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Message started by walter on Oct 30th, 2017 at 10:14pm

Title: Braiding
Post by walter on Oct 30th, 2017 at 10:14pm
I would like to start a thread on braiding. I think we have a fair amout of accomplished braiders and it seems more than a few that could use a little help here and there. Myself included.

I have been braiding slings for more than a few years (fiber for just a couple years) and still have not figured out how to do this or that.

I used to round braid. Always. Sometimes even the finger loop :-/
Balearic slings changed all that. While straight flat braiding (think retention cord) is easier than round braiding (to me) dropping strings in order to taper the release cord is not.

So, my first question is, how do you hide the drop? I am not talking fiber, but string or twine.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Title: Re: Braiding
Post by Parmenion on Oct 31st, 2017 at 3:24am

walter wrote on Oct 30th, 2017 at 10:14pm:
So, my first question is, how do you hide the drop? I am not talking fiber, but string or twine.


i'm curious to know what others do.
i  don't do that much tapering. it usually happens at either side of the split pouch going from 12 to 6 strings. i just sew it , in the past i would leave it like that.

Title: Re: Braiding
Post by kicktheotter on Oct 31st, 2017 at 5:22am
My drops always end up looking pretty ugly. I don't hide them all that much at all so I would love some tips on this too.

Title: Re: Braiding
Post by Drakolith on Oct 31st, 2017 at 8:29am
I do a good bit of tapering. And it’s usually hard to see the cord I cut off. All I really do is cut a little after dropping it so that it doesn’t interfere with braiding, then once the braiding is done I cut it close to the main body. I believe my apache sling tutorial mentions tapering, so maybe it could be of help. http://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1498535790/0

Title: Re: Braiding
Post by Teg on Oct 31st, 2017 at 3:18pm
There are actually a couple possibilities, which can be done in flat as well as round braids. General rule: The finer your thread is and the more strings you take, the better it will look.
Loosely sorted in order of difficulty:

1) as mentioned by Drakolith: Just drop it, continue braiding, cut off closely once done. Drawback: will not look nice with large diameter string, possibility to unravel if you do not take that many threads (secure it with glue, tape, sewing or wrapping).

2) If using plied string or twine (much commercial string is 2 or 3 ply),  cut one ply, unravel and drop it, continue braiding, do the same with the next ply, etc. until the string you want to drop vanishes. Cut close to the finished braid once done. There is the possibility to also only remove parts of plies if a really smooth transition is required.

3) If using multiple strings per strand, separate the plies as in 2), twist remaining plies to another string in the strand and continue to cut plies while braiding.

4) Pull the string to be dropped into the core and cut it there or taper it by removing plies as in 2). Except reduction in diameter, no loose ends or fibers will be visible on the surface.
Pulling the string into the core is obvious with round braids. The flat standard braid actually has two cores. One on the left, another on the right. See appended picture on how to do it: a sketch with a track plan (how the strings move), a drawing and the actual braid. I used core 2, but you could use both cores at the same time.
Up to now, I never bothered to do this in a sling.



Hint for the ambitioned braider: Variation 4) can also be used for changing colors in flat braids. Hide one or more colors in the cores, braid the other one, then swap out threads.




Taper_a_flat_braid.JPG (127 KB | 52 )

Title: Re: Braiding
Post by Teg on Oct 31st, 2017 at 3:47pm
I forgot: In my experience, braiding tight and dense with some tension helps as well.

Title: Re: Braiding
Post by walter on Oct 31st, 2017 at 9:41pm
Thank you Drakolith an Teg!  I think you have given more than a few braiders a lift  :thumb:
My problem is due to a large diameter (2mm) string.  I can't see where I dropped a string on most of my slings made from commercial string because they are smaller diam or round braided. I had thought to cut the drop leaving an inch, separating the fibers and trapping them in the braid like I was braiding a fiber sling. The string would now be flat and thin. When tha excess is cut it would hardly be noticible. Better yet would be to do as Teg said and incorporate some of it into the rest of the bundle  8-)

Title: Re: Braiding
Post by Mersa on Oct 31st, 2017 at 9:51pm
My only real attempt at braiding is this 6 strand round braid with 3 strand flat braids for finger loop and split pouch .
Kangaroo leather.
I usually splice factory braided dyneema cords.
image_052.jpeg (235 KB | 44 )

Title: Re: Braiding
Post by Drakolith on Oct 31st, 2017 at 11:02pm
No problemo.

Title: Re: Braiding
Post by walter on Oct 31st, 2017 at 11:21pm
First real attempt?! Looks good. How does it throw?

Title: Re: Braiding
Post by Mersa on Oct 31st, 2017 at 11:40pm
I find it a little stretchy and the split pouch needs to be thicker/shorter or have some leather attached to make it more of a cup.
Might put something in the core to take some stretch out one day.

Title: Re: Braiding
Post by Morphy on Nov 1st, 2017 at 11:53am
Im still trying to visualize everything Teg mentioned. He may have touched on something similar but if not I will mention this. In making a rattail on a the end of a bowstring you wax it then use a razor to scrap and taper the ply. Continue braiding it until the end of the taper disappears into the main cord body and then wax the whole cord when done. It should work in some cases on slings as well.

Im glad you asked this. Ive been wondering what others do in the situation as well.

Title: Re: Braiding
Post by walter on Nov 1st, 2017 at 5:59pm
I've also have a question about finger loops. On most, if not all balearic slings, the braid is folded over so that the ends meet and the strings are combined and you braid on. My problem with that is it causes the retention cord to twist 90  degrees.

In order for the retention to remain flat, the loop must be made at a different angle to the cord. I have found two solutions to my little problem. The first is to round braid the the strings coming together below the finger loop and then changing from round to flat.

The second is to gather all the strands, tie a constictor and braid on.
I like the second method best.

Hope to hear some comments and different solutions
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Title: Re: Braiding
Post by Teg on Nov 1st, 2017 at 6:10pm
Morphy, now it's my turn to be lost  ;D
Could you post a picture or link of this "rattail" made with this technique? A google search did not yield anything useful.
Otherwise it sounds similar to 2), removing only parts of plies, with additional waxing to keep everything together. But I'm not really sure if I understood it correctly.

Title: Re: Braiding
Post by Mersa on Nov 1st, 2017 at 6:11pm
http://www.lbbyj.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=2

This is the site I used to help me with my 6 round braid.

Flat braids seem to cause the 90• problem.
Your solutions seem fine

Title: Re: Braiding
Post by walter on Nov 1st, 2017 at 6:14pm

First pic on left is a 5 strand flat braided loop that is joined with a whipped 4 strand round braid.
To the right is method #2.  Next is the round braid morphing into a five strand flat braid and last is a 9 strand flat braided loop joined together by a flat braid.

Title: Re: Braiding
Post by Morphy on Nov 1st, 2017 at 7:25pm
I did a quick search and found nothing as well. Weird. Its probably inferior to the methods you posted anyways Teg. Its usually used as a means to decoratively taper the end of the bowstring hanging off the bowyers knot.  Im assuming it could be used in sling braiding as well but having never tried it thats all conjecture at the moment. 

Title: Re: Braiding
Post by Teg on Nov 1st, 2017 at 8:05pm
Morphy: So similar to what this person is doing, just with the bowyers knot forming the loop instead of folding back?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sob-o7jnIzc
watch :30 to 3:30
Would be a nice way to make retention loops with twisted cords. Up to now, I always fully doubled it when twisting, e.g. having a thinner diameter in the finger loop than the retention cord.


walter: I have all my fingerloops as in your last picture (9 strand flat braided) and for me this is not a problem but supports how I hold the sling. Out of curiosity: Why do you want it the other way?
Nice transitions by the way!

Title: Re: Braiding
Post by Timothy Potter on Nov 1st, 2017 at 9:45pm

Teg wrote on Oct 31st, 2017 at 3:18pm:
4) Pull the string to be dropped into the core and cut it there or taper it by removing plies as in 2). Except reduction in diameter, no loose ends or fibers will be visible on the surface.
Pulling the string into the core is obvious with round braids. The flat standard braid actually has two cores. One on the left, another on the right. See appended picture on how to do it: a sketch with a track plan (how the strings move), a drawing and the actual braid. I used core 2, but you could use both cores at the same time.
Up to now, I never bothered to do this in a sling.


I've used this method on a couple of slings, and while a bit tedious, it can be used effectively. Awhile back I had an order for a paracord Balearic sling. Paracord is so thick that it's hard to taper it subtly, but with this method and some experimentation, the sling came out well. The last few decreases were cut, melted, and sewn in place, but the most of the taper involved dropping strands into the cores.

-Timothy Potter

paracord_balearic.jpg (421 KB | 51 )

Title: Re: Braiding
Post by walter on Nov 1st, 2017 at 10:03pm
beautiful sling Timothy :)

Title: Re: Braiding
Post by Morphy on Nov 1st, 2017 at 10:57pm

Teg wrote on Nov 1st, 2017 at 8:05pm:
Morphy: So similar to what this person is doing, just with the bowyers knot forming the loop instead of folding back?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sob-o7jnIzc
watch :30 to 3:30
Would be a nice way to make retention loops with twisted cords. Up to now, I always fully doubled it when twisting, e.g. having a thinner diameter in the finger loop than the retention cord.



That would be a nice way to construct the loop. This though is not a rat tail. The video shows staggering of the plies to create a tapered effect off the loop. (At least that is how I accomplish the same effect when making similar bowstrings, I didnt have the sound on when watching so correct me if Im wrong here.) A rat tail is different and Im at a loss on how to explain it better. Ill keep looking for a picture. Im not even sure if it would be useful for what Walter was asking, but who knows, maybe someone will try it some day.

Title: Re: Braiding
Post by walter on Nov 1st, 2017 at 11:38pm
Teg, The rat tail is a way to end a string that is out in the open. Tapered until it runs out. Like a rat's tail :)

Title: Re: Braiding
Post by Tomas on Nov 7th, 2017 at 9:59am
I usually just drop the strands as I go, alternating from side to side. It's easy and that's the selling point to me haha. But honest, it looks fine and I never notice the ends unless I would look for them
I will say, tapering is much easier than adding in my experience and I've even made slings that start at the pouch just cause it works so much better for me.

Title: Re: Braiding
Post by Teg on Nov 7th, 2017 at 5:25pm
I'll keep my eyes open for any remains of vermins when I'll see my bowyer friends the next time ;).

Walter: I thought a bit about your 90 degree problem and came up with another way. It is not perfect as there is a little bump in the transition. I tried a couple different variations of this interlocking but none convinced me. So I just compiled the easiest one.

As a sideproduct: From the interlocking it is also possible to start square braids. It takes a bit of rearrangement though...


Compi2.png (952 KB | 44 )

Title: Re: Braiding
Post by walter on Nov 8th, 2017 at 4:42pm
Teg, thanks for sharing! I am going to try it out this week end.

Title: Re: Braiding
Post by walter on Nov 12th, 2017 at 10:23am
There are five strands in the finger loop so I braid one strand over two strands; ten in the retention cord (2 over 2 sets of 2); twenty just before the split (4 over two sets of 4); ten in each split; twenty strands where the splits come together at the beginning of the release cord.

I'm braiding 4 over two sets of 4, but dropping strands now. About two ever other pass. Going to get back to ten strands. At what point should I switch to 2 over?

I am back to ten strands; braiding 2 over 2. I want to taper to five strands.  At what point do I switch to 1 over?



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