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General >> General Slinging Discussion >> Tapered round slings
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Message started by J on Jul 31st, 2021 at 2:43pm

Title: Tapered round slings
Post by J on Jul 31st, 2021 at 2:43pm
Anyone have any good examples of round braided but tapered release slings? Thanks!

Title: Re: Tapered round slings
Post by Mersa on Jul 31st, 2021 at 7:59pm
I got a gorgeous one in the sith from Hubert
A lovely sling and one of my favourites
B63AB9F8-E376-4F69-8B4F-6ABFC7895588.jpeg (171 KB | 26 )

Title: Re: Tapered round slings
Post by joe_meadmaker on Aug 1st, 2021 at 12:38pm
Most of the slings I do are 16 strand and taper down to 8.  When I drop a strand I move it to the center as a core and braid around it for a couple inches before cutting it off.  So all dropped strands are completely invisible.




Title: Re: Tapered round slings
Post by J on Aug 1st, 2021 at 1:19pm
Nice

Title: Re: Tapered round slings
Post by SerKraus on Aug 4th, 2021 at 3:02pm

Mersa wrote on Jul 31st, 2021 at 7:59pm:
I got a gorgeous one in the sith from Hubert
A lovely sling and one of my favourites


That thing is stunning! :o

Title: Re: Tapered round slings
Post by CrazyBrave333 on Aug 17th, 2021 at 10:11pm
Nice sling!

Any other good examples out there? I'm making 2 slings at the moment:

One is a 6 strand round plait to woven pouch, then.... (need help in how to make a tapered release from here)

The second is a 4 strand braid (using 12 individual strands clumped in groups of 3) to a woven pouch, then... (once again I havent thought this far ahead!) i was considering doing 6 strand round braid and dropping down moving individual strands to core like JoeM described above - do you think this would work? would the taper be noticeable?

Also that sling from Hubert is insane! I might be making a few bribes next SITH to get paired up with him...

Title: Re: Tapered round slings
Post by JudoP on Aug 18th, 2021 at 10:44am
Here are some that I have in my phone at present:

1) Jute apache, quite a mild taper in an already thin sling
2) Nylon apache, reasonably agressive taper from I think 16 strand down to 8 jacket and a permanent core too
3) Black and white acrylic wool apache; a more moderate taper, I think most of it is done in the braided jute core but may have dropped 16->12 on the jacket
4) Wool apache blue and white; this one has no core (except for use in dropping cords)
5) Wool sling red and white; unfinished due to crazy high time commitment needed. 16 strand jacket fist braided, and the tapering is done by core. Note how the texture/look of the braid changes as it thickens up towards the pouch. This is because the same amount of jacket is wrapping round a thicker core. If you stretch this too far you will start to leave gaps which you can see into the core through.

Personally one of the reasons I favour flat braids is because you can taper more flexibly and easily. Pulling cords into the core is a nice method for hiding but I find it can make weird sections with more stiffness if you aren't careful (I found this an issue when I was making my bullwhips too). For this reason I usually prefer to have a permanent core which stiffens the sling a fair amount and smooths out any stiffer areas.

I find round braids quite useful with synthetic cords (see the nylon apache^) which cannot be tapered very easily in the traditional flat braiding way because they are too slippy and are sometimes too thick to drop without affecting the braid.
jute_apache.jpg (45 KB | 29 )
nylon_apache_001.jpg (24 KB | 26 )
wool_apache_blackwhite.jpg (27 KB | 25 )
wool_apache_bluewhite.jpg (35 KB | 25 )
wool_sling_redwhite.jpg (25 KB | 29 )

Title: Re: Tapered round slings
Post by CrazyBrave333 on Feb 23rd, 2023 at 10:50pm
I just want to bump this up and ask for advice...

Ive received a sling from IronGoober in the SITH - (will take photos and post this weekend- i want to do it justice - its a thing of beauty).

He has inspired me to make a braided kevlar sling. I was thinking of 8 strands braided in a round 4 braid (2 strands per grouping) - but I cant figure out how to taper from 8... please help!

Title: Re: Tapered round slings
Post by JudoP on Feb 24th, 2023 at 5:11pm

CrazyBrave333 wrote on Feb 23rd, 2023 at 10:50pm:
I just want to bump this up and ask for advice...

Ive received a sling from IronGoober in the SITH - (will take photos and post this weekend- i want to do it justice - its a thing of beauty).

He has inspired me to make a braided kevlar sling. I was thinking of 8 strands braided in a round 4 braid (2 strands per grouping) - but I cant figure out how to taper from 8... please help!


If you have a 4 strand round braid that's the lowest you can go, you can't make a 3 strand round braid. If you wanted to taper that I'd recommend dropping the cords 1 by 1 from each strand, e.g. (2,2,2,2)->(2,2,2,1)->(2,2,1,1)->(2,1,1,1)->(1,1,1,1) at which point you can't go smaller.

You could also transition from 4x2 to 8x1, then transition down 7x1, 6x1, 5x1 and 4x1. If you want to see how to transition down and bury the cords look at some bullwhip tutorials on youtube, it's the exact same strategy.

Title: Re: Tapered round slings
Post by CrazyBrave333 on Feb 24th, 2023 at 11:38pm
That’s perfect thanks so much!!

Title: Re: Tapered round slings
Post by IronGoober on Feb 25th, 2023 at 8:27am
Using a 6 strand round braid with a core is the way I tapered most of your release cord. I had 10 strands to begin with and just chopped them down every couple of inches... Then after getting to 6, I went to 2,1,1,1 and finally 1,1,1,1 in a 4 strand round braid. Not all of the transitions were clean, but everything that was within the 6 strand braid looked good.

Title: Re: Tapered round slings
Post by CrazyBrave333 on Feb 26th, 2023 at 3:20am
It’s intimidating how nice it is IG- I’m so grateful!!!  I’ve never had a tapered release- it’s sooo good!

I’ve spent ages just looking at it to try and figure out how you did it!

Thanks again man- I’m so stoked!!!

Title: Re: Tapered round slings
Post by Mersa on Feb 26th, 2023 at 7:16am
CB33 I can teach you how to add a taper to your Kevlar seatbelt design, it’s one of the modifications I made to the sling but unfortunately 3 days ago it finally gave up. Now any repairs will be a full replacement of at least one of the cords . It was a fine sling and one of my favourites , I definitely wouldn’t mind a new one .

Title: Re: Tapered round slings
Post by joe_meadmaker on Feb 26th, 2023 at 9:34am
Sorry to hear that sling finally reached its end Mersa.

But can you confirm, you tapered the sling you have pictured on this page: https://slinging.org/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1172017416/7410#7410?  I would be curious to hear about that process as well.

Title: Re: Tapered round slings
Post by Mersa on Feb 26th, 2023 at 5:43pm
Ok so you untie the release cord knot so the end is free but the pouch side still has a knot at the pouch .

Inside the cord”the core” there should be a few strands , think it’s 3 or 4.
Holding onto those strands pull the sheath(mantle) back Ofer the cords exposing the core to approximately half the length of the cord. Carefully select the taper points for each one of the core cords and mark with pen first . If you want an extra level of taper you can taper each of the individual cords but just cutting them works fine . So from memory at halfway u cut and remove one cord , then working towards the knot remove another or even 2 as you slowly taper the core . 1/2 2/3 3/4 or however dedicated you are to smoothing out the taper.

Now the core is tapered it’s time to get the mantle back over .
I like to keep tension on the core to begin with to prevent any bumps in the cord , I also add a slight twist , you can actually taper it so much there is no core at the knot side of the cord (this only works on the release cord )

As you milk the mantle back Ofer work it from the pouch side down towards where the knot will be . Make sure the mantle isn’t twisted and there is no baggy sections. Sometimes I tie a small prussic knot over the cord to help pul tension on the mantle.
If you do it correctly you should end up with a really stiff section near to the pouch that slowly tapers to a more supple end .

Now just tie a knot at the right position and boom you have a tapered release cord !!
If u like you can whip the cord just under the knot to reduce any movement in the core and mantle

Go dunk it in water get it wet but not saturated then place the sling on a tennisballl and then dry it rapidly on the dash of a car on a hot day , makes the Kevlar lock up tight (until it gets damp again)

Title: Re: Tapered round slings
Post by CrazyBrave333 on Feb 26th, 2023 at 10:21pm
Dude.. I'll make you one up ASAP - but just tie the pouch in - I'll let you adjust the sling however you like without undoing my knots...

Thanks so much for this!!!

Title: Re: Tapered round slings
Post by IronGoober on Mar 1st, 2023 at 2:24am

CrazyBrave333 wrote on Feb 26th, 2023 at 3:20am:
It’s intimidating how nice it is IG- I’m so grateful!!!  I’ve never had a tapered release- it’s sooo good!

I’ve spent ages just looking at it to try and figure out how you did it!

Thanks again man- I’m so stoked!!!

That makes me really happy, man. I'm glad you like it. If you need more instruction on how to do a taper, I can post a video. But I think JudoP would do a better video, or hubert.

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