threw stones pretty much constantly for about 45 minutes without any noticeable wear on the pouch OR the release cord.  Just thought you'd like to know.

If anybody puts one of these together, let me know what you think of it!!

Nice job. Good looking sling .

squirrel  slinger, have more faith in the pouch. It can't go flat and  will probably outlast you  ;D

Walter

Thanks!  

Excellent tutorial and a great design too.  Good job!!

Thank You Rat Man!  

LightSlinger wrote on Nov 18^th, 2012 at 5:10am:

and another..

This is the one you sent me in the SITH!!!!
I just figured that out!

-Squirrel

LOL.

Yep..  They are specifically made for slinging Golf balls, but they also throw Rusty Sling balls like nobody's buisness.  

LightSlinger wrote on Feb 11^th, 2013 at 3:19am:

LOL. Yep..  They are specifically made for slinging Golf balls, but they also throw Rusty Sling balls like nobody's buisness.

WHAT ON EARTH ARE RUSTY SLING BALLS??????
They have been mentioned a million times!!!
- a frustrated squirrel

squirrelslinger wrote on Feb 11^th, 2013 at 3:56am:

WHAT ON EARTH ARE RUSTY SLING BALLS?????? They have been mentioned a million times!!!

Use the search : looking for "rusty ball", setting is all words, field is only subject and time is "all time". You can check the last box if you want.

Youwill find this : http://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1309040514/0#0.