Slinging.org Forum - Spliced Rope Sling

mgreenfield

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Spliced Rope Sling
Apr 17^th, 2006 at 9:27am

This may qualify as an "imitation braided" sling.

I cut two pieces of 1/4in, 3-strand rope, each 6ft long. Rope I used was polypropylene, but any 3-strand rope could be used.

I overlapped ends of the pieces about 15in, and spliced them into each other to form a two-strand "braided sling type" pocket about 4in long. I now had one splice in each rope, which I continued up each rope until I almost ran out of strands.

Next I measured 34in from the center of my newly formed pocket to the end of each rope, and made a mark. I folded one rope over at the mark and put a small eye splice on the rope there. I started an end splice on the other rope just beyond the mark.

I now had my sling formed. I continued the eye splice AND the end splice down the ropes until they met the splicing I'd done to make the pocket. I ran the splices together and bound the meetingplace tightly with waxed string.

Thus "Instant" braided sling!! But with no taper to the cords. I'd say to make a sling like this, figure the length from pocket-center to loop that you want. Double this length and add 4". Cut the two pieces of rope this length, and you'll be about right. Many websites show how to do rope splicing.

Pictures to follow when my sweetie figures out how to run her digital camera.

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Steven Interfector Viris Spurii Offline RaptorIsAsRaptorDoes Posts: 2101 Austin, Tx. Gender:	Re: Spliced Rope Sling Reply #1 - Apr 17^th, 2006 at 9:33am Nice description plus with a 3 strand rope you can use any type of fiber not just poly. Thanks ! Want to see the photos!! 8) way too cool
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Willeke Interfector Viris Spurii Past Moderator Offline Give me some string and I know what to do. Posts: 2072 Netherlands Gender:	Re: Spliced Rope Sling Reply #2 - Apr 17^th, 2006 at 10:13am Yes, pictures please! It sounds like a fun sling. No problems with the string starting to twist? If so, the fingerloop might be under a different angle than you had made it. Another project to add to my long 'wish to do' list. Willeke
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Altay Senior Member Offline Romans 8 Posts: 447 Gibsonia, PA (USA) Gender:	Re: Spliced Rope Sling Reply #3 - Apr 17^th, 2006 at 6:08pm Wouldn't the splicing begin to come undone after a bunch of slinging? I know almost zip about splicing though. Is it as strong as knots?
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Willeke

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Re: Spliced Rope Sling
Reply #4 - Apr 17^th, 2006 at 6:53pm

Splicing, when well done is considered to be superior to knots. Much less weakening the rope and many more points of friction so more places to hold.
In cables to more big ocean going tankers they use splices with maybe 10 tucks on each strands, this sling is going to have as many as 30 tucks or more on each strand, I guess. And mgreenfield wrote that he did ensure the ends with waxed string. No way the splicing on this sling can come undone.

Willeke

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Dale

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Re: Spliced Rope Sling
Reply #5 - Apr 17^th, 2006 at 7:19pm

Aargh! My browser lost what I was typing!

Oh, well, Willeke beat me to it, and she said what I was going to say. And in fewer words (no surprise there).

But I'll go ahead and post a link to an article I found on

splices versus knots

at a site called Sailnet.com. Basically, anything you do to a rope will weaken it some, but splices weaken a rope far less than knots, because the stress on the rope is distributed over a greater length.

And here is a nice set of

instructions for putting an eye splice in a rope

.

As for the splice unravelling, it does not seem to be a problem. If you are really worried about it, you can probably whip the line after you splice it. But the guy who wrote the splicing instructions didn't say anything about keeping the splice together; I guess it just hangs together by itself.

Oh, and here is an

opinion on the usefulness of the bowline knot

,written from long sailing experience. I don't think a sling shakes a knot around as much as happens when wind meets boat, but still, we should each probably examine our slings frequently to see if anything is coming loose.

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Altay

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Re: Spliced Rope Sling
Reply #6 - Apr 17^th, 2006 at 8:05pm

Quote:

I don't think a sling shakes a knot around as much as happens when wind meets boat, but still, we should each probably examine our slings frequently to see if anything is coming loose.

The sling I made from nylon cord & various knots did seem to loosen its knots. The end of each knot (I cut them very short) would get shorter and shorter until I was afriad the knot would come apart (most likely paranoia, but who knows). I tied a stopper knot at the end of each knot and this solved the problem. Now my only problem is when the nylon snags on thorns. Undecided

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siguy

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Re: Spliced Rope Sling
Reply #7 - Apr 17^th, 2006 at 9:56pm

i try to stay away from nylon ropes and cords, as they do not hold knots well(they just slip right out), are often not very flexible, and they can have a way of "remembering" whatever you tied them into for a very long time after you have untied them. for those reasons, i prefer cotton and other natural fiber cords and ropes(though i admit i would rather go hanging off of a cliff on a modern rope than a jute one Wink

).
they can be slippery, but are more pleasing to the hand(in my oppinion)

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Altay Senior Member Offline Romans 8 Posts: 447 Gibsonia, PA (USA) Gender:	Re: Spliced Rope Sling Reply #8 - Apr 17^th, 2006 at 11:32pm The reason I didn't want to make one out of cotton, jute, any sort of natural material, is that I figured it would fall apart easily and wouldn't be able to stand as much roughness.
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Slinger_Man_Dan

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Re: Spliced Rope Sling
Reply #9 - Apr 18^th, 2006 at 12:09am

Slingers!
I made a simple sling out of 3/16 inch ( 5mm ) cotton clothesline about three months ago. This sling now has about 300 throws on it
( "seat of the pants" estimate ) and is still working just fine. The cotton has stretched a bit, about an inch over the length of the sling which is a short sling about 14 inches folded. The cotton takes a knot very well. .......Dan

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mgreenfield

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Re: Spliced Rope Sling
Reply #10 - Apr 18^th, 2006 at 10:40am

Took this sling out for a test drive last nite. Pitched tennis balls. Worked fine. Fat released cord easy to hang on to. But sling has a very heavy feel in the hand. It seems to say, "Give me REAL ammo, ...like half-a-brick!" Grin

Sling might have felt better with short splices instead of the full-length splices I used.

Right now, I prefer the sling made of spliced tubular polypropylene rope mentioned earlier.

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Willeke

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Re: Spliced Rope Sling
Reply #11 - Apr 18^th, 2006 at 5:05pm

There are so many man-made fibres on the market now, just look for the best for your needs.
Nylon is not the best, but polypropylene is often good to work with.
Kevlar is good, but does not work well with knots.
And so on.

Natural fibres are nice to work with, often feel good to the hand, but almost all of them do need more care in storing. (Never leave a wet sling in an airtight container, it will mold.)
So every kind of fibres has its pro's and cons.

Willeke

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sv Funditor Offline Posts: 764 ireland	Re: Spliced Rope Sling Reply #12 - Apr 20^th, 2006 at 11:29am jute lasts very well if you protect the pocket properly (see my post "protect your braid") my favorite sling is nylon starter cord with a bowline split pouch btw - i don't know how to splice and look forward to seeing the pics sv
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Dale

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Re: Spliced Rope Sling
Reply #13 - Apr 20^th, 2006 at 3:10pm

There is no end of things to learn here...

I found two references on how to splice three-strand rope.

Samson Rope produced

this tutorial

on splicing; it is a PDF document so you need the

Adobe Acrobat Reader

to read it.

Coops provided a link to

a tutorial by someone called Eli

, in one of his posts. I have copied the link here.

Samson Ropes has better illustrations, but Eli writes better instructions, in my opinion.

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Altay

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Re: Spliced Rope Sling
Reply #14 - Apr 20^th, 2006 at 3:20pm

Are you splicing braided cord or twisted cord? I've been using braided (as in 4 strand braid) nylon cord, so I was assuming you were splicing a braided cord. Can braided cord be spliced?

Quote:

I cut two pieces of 1/4in, 3-strand rope, each 6ft long. Rope I used was polypropylene, but any 3-strand rope could be used.

I guess I should have read more carefully. When you said "any 3-strand rope could be used" did you mean that 4-strand (braided) won't work?

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