Hello all, I am a new member of the forum but I have been lurking here since 2010. I am glad to make your acquaintances.

I made my first sling from some scrap leather and leather thongs back in 1994, and that day put a rock right through my parents' bedroom window. I kept slinging, but with a greater respect for the sling's power and potiential. That sling ultimately broke off at the finger loop ,and I watched it sail into the middle of a lake and disappear forever.

After that I made slings from shoelaces, leather, and paracord and a white handkerchief. Since discovering slinging.org, I have made slings following the tutorials here out of woven paracord, an Apache style from tarred bank line and pigskin, and more variants on the Rockman than I care to admit.

I do not have pictures of my slings yet, but once I do I will post them here on the forum.

Thank you all for your contributions over the years, and I am proud to finally be a forum member.

Welcome! Also, after breaking their window they still let you sling? Wow.

Greetings from oz

Welcome from Finland!

Welcome from Texas. We started slinging at around the same year. Those were dangerous times for my neighborhood windows as well. Looking forward to seeing your pics.

Welcome!
What part of Michigan are you in?  I occasionally travel to there for work. I carry a rock in my pocket almost every day that I picked up near Gaylord earlier this year.

Welcome, I too am new here and also from Michigan. I have never used a sling, but it is a skill that I would like to learn for a shtf scenario

Drakolith wrote on Sep 28^th, 2018 at 6:30pm:

Welcome! Also, after breaking their window they still let you sling? Wow.

I was so crushed and obviously sorry that they weren't mad at all, they just had me clean up and asked me to be more careful. I have good parents in that regard, they were okay with me doing my own thing.

NooneOfConsequence wrote on Sep 30^th, 2018 at 12:00am:

Welcome! What part of Michigan are you in?  I occasionally travel to there for work. I carry a rock in my pocket almost every day that I picked up near Gaylord earlier this year.

I live northwest of Detroit, in far-western Oakland County. If you are ever in the area, let me know and we'll put some local rocks to good use.  ;)

Oscar H Marble wrote on Oct 1^st, 2018 at 8:26am:

Welcome, I too am new here and also from Michigan. I have never used a sling, but it is a skill that I would like to learn for a shtf scenario

The tutorials on this site are great for first-time sling making. Pick one that you are comfortable with, and go for it. Michigan has lots of ideal slinging stones just waiting to be hurled.

Worldwalker wrote on Oct 2^nd, 2018 at 11:53am:

NooneOfConsequence wrote on Sep 30th, 2018 at 12:00am: Welcome! What part of Michigan are you in?  I occasionally travel to there for work. I carry a rock in my pocket almost every day that I picked up near Gaylord earlier this year. I live northwest of Detroit, in far-western Oakland County. If you are ever in the area, let me know and we'll put some local rocks to good use.  ;)

As a matter of fact, I just got roped into a meeting later this week in Detroit, but it’s way over on the east side of town.

NooneOfConsequence wrote on Oct 2^nd, 2018 at 8:33pm:

Worldwalker wrote on Oct 2nd, 2018 at 11:53am: NooneOfConsequence wrote on Sep 30th, 2018 at 12:00am: Welcome! What part of Michigan are you in?  I occasionally travel to there for work. I carry a rock in my pocket almost every day that I picked up near Gaylord earlier this year. I live northwest of Detroit, in far-western Oakland County. If you are ever in the area, let me know and we'll put some local rocks to good use.  ;) As a matter of fact, I just got roped into a meeting later this week in Detroit, but it’s way over on the east side of town.

That is about an hour's drive from me. If you think you have the time to spare, let me know. Michigan has some pretty nice, smooth, perfect-for-slinging rocks.  8-)

Worldwalker wrote on Oct 2^nd, 2018 at 11:51pm:

NooneOfConsequence wrote on Oct 2nd, 2018 at 8:33pm: Worldwalker wrote on Oct 2nd, 2018 at 11:53am: NooneOfConsequence wrote on Sep 30th, 2018 at 12:00am: Welcome! What part of Michigan are you in?  I occasionally travel to there for work. I carry a rock in my pocket almost every day that I picked up near Gaylord earlier this year. I live northwest of Detroit, in far-western Oakland County. If you are ever in the area, let me know and we'll put some local rocks to good use.  ;) As a matter of fact, I just got roped into a meeting later this week in Detroit, but it’s way over on the east side of town. That is about an hour's drive from me. If you think you have the time to spare, let me know. Michigan has some pretty nice, smooth, perfect-for-slinging rocks.  8-)

There’s  not enough time for a 2-hour round trip this time. I fly in after 7 tomorrow, sit in a meeting all day and hit the airport at 5AM Friday, but I’ll be back again.

Worldwalker wrote on Oct 2^nd, 2018 at 11:57am:

Oscar H Marble wrote on Oct 1st, 2018 at 8:26am: Welcome, I too am new here and also from Michigan. I have never used a sling, but it is a skill that I would like to learn for a shtf scenario The tutorials on this site are great for first-time sling making. Pick one that you are comfortable with, and go for it. Michigan has lots of ideal slinging stones just waiting to be hurled.

Oscar H Marble, what area of Michigan do you live in? I live in northwest Oakland county, and would be glad to make you a sling to send to you so you can try one out. If interested, PM me.

Here are some sling pictures. Both of these are Rockman slings.

The bottom sling is the first Rockman I made. It was made according to Rockman's instructions. It works great, and I often used it for slinging wild apples from the trees by our back porch into the woodland area behind our back yard. It is around 27 inches from center-pouch to the end of the finger loop.

The top sling is one that I made myself for Father's day 2018. It is also a Rockman, but uses green and plain jute twine. It has an 8-strand fishtail braid on the retention cord, and an 8-strand round braid on the release cord that tapers to a 7, 6, 5, then 4-strand round braid an few inches before the release knot. This is definitely the best-looking sling I have made. The pouch is 4 strands wide in the warp, and is wide enough to hold larger projectiles securely, like tennis balls or large rocks. It is around 26 inches from center-pouch to the end of the finger loop.

*Edit: Picture size & typos.

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These are also Rockman style slings. The top one I just finished a few days ago for my best friend since childhood. He remembers my early slinging days (and all the terror that accompanied them), and still has a sling I made him out of shoe laces and scrap leather in the mid 1990's. This sling is a belated birthday present for him, and is the basic, tried-and-true Rockman design. I wove the pouch looser, to make the pouch wider and less slippery. It is around 27 inches from center-pouch to the end of the finger loop. It turned out so well I almost want to keep it.

The bottom sling is made of 8 strands of tarred nylon bankline in a 4-strand round braid. The pouch and retention cord wrapping are of jute twine. The pouch halves are 4 strands wide, instead of 3, and is woven loosely for extra pouch width and grippy-ness. This sling was an experimental piece for using the two different materials, and the result is okay. I am not in love with it, though it functions great. It is about 25-26 inches form center-pouch to the end of the finger loop.

*Edit: Typos.

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Those are some really great slings! I stil haven't had a go at that type of woven pouch and I really should one of these days. I'll add it to the pile of things I want to do :D

Kick wrote on Oct 30^th, 2018 at 11:45am:

Those are some really great slings! I stil haven't had a go at that type of woven pouch and I really should one of these days. I'll add it to the pile of things I want to do :D

Thanks Otter. The longest part of the construction on the Rockman is the pouch weaving, but the resulting sling is great. It keeps me coming back, at least.

The top sling is the second Rockman I made. I used 8 strands of super-thin Jute twine for the cords and the pouch warp. The cords are braided in a 4-strand round braid. The pouch weft is made with normal-sized jute twine. The pouch halves are rather narrow and tight. After this sling I began weaving my Rockman pouches looser. It is about 27-28 inches from center-pouch to the end of the finger loop and throws rather well.

The bottom sling is my first try at a Balearic-style sling. It uses a 3-strand flat braid made with 9 strands of jute twine.  The pouch and finger loop are covered in pig skin leather. This finger look is really comfortable. There is no release knot on this sling, just an elongated release cord. This sling is about 22 inches from center-pouch to the end of the finger loop. It works great for larger stones.

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The top sling is made from a white handkerchief folded in half long-ways twice and knotted at the ends, with paracord for the cords. I made this in 2000 when I lived in Oregon and had no sling at the time. It is 6 or so inches longer than my current slings, and really has some power to it. It's ugly, hurls like a dream.

The bottom sling is the first I made entirely of paracord and is based on a pattern I found on this site before it's face lift. It is shorter than my average sling length of 26-27 inches, and works great with smaller projectiles (due to the narrowness of the pouch, larger projectiles tend to slip out). I often carry this sling in my possibles pouch while in the outdoors or at Cub and Boy Scout activities.

*Edit: Spelling

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The top sling is woven from a single piece of paracord from a pattern I found online. Is a little shorter than my normal 26-27 inch sling average, but works great. I wove the pouch to be cupped-shape, and so it has problems hanging on to projectiles that are larger than the inside of the cup. But when using smaller projectiles, this this thing is a amazing! It will send a small pebble as far as a larger stone out of a much longer sling.

On the bottom of the picture is my first Apache style sling. I followed the Apache style sling instructions from this site's tutorials section to make it. It is made of 6 strands of tarred nylon bank line using a 3-strand flat braid. The pouch is pigskin leather and the finger loop is covered in pigskin leather. This sling is one of the most effective I have ever used. My only problem with it is that the nylon bank line abrades quickly slinging the railroad granite chunks I often hurl. This is definitely a design that I will use more in the future. It is 26.5 inches from center-pouch to the end of the finger loop. the covered finger loop makes this sling very comfortable to use.

*Edit: Spelling

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This sling is all leather. The cords are leather boot lace, and the pouch is couch upholstery scrap. It is pretty long for me, probably over 30 inches. It is very similar to the first sling I made in 1994.

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