Tyvek slings would be interesting Willeke! I have a few projects that have been waiting on a small supply - if you want to buy it here you are forced into 100m rolls of the stuff. I sometimes check the construction dumpsters after they've sheathed a house but so far no luck...

I found a neat little tool at a japanese dollar-store. It is a miniature, hand-cranked paper shredder that looks like one of the school-type wall mounted pencil sharpeners. Anything you feed in the top comes out in nice 3mm or so strips! I bet a full sized paper shredder would make quick work out of preparing tyvek, so long as you had a long enough strip to start with.

Matthias

question: when you twist the cords. how do you keep them from unraveling or twisting back over while you make the others?

Quote:


It depends on the material.
With the tyvek, once the twist is in I pull it hard and enough twist stays in. With other plastics that might not be enough. In that case, the same as with all cord. Roll it onto something as soon as twisted enough and keep it like that till needed.
Or twist 2 or more strips at the same time, separately, and twist them in the opposite direction together, like making rope by hand.

Or, when braiding, do not pre-twist your plastic, but give it a twist with each braiding move.

Matthias, I send you a PM.

Willeke

just remember when you are twiesting it, double and then twist the opposite way.  otherwise you will get absolutely nowhere.  cordage making is really not that herd.  the hardest part is making sure the initaly twisted fibers don't break from over twisting, but that probably wont happen untill you start making thread thin strands.

all great ideas, i found a good one. similar to tyvek. have you guys ever laid pine straw? well the orange plastic string works amazing. but plastic bags are just great. now i've been playing with hemp so we'll see how that goes. i have extremly thin hemp so it should make for a  good sling.

I've gone crazy, though sinse joining this web site i've made 38 slings! and they all work. i'm making most of them for friends, but i find myself trying to make a better one every time and cant decide which one i wish to keep.

i seen what may be perfect for those of you makeing plastic bag slings it called knot-a-bag  i seen it in the camping section at work (wal-mart)  its a 30'+ continuos length of 12" wide plastic two rolls and a  container for less then$5

Well, I decided to give a plastic bag sling a shot, unaware at the time that I have never made cordage from anything...

It was purely experimental, so I decided to see what all the excitement over a wrist loop is all about in the process. It's constructed from Demoulas grocery bags, the type so thin, they're semitransparent. I used a five ply, 3 strips per ply, style on the retention cord; The release cord uses a three strand braid, each strand is 2 ply, 4 strips per ply. The pouch is made out of duck tape, and is very strong. I'm going to redo it soon though, since the shape is off, and it was done in a rush/sloppily.

No logic behind the parts of the sling, I was just experimenting.

Close up of the two different cords:

The cords are surprisingly strong, but light weight. I'm not going to try hanging from them, but they're definitely adequate for slinging.
This is my shortest sling by far, if you haven't made a short one, I highly recomend it. Still packs quite a punch. If you've been practicing with a long sling, then switch to a short one, you'll be amazed at the accuracy.

Redundant Disclaimer to prevent an immediate loss of all respect: I havent made cordage before.

i made one with a split pouch. i wish i culd find my digital camera cord. i'd show you guys in a heart beat. but, yeah, after the cordage is done, it's really all down hill from there. what i do is a slightly diferent process.
    I do use multiple strips but i have each one at aboout 2 cm wide and 20 cm long and then i overlap the peices and twist the ends with a sheet bend knot. i then take a gator clip(similar to the clips that hold chip bags shut) and duct tape a pencil to it on one of the handles and put the pencil in a power drill. i then clamp the gator grip down on the end of a length of bag strips and duct tape the aposing end to the ground, and then i turn on the drill. once it's tight enough i have my brother help me to switch the drill to the center of the line and double it over. then i drill again. it's a much faster process, and it make the cord very evenly distributed and tight. also at the end i made sure all the small little knot were flush with the line. you can hardle see them because they are so small.