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practicality of fancy slings (Read 2305 times)
Curious Aardvark
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practicality of fancy slings
Feb 22nd, 2007 at 8:40am
 
Right managed to test drive my tibetan yak hair sling last night. New steam moulded pouch works a treat. But it's too long, too heavy and about as impractical a weapon as I've ever used.
Also slung with my hand braided split pouch sling (justknots fine work). While very light and quite short it works okay but the split pouch again is highly impractical. If you don't have exactly the right size and shape projectile it either falls through the hole or flies off sideways.

Also used the aussie pouch sling. works very well, but can't really sling very small stones effectively. But is good for wet stuff.

At the end of the day the most versatile and effective sling I've used and own is one made with a simple oval soft leather pouch with the corners pinched and glued to form a slight cup.

It can take stones as large as the tibetan one, and smaller than the aussie pouch. Nothing falls out or through any hole.
With 27 inch cords I can sling over 200yards (further than I managed with the much longer tibetan one). And in most styles.

So while I appreciate the art and craft that goes into making the fancy slings and pouches. I can't see the simple leather pouch with short cords being beaten for all round versatility.  

I'm just not sure the woven and braided slings are all that practical :-)
(hmm, could be controversial that statement - oh well lol)
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Dravonk
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Re: practicality of fancy slings
Reply #1 - Feb 22nd, 2007 at 9:34am
 
My braided split pouch works nice for many sizes. I've used it for rocks slightly smaller than a golf ball and for rocks slightly bigger than my fist. The only trouble I had was with the helicopther throw, I kept losing the rocks with my split braid. But now I learned how to use it even then. You just have to make sure that the sling never gets a chance to slacken.

I think the split in Aussieslinger's pouch is necessary to make the stiff material hold your projectile tightly.
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bigkahuna
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Re: practicality of fancy slings
Reply #2 - Feb 22nd, 2007 at 11:51am
 
I do like my Tibetan sling and take it just about everywhere, but I find that I use my medical tape sling more often. It is not as bulky and I can roll it up into a small package and stick it in my pocket. The Tibetan sling is just too thick, although you can hurl some really big stones with it.
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Re: practicality of fancy slings
Reply #3 - Feb 23rd, 2007 at 5:10pm
 
Thanks for any included comments regarding my AussiePOUCHES. I really welcome them, even negative ones, provided I can use them to make improvements. For example do you think the pouch is too large overall? Making it smaller would reduce the gap size and enable use of smaller ammunition but reduce capability with tennis balls. What ammunition do you generally use? The stiffness of the material I cannot control but you can make your own pouches to the same design from 25mm wide webbing. Get the local shoe repairer to stitch them. This would be more flexible.

Other things, like the waterproof feature Curious Aardvark has commented on is something I had never even considered, can also be helpful. Credit for the name "AussiePOUCH" also goes to you, C-A.

Thanking you all,

Aussieslinger
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Dale
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Re: practicality of fancy slings
Reply #4 - Feb 23rd, 2007 at 8:44pm
 
I have made over three dozen slings in the last 2-1/2 years, some fancy, some plain, all different.  Most of them were the result of seeing a sling design here, and making a copy so I could see how well it worked.  But I use only two or three slings regularly.  This one is my favorite.  Full length, it is appropriate for the baseball-pitch/helicopter style that
Ralph Craig
described (about six paragraphs down, after he talked about atlatls).  It is presently shortened to a length appropriate for the Apache style.  The finger loop is a
braid-on-a-string
technique that Matthias described; since the loop is about three  cords wide, it is comfortable even when slinging heavy rocks.  The pouch is
Lobohunter's variation
of
Knollslinger's design
.  It is a simple design, can be folded or rolled up and stuffed in a pocket, and works well with just about any kind of ammo, from golf balls or rocks to tennis balls.
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Re: practicality of fancy slings
Reply #5 - Feb 24th, 2007 at 3:32am
 
I also have bought, made and got some slings in the last years.

My favorite so far is my peruvian sling. That one is not too long, and the pouch is perfect to fit the stone-size I normaly use. But I use that sling not too often, Iīm afraid to wear it down too quickly.
I got a sling from Yurek, that one I use when I want to sling long, without great accuracy.
So I have one that I made one day at my work some years ago. I found a leathershoe in the woods. And from that I cut out a pice leather, add the shoelaces that still was good, and made me a sling to use on more dayly bases. one that I donīt needed to be careful with. The cords are not so long and I have better control of the stones.
Two days ago I got the AussiePOUCH and I havenīt test it with stones yet.

There are slings for every style and purpose. I also have slings for different moods and stones.
Itīs a great feeling to sling with my peruvian one. There I also sometimes got that crack-sounds at the end.
That normally indicate a special good throw.
But when the stones are rough and dirty I rather use that shoe-sling.

Even "fancy" slings have a good side, when just to learn how to make one.. to maybe make a better one next time. To get ideas for other slings, that maybe work better. Or just for the fun to create a sling.

Snowy-greetings
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Re: practicality of fancy slings
Reply #6 - Feb 24th, 2007 at 10:30pm
 
A friend of mine is a salesman for Ferrari and he loves fast cars.  He openly admits to me that there is nothing practical about them.  In his own words "Nobody needs a Ferrari!  But it is sure as hell nice to own one!"

My thoughts are the same about slings.  Fancy looking sling aren't any better than humble looking ones, but they are nice to have. Cool
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Curious Aardvark
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Re: practicality of fancy slings
Reply #7 - Feb 25th, 2007 at 6:44am
 
[quote]Show me a slinger that has but one sling, and I will show you a sad slinger, indeed. [/quote]

for many years I had just one sling. When it broke I made another.
I now have four slings.
At no point was I sad :-)

And I don't think that collecting things is solely an american pursuit - I suspect most people collect things, no matter where they are from.

I lost count of yo-yos I have years ago. And as for books, we're into thousands there.

So now slings. Got one made from yak hair (tibet via hong kong), one braided in lithuania, one with a pouch made in australia. And the one I use most made from nylon cord and leather I got at  game fair at shugborough hall.
For me it's the story behind the sling that's as important as the sling itself :-)
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Re: practicality of fancy slings
Reply #8 - Feb 25th, 2007 at 5:13pm
 
I think that Tibetan and Peruvian slings dont seem practicle to you in the same way that a long narrow low brased Amazonian bow with 5 foot or longer arrows would seem impracticle to a North American bow hunter. But the bows are made how they are for good reasons. They are brace low because of the high humidity of the rainforest. If they were braced higher the bow would take a ton of string follow. The arrows are so long to make them easy to recover in the thick rain forest, the wieght of the arrows dont matter because you are shooting strait up into the canopy so they wont drop as much.
These slings are made how they are for good reasons except for the cerimonial ones which are not ment to be used any way. I agree that a normal leather pouch and thin cords are more practicle to most people. But for the situations that the Peruvians and Tibetans were/are in these slings do their jobs. There are accounts of peruvians slings killing conquistadors and shatering swords. Pehaps we lost the old more practical designes but I think that they are practicle for the situation they are made for and even more.
I am testing out different designes of Peruvian slings. I am testing out cord thickneses, pouch design, pouch shape, lengths etc. and trying to find the one I like best. My favorit one right now is the one in the last photo on my post in the thread titled "Pictures of Slings and Slinging". I am working one another one that will have cords that change sized like this one from the gallery. I am not sure if I will try the pouch though. Even though I have these slings I also often have the want to use my less exotic slings and I do use them alot.
What I am trying to say is try different styles of the fancy slings to see which one you like unless you like the more traditional versitile designs better.
 

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Re: practicality of fancy slings
Reply #9 - Feb 26th, 2007 at 3:06am
 
I must have at least 10 slings of different design. Started with some braided slings but found them not to my liking. Then there was some webbing and nylon designs wich is just part of a collection now. I kept on making slings until I found the one that was just right. Smiley The other slings worked but did not feel right somehow. These webbing slings is an example of un-used slings

The collecting of slings in a drawer or the like, is a record of that peticular slingers advancement in this sport.
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