Quote from Bill Skinner on Apr 10^th, 2012, 4:40pm:

 
Ancient Chamorro secret.    
 
It's a little hard to explain without illustrations but part of the trick is after you measure out your strands, instead of starting at one end, you start braiding your sling in the middle. Begin with your pouch. Beginning with my 15 strands I made five three strand braids about six inches long. I lay them next to eachother and then I clamp and sandwich them together holding them firm and flat. This keeps the strands and shape of your pouch flat. Then with the pouch strings braided and clamped, begin the braid for your finger and release strings at the pouch where your strands are clamped flat. It doesn't matter the number of strands you begin with but if you want tapered strings you have to cut out strands as you go. For these slings I went from 15 strands to 5. On an earlier model using thin sisal cord I went from about 27 strands down to five. Keep your center pouch strands sandwiched after your loop and release strings are braided then use a single strand of cord and a needle or eyelet tool and wrap cord in between the pouch strands separating them and keeping them flat. Your pouch whould still have a slight curve on the ends but that is desired because it forms a pouch that hugs your stone but still gives you a clean release.

Quote from Dilyan Ganev on Apr 10^th, 2012, 3:57pm:

 
It's five three-strand braids. You can use any number, it doesn't matter. This is all braided, no weave.

Quote from slingingrat on Apr 10^th, 2012, 5:11pm:

 
It looks okay but at least a lighter background so the detail of your sling isn't lost would be a good start. Take another photo.

Here is a better pic and sling is made of 550 cord

Thank you, that was so simple, once somebody else figured it out.  I messed around with that desigh for weeks and never got it to look or work right.  Thank you very much, you have solved a problem that has been bugging me since I saw the picture on the home page and tried to copy it.  I tried a five strand sheepshank, and it worked but it didn't look like the one on the home page.

Quote from slingingrat on Apr 10^th, 2012, 6:22pm:

 
Rat, we need a closeup or two so we can steal all your good ideas...............................

Here is what is left of the sling that my new one is replacing (for photos of it when it was new see http://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1224729851/4#4 ). I got 3 years of service out of this sling, but the release cord sheath wore through last year and I have been patching it (with duct tape and cloth medical tape) since then. The core of the paracord is mostly intact, but it would not last much longer.
 
I usually sling on gravel playing fields and the ending of my overhand throws results in the sling being dragged along the gravel. I expect this is what wore out the release cord. The scuffs on the pouch are likely from (rare) ground impacts when I am doing underhand throws.
 
I did melt the end of the release cord, but repeated impacts with the ground broke the blob of melted nylon apart. I did whip it, but that only lasted a year and I did not bother to re-whip the end.
 

Rueben, your second post got in before my comment. I like this one, too, and will check out the original post to see it new. Looks like a long-lived sling, as I have not liked one enough to use it for more than two or three months. I think you got your money's worth!