Hanf ist mein bevorzugtes Material. 😁
Ich suche zur Zeit Schnur aus esparto.

@Judo
What does the soaking do for the sisal? Is that just to get rid of the curl in the deconstructed cords?

NooneOfConsequence wrote on Sep 10^th, 2019 at 4:49pm:


It does get rid of that mostly, it changes the character of the fibre to make it a lot less springy and frizzy, which translates to a more flexible and clean looking sling. There is also weird glue stuff on it which probably doesn't help.

The effect of water at different points in construction does vary quite a bit. If you complete a sisal sling, then soak it, it will become extremely stiff (you could basically stand it up) then very loose and springy when it dries which is not ideal. You can sort of get around this by drying under tension, or by forcefully stretching the sling- (you will probably need to keep doing this as it tends to regain springyness over time). So its not great, but probably better than sisal without water applied especially if you use thick cord which minimizes the negative effects.

If instead, you soak the cords then let them dry before braiding (they will probably unravel into component cords) then braid with them- you get a nice sling which is slightly stiff (much less than sisal untreated though), but feels bulletproof.

Personally I go one step further and soak/dry under tension this material. This produces a flexible and tough, but entirely non-springy material, which also doesn't seem to lose it's stiffness over time (like the regular cord ones do) so far as I've experienced its got the flexibility of something like jute but can handle much more punishment and just feels nicer.

You do see some people making balearic slings with fibre that is wet during construction, this does make it a bit easier and the resulting sling is lovely and soft but in my experience this causes excessive looseness/springyness, even when braided as tight as I possibly can do.