Hey all.
 
Seeing as this is an introductory post, I'll tell you the story that led me to join this forum.  It may not be very interesting, but I can guarantee factual accuracy!
 
A few months I was out walking in the country myself one Saturday afternoon, and with no plans for Sunday, I was trying to think of something to do.  I thought it would be fun to do something crafty, I thought it would be fun to do something exciting, I thought "I'll grab a branch from a tree and try to make a bow to shoot arrows!"
 
What an idea this was!  It would be fun, it would involve some crafting, and it would most certainly be exciting (i.e. dangerous).  But I started thinking about it practically, it would probably take a long time to shape a bow, even longer to make enough arrows, and when the hell would I actually take it anywhere?  Plus, I'd probably use the wrong kind of wood and the damn thing would never bend enough to fire anything.  Obviously, this idea wasn't as good as I had first thought.  Dejected, I made my way home.
 
Later that night, my percieved inability to make a bow was still taunting me.  I checked some videos on Youtube "Easy Homemade Bow", "Quick Survival Bow", these were the sort of things I was looking for.  The bows in the videos looked about as bad as I would probably make one.  You would be better off to use those bows as a melee weapon than fire arrows with them!
 
But my mind wouldn't let it go, and I started thinking some more.  I started thinking of one of my favourite computer games from a few years ago, Rome: Total War.  In this game I had a number of favoured military units.  For their mobility, speed and effectiveness over a long to fairly close range, slingers were always a key strategic component of all my conquests.  My armies wouldn't set foot in a new land without checking if there were any mercenary slingers available for hire.
 
So I started thinking about slingers.  What was the curious device they used to launch projectiles these huge distances (the game had them rivalling bowmen..surely this wasn't the case...).  A couple of spins around the head, and away it flies.  I understand the mechanical advantage you get through the extended lever, but come on!  It wouldn't throw something that distance.  Would it?
 
Once more I consulted the Youtube.  After a few searches I managed to get some videos of slingers up (its surpringly difficult to find what you're lookingh for online when it comes to slinging!).  Wow!  Those throws look pretty impressive.  I saw a DIY sling video and checked it out.  The construction was really simple.  It's simple, it's portable, the ammunition is free and readily available.  Perfect!  The sling is the perfect choice for me!
 
A few more Googles and I found myself here.  I spent the rest of the weekend reading posts, looking at differet types of sling, and watching videos on Youtube.  The next weekend I went out to the hardware shop and bought some a ball of 3 ply sisal, and some "garden twine" which think was jute.  I made my first sling, a braided sisal split pouch.  I took it to the beach.  I managed a few timed releases on the overhand style (although only achieving modest distances), but in most cases the poorfly constructed pouch lost the stones behind me as I was building up pwer.  I decided to make a pouch sling.  A few lengths of sisal, a few knots and a bit of duct tape later, I had a pouch sling.  With this sling I began to develop an underhand style. I could chuck big stones to a distance approaching 40 metres, in a satisfying high arc.  I was starting to improve,  but this sling was poorly made and it started to become unbalanced, and I thought dangerous.
 
Now I turned to the jute, and made a hybrid of my previous 2 slings.  I braided a split pouch, then taped the pouch up.  To date, this is my preferred sling.  It throws everything I have ever tried it with.  Pine cones, stones, golf and tennis balls.  Since then I have braided and woven other slings, put some real time into them and they look great, but nothing beats my jute and tape sling!
 
I mainly practice at a local football field with tennis balls.  I worked different styles, underhand, overhand, figure 8, sidearm, now I'm was starting to get the hang of this!  When I really go for it, I can probably get a tennis ball in the 80-90m range, but this hurts my elbow, so now my ego is satisfied with the distance I can throw, it's time for me to work on a correct technique that won't hurt me, and improves my accuracy.
 
Well, that was longer than I thought it would be.  Anyway, thanks to all the contributors to the forum, everything I have learned so far is courtesy of silnging.org.
 
Roger

Hi Roger.
You seem to be inspired with the RTW slinger units as well as me What a coincidence.  When people say that playing computer games leads only to a lazy style of life It´s really a great weapon. Be carefull about your elbow and exercise before every slinging ! Read my posts, I had the same problem. Let your elbow rest at least 3 days and don´t try to reach maximum distances just after beginnig. Read my posts.
Have a nice stone

Hello and welcome to the site.  There are a bunch of members that make all sorts of ancient hunting stuff, slings, bows, atlatls and darts, nets and all sorts of things. You should fit in quite nicely.

hey Roger  
 
i have made meny bows as a kid from garden canes and stuff i have all ways wonted to make a long bow but geting the right wood sounds like a nitemare so gave up and made slings,  
where about in scotland u from am from fife  
 
happy slinging