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Mexican accounts (Read 4386 times)
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Re: Mexican accounts
Reply #15 - Mar 9th, 2007 at 5:40pm
 
I recently was given two slings from my friend Antonio. He had his aunt in Mexico make them the traditional way. They are made from the cactus fibers described in first post. I was really surprised at the size of the pouch. It is quite wider than I am used to a little over three inches and at least a quarter of an inch thick. I have been looking at a lot of pictures of woven pouches and can find any done the same way these are. All the pouches I found are wove starting at one end and continuing back and forth, so they look like they run the oppisite direction of the cords. The slings I got from Mexico weave in the other direction the long way. I cannot figure it out, but the cool part is that there is like seem right down the middle. So when you pull on the cords the pouch kind of folds up the long way. I have not gotten a good chance to try it, just some ice chunks. I hope to get a digital camera after I get my taxes back so i can post some pics of them. Anyone else ever weave a pouch the long way.
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Re: Mexican accounts
Reply #16 - Mar 9th, 2007 at 5:46pm
 
wow cactus fibres ?
So how long are the slings ? (folded in half)
Does antonio know how to make the slings ? If not it sounds like one more example of a dying art, if his aunt dies - who's it passed on to ?
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Willeke
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Re: Mexican accounts
Reply #17 - Mar 9th, 2007 at 6:02pm
 
You mean lengthwise as I have done in this sling?:
...

Willeke
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Re: Mexican accounts
Reply #18 - Mar 9th, 2007 at 6:15pm
 
Folded in half it is about two feet. Willeke, the braiding is similar to yours but the pouch is solid no split.
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Re: Mexican accounts
Reply #19 - Mar 9th, 2007 at 6:34pm
 
To make a pouch like that you can use the instructions of Matthias woven pouch ( http://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1168848146/10#10 ), but use more strings to start of with, and take them longer than you want your pouch to be, I think 10 to 20%, depending on how you weave.
Matthias leaves the weft a little loose (that is the one string he is adding), while the warp is rather tight (those are the strings on the frame). To make a pouch like mine you pull the weft tight each time before and during the pushing up action, and you let the warp loose, you will have to lengthen the sting with which it is tied, most likely.

Making a pouch with no split is even easier than one with a split, just go on weaving like you do for the first bit, forget the talk about adding a second string and so on. You might want to pull your weft a little less tight in the middle of the pouch, to make it wider, and pull harder again after the wide part.

Instead of using a new set of strings for the pouch, you can also use the strings of the braided cord, and just add as many as needed to get a wide enough pouch, (that is what I have done, with as extra difficulty that I changed colour of string for the different cords, but I used knottyers tricks to do that.)

Willeke
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Re: Mexican accounts
Reply #20 - Mar 16th, 2007 at 3:20am
 
I'm always curious about the styles that the ancients used, Aztecs, Egytians, Romans, and Greeks..... Their slings look short, but the some were described like 'kill a horse in single hit'.... And, in battles, long slings are not practical. Roll Eyes Huh
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Re: Mexican accounts
Reply #21 - Mar 16th, 2007 at 11:31am
 
I am also intrested in the historical accounts of the sling. I have several and others I am going back to reread.
But we have to be carefull not to take the accounts too literaly. There are all sorts of distortions in the effectiveness of historical weaponry. One of the problems I was facing around here was that some of the local reenactors were downplaying the effictiveness of the sling because they could not get the range that they had read about in classic sources. My response to that after looking at their reproduction english longbows was to ask if thier bows could shoot through five inches of seasoned oak at 200 yards. Because I read in a classic account that a longbow could do just that. But back to the accounts.
There are many reasons why an account could be misleading the main reason is that oftentimes the author of the account never actually saw the events in question.

Marc Adkins

LKH9 wrote on Mar 16th, 2007 at 3:20am:
I'm always curious about the styles that the ancients used, Aztecs, Egytians, Romans, and Greeks..... Their slings look short, but the some were described like 'kill a horse in single hit'.... And, in battles, long slings are not practical. Roll Eyes Huh

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Re: Mexican accounts
Reply #22 - Mar 16th, 2007 at 1:35pm
 
An other reason most of us will never get the range they did in the past is that we do not have the trained muscles.
To use a longbow to its fullest power you need to have been doing it from when you where just big to use a bow, and training with it every day. And do other work that developes the muscles for the rest of the day.
Most of us do not do work that developes our muscles in such a way. Some of us, though, seem to be able to sling much farther. I think that might be that they are stronger, and use there trained muscles in the right way.

Willeke
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Re: Mexican accounts
Reply #23 - Mar 16th, 2007 at 8:29pm
 
Oh yes, ancient and primitive people are extremely tough and strong! Even the women can be stronger than some modern men. They can even carry a cooking-gas can up a hill. Grin
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Re: Mexican accounts
Reply #24 - Mar 19th, 2007 at 3:54pm
 
it's the old adage about learning anything.

There are three simple rules you follow to be good at something.

1) practice
2) practice
3) and when you get tired of that, practice some more !
:-)

Distances of 200 yards with a 2 1/2 foot sling and proper cast lead ammo - should be attainable by most people I would have thought. As long as you follow the three rules :-)
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Do All things with Honour and Generosity: Regret Nothing, Envy None, Apologise Seldom and Bow your head to No One  - works for me Smiley
 
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