I am making my first staff sling and would like some advice.

1. How do you tie the anchor cord to the staff ?? Is there a special way, something to consider?
2. How do you make the release?
3. I assume that there is some proportion between the length of the staff and the sling. What would it be.

I would really appreciate as many pics as possible.

I am going to a school camp next month to do a talk on venomous snakes in the area and i am going to introduce a whole bunch of kids to the sling. I thought a staff sling chucking rocks off a mountain would definately get some kids interested.

Appreciate it.

I haven't actually anchored the retention cord to the staff on mine in any way really, just a straight loop knotted. I intend to wind some cord around the staff and bind thus make sure the retention cord stays put, but so far haven't done it.

As for the release, many use a looped cord on the release end of the staff and carve a notch on the end of the staff to act as a hook much as a trebuchet uses, however I used a notch carved into the staff itself and simply tied off the end to keep the release cord on the staff until release. You can see in the picture a bit. The advantage this has is you can tie multiple knots in the release end to change the release angle easily, a longer release cord equates to a lower angle of fire, a shorter one a higher angle of fire.

As for the length of the sling, the longer the sling the more power and control you'll get out of your staff sling.

Cuallaidh, do you get consistent release with that knot 'n slot free end of the sling? It's very interesting.

Hi, Greenman;
   My staff slings have all been made with bamboo.  One of the advantages of bamboo is that it has a groove running down the outside of each section.  To attach the retention cord I tie it down inside the groove.  I put a knot at the end so it can't pull out.  I tie it down tightly, but not so tightly that I can't pull it a little longer or shorter to adjust it.  I wish I had a picture of one of them but they all were destroyed when my last hard drive died.  I don't have the staff slings anymore.  One I gave away, one I took apart to use the staff for something else, and one a young friend borrowed and broke. 
   My release is just a loop over the end of the staff.  That's it, no notch or anything like that, just a loop.  It works fine for me that way. 
   I made all of my staff slings with different length cords and they all worked fine.  Find what's comfortable for you. 
   I found this diagram helpful when putting together my staff slings.  Hopefully some of this is useful to you.

Does the staff sling have a greater range than a sling, or is it just able to handle a heavier projectile?

Cullaidh's staff sling is amazing!
Greetings,
Mauro.

I can sling farther with a hand sling, but I can sling much heavier projectiles almost effortlessly with a staff sling.  In all fairness, I've used probably hundreds of different hand slings by now, but only three staff slings.  If I experimented more I might be able to get the same range with a staff sling that I do with a hand sling.