| I
made my first sling 3 years ago. I scrounged up what
little materials I had in my house and went to work
on what I thought a sling was, although I’ve since
learned that proper slings are quite different in design.
The pouch consisted of a square piece of jeans about
2 inches wide and 4 inches long. Initially, I made a
hole at either end, right in the center and about a
half-inch from the edge. I used twine as cords and quickly
tied it all together. I marched out the back of my house,
and started slinging.
I
found it hard to load rocks at first. Whenever I put
a rock in, the pouch would twist and it would fall out.
Eventually, I got the hand of it by folding the jeans
a bit to cradle the rock better, although it still wasn’t
great. A bit later, I got rocks to fly!….. Straight
up into the sky or into my house behind me. In retrospect,
it was quite funny. I determined that the two cords
during the “twirl” were having the same
problem as loading the rocks. The pouch would flip over.
Two cords in conjunction with flimsy jean fabric was
not a stable pouch.
I
went back and modified my design. I made four holes
for cords, two at each end. I thought that if I split
the cords into an upside-down ‘Y’-shape,
it would increase stability, and it did. The added complexity
and my terrible knots soon caught up with me, and the
forks in the cord were sliding around or getting tangled.
However, I did get to do my first true slinging. The
sling was about 2 foot long and I was getting maybe
100 foot with gold-ball-sized objects.
I
should note that I was confused about how the cords
should be designed. I had read articles online, but
didn’t understand how you held them. After some
screwing around, like releasing the retention cord with
my thumb, I finally figured it out. Currently, I put
the loop on my middle finger, palms up, with the cord
dangling down. The release cord I hold (very gently)
between the side of my pointer finger and my thumb.
A knot at the end of the release cord helps significantly
and helps you load faster, as you can slide down the
cord until the knot stops it.
I
then purchased a sling off stoneslings.com, recently
deceased, for $5. After examining the design and thinking
about my own experiences, I soon was producing excellent
slings. A garbage bag full of leather scrap and a spool
of parachute cord was my savior. I had enough time to
make all sorts of slings and I’ve advanced my
designs considerably.
-
Chris Harrison
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