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General >> General Slinging Discussion >> Egyptian sling in paracord, soft-loom method, for tennis balls
https://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1614017067

Message started by David Morningstar on Feb 22nd, 2021 at 1:04pm

Title: Egyptian sling in paracord, soft-loom method, for tennis balls
Post by David Morningstar on Feb 22nd, 2021 at 1:04pm
Here is an Egyptian style sling in paracord for tennis balls, using a new (to me) soft-loom method. This method probably has a proper name and a long history but I dont know it. I developed it from my earlier paracord sling tutorial here: http://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1340105523

This method takes a lot of time but is otherwise quite easy. There are no tools required apart from the usual scissors and a lighter. I do use a large eyed blunt darning needle at the end, but even this isnt an absolute necessity. There is a thing you can get called a paracord needle, I dont have one but it would probably be helpful here too.

First, set up the soft loom. The sides of the loom are 80 cm long, folded and reverse-twisted then tied off. Keep them about 20cm apart, this is what all the other dimensions are based off.

The warps are 4 metres each, these turn into the sling cords later. There will be some excess to cut off.  Zig-zag the first one through the twisted sides of the soft loom so you get 15 warps. Adjust the excess at each end to be roughly equal, you dont want to end up with not enough to complete the cords!

Next run the second warp though the same gaps in the opposite direction. Take time to get the tensions right now, it will make everything else much easier.


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Title: Re: Egyptian sling in paracord, soft-loom method, for tennis balls
Post by David Morningstar on Feb 22nd, 2021 at 1:14pm
Now the soft-loom is set up, we can start weaving. For weft I used I used 4 metres of gutted paracord (center strings removed, only the outer sheath remains) but this was only just enough, I would suggest you go up to 5 metres.

I put the center of the  weft under the center warp pair and went out to each end of the loom and back to the center plus one. I continued weaving both sides from the center outwards in the familiar expanding pattern. This helps to keep the tension equal on both side of the pouch.

It is very important to keep the tension equal on both sides otherwise the finished pouch will be lopsided. There is some adjustability at the end which you will see me use, but it is better to get it right first time.

Your first few weaves will look terrible, but once you have laid down a few rows everything falls into line and becomes much neater. Dont rush this! Take your time, make it neat. It is easy, but it isnt quick.

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Title: Re: Egyptian sling in paracord, soft-loom method, for tennis balls
Post by David Morningstar on Feb 22nd, 2021 at 1:22pm
Now it is time to form the pouch. The first central row is there to hide the seam. Without this, the places where the row ends meet have little triangular gaps up the centerline of the pouch which is kinda ugly.

Check the length of both sides, they need to be equal. You can see on mine I didnt get that quite right, it shows in the photo but I didnt see it at the time. I recommend taking a break at this point and coming back to it with fresh eyes. This is make-or-break stuff so get it right.

Once the pouch is formed you can take the sides of the soft loom off. The ends of the warps can be pulled tight to the sides of the pouch, working in sequence from the center to each end.


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Title: Re: Egyptian sling in paracord, soft-loom method, for tennis balls
Post by Teg on Feb 22nd, 2021 at 1:25pm
:thumb:
I like it!
Reuse the soft loom as retention and release cord?

Title: Re: Egyptian sling in paracord, soft-loom method, for tennis balls
Post by David Morningstar on Feb 22nd, 2021 at 1:27pm
This looks ugly. Its fatter at one end than the other, and slightly lopsided too. Both of these can be fixed.

Another round of warp tightening took care of the fat end. The lopsided bulging side was fixed by tightening the outer wefts on that side. This is why the final outer row was only partial on each side, it makes final adjustment easier. A last bit of warp tightening took in the slack left by the removed bulge.


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Title: Re: Egyptian sling in paracord, soft-loom method, for tennis balls
Post by David Morningstar on Feb 22nd, 2021 at 1:33pm
Now bury the ends of the weft by passing then under the weave across and back, as in the picture below.

A darning needle (large eye, blunt tip) makes this much easier. Also, cut off the melted end if you did that, it will get snagged on the weave as it gets pulled under if you dont. Pull it a bit tight, trim off flush, and then the trimmed end pulls back under the weave and vanishes.

The last job is to reverse-twist the cords and add the loop, you can see how I did that by passing the end back though the twist in a S-shape and then tying it off so it cant pull back though.
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Title: Re: Egyptian sling in paracord, soft-loom method, for tennis balls
Post by David Morningstar on Feb 22nd, 2021 at 1:36pm
The end result. It takes a lot of time and a lot of paracord and it weights a lot for a light ball. Objectively, it probably isnt the best tennis ball sling design out there. What it does do is look amazing and impress the heck out of people.

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Title: Re: Egyptian sling in paracord, soft-loom method, for tennis balls
Post by Morphy on Feb 22nd, 2021 at 1:38pm
Wow...more and more you tempt me to finally make one. It looks great too.

Title: Re: Egyptian sling in paracord, soft-loom method, for tennis balls
Post by SerKraus on Feb 22nd, 2021 at 1:59pm
You never cease to amaze.

Title: Re: Egyptian sling in paracord, soft-loom method, for tennis balls
Post by Jaegoor on Feb 22nd, 2021 at 2:10pm
It is not necessary to weave in half ;)

Title: Re: Egyptian sling in paracord, soft-loom method, for tennis balls
Post by vetryan15 on Feb 23rd, 2021 at 1:52am
Very impressive.  Looks good

Title: Re: Egyptian sling in paracord, soft-loom method, for tennis balls
Post by Mersa on Feb 23rd, 2021 at 4:51am
That’s a great sling, one I’d love to try

Title: Re: Egyptian sling in paracord, soft-loom method, for tennis balls
Post by JudoP on Feb 23rd, 2021 at 11:11am
Very nice indeed. I've got my loom setup to make a linen version of this but I have a couple other slings to do first!

Title: Re: Egyptian sling in paracord, soft-loom method, for tennis balls
Post by IronGoober on Feb 23rd, 2021 at 1:24pm
What a good idea David! That is great!

It looks like the weaving bug is has dug in deep...

Title: Re: Egyptian sling in paracord, soft-loom method, for tennis balls
Post by NooneOfConsequence on Feb 24th, 2021 at 4:57pm
Looks awesome!

Title: Re: Egyptian sling in paracord, soft-loom method, for tennis balls
Post by xud9a - call me zud 👍 on Mar 1st, 2021 at 6:36pm
Soooo sexy sling DM,     Jaegoor has competition !

I think I might be tempted to use some of my precious green hemp to make one.

Cheers.

Title: Re: Egyptian sling in paracord, soft-loom method, for tennis balls
Post by woodssj on Mar 2nd, 2021 at 8:06pm
That's so much simpler than the loom process I used years ago.

I might try this out and make a few more since it removes all the pains and suffering of making the hard loom.

Title: Re: Egyptian sling in paracord, soft-loom method, for tennis balls
Post by David Morningstar on Mar 4th, 2021 at 11:56am

You can see this sling in action here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHHeQQfFt94&ab_channel=DavidMorningstar

Title: Re: Egyptian sling in paracord, soft-loom method, for tennis balls
Post by xud9a - call me zud 👍 on Mar 4th, 2021 at 7:55pm
So fluid,
So thank you  👍

Title: Re: Egyptian sling in paracord, soft-loom method, for tennis balls
Post by Josephusflav on Apr 28th, 2021 at 12:29am
what did you do to get the middle two strings wrapped around the loom in the second set?

Title: Re: Egyptian sling in paracord, soft-loom method, for tennis balls
Post by David Morningstar on Apr 28th, 2021 at 7:11am

The warp cords are pushed through the twisted sides of the soft loom, a slight untwisting action helps to open up the gaps.  The second warp follows the same path and goes through the same gaps, but in the opposite direction.

Title: Re: Egyptian sling in paracord, soft-loom method, for tennis balls
Post by MikeG on May 14th, 2021 at 12:02pm
How much cord do you need to make this ?

Title: Re: Egyptian sling in paracord, soft-loom method, for tennis balls
Post by David Morningstar on May 14th, 2021 at 2:17pm
All the lengths are in the text descriptions

Title: Re: Egyptian sling in paracord, soft-loom method, for tennis balls
Post by Curious Aardvark on May 14th, 2021 at 2:36pm
Nice !
Looking good.

Looks like you've been getting some practice in :thumb:
All styles looking smooth :-)
Kinda early release on the fig 8 - but we'll just say you were going for distance :whistle:

is that the original kestro ? did i ever give it back ?
I have no clue :-)
But I haven't seen it lying around recently - so i must have given it back lol

So the twisted cords on the sling don't cause any issues ?


Is that the max framerate for the camera ?

Title: Re: Egyptian sling in paracord, soft-loom method, for tennis balls
Post by David Morningstar on May 16th, 2021 at 8:50am

The max framerate for the camera is here: https://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1613573966

The cords work fine, the twist/countertwist is balanced and so as long as they dont physically stretch, they dont affect anything. The dart is new, I never did see that old one again.

Title: Re: Egyptian sling in paracord, soft-loom method, for tennis balls
Post by Leenew on Sep 24th, 2021 at 6:28pm
late to the party, but how long the cord is? or there are two of them? How long is the already done sling?

it looks really great!

Title: Re: Egyptian sling in paracord, soft-loom method, for tennis balls
Post by MikeG on Sep 25th, 2021 at 5:28am

Leenew wrote on Sep 24th, 2021 at 6:28pm:
late to the party, but how long the cord is? or there are two of them? How long is the already done sling?

it looks really great!


Yes, it has two cords (like most other slings)

Title: Re: Egyptian sling in paracord, soft-loom method, for tennis balls
Post by Curious Aardvark on Sep 28th, 2021 at 12:38pm
Nice job :thumb:

Definitely not a parachute :-)

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