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Message started by SmokinRocks936 on Jan 13th, 2023 at 1:50pm

Title: Experiments with simple design
Post by SmokinRocks936 on Jan 13th, 2023 at 1:50pm
Here are a few slings I’ve made over the last year and a half.


(A) Yin Yang sling, original/first design, job site special, nylon mule tape in a sling knot with a bowline finger loop and open melted end. It holds almost any rock and I get some of the cleanest shots at a fair distance. 33in

(B) Top grain split leather veg tan twisted 95# paracord; snake knots and bowline knot. Top grain doesn’t grip nearly as well as full grain. 24in

(C) Full grain split leather veg tan twisted 550 paracord; snake and bowline. Love it, release knot is a little bulky but it pops just right. 21in

(D) Full grain split leather veg tan twisted and reversed 95# paracord; snakes and bowline. Finesse at its sweetest. 23in

(E) Belly full grain split leather veg tan twisted polyester 550 paracord; snakes and bowline. Heavy and slow but smooth as silk and can send one to the moon. 36in

(F) Full grain cupped golf ball sling twisted 550 paracord; snake knots, bowline finger loop, leather pinch release with flooph. I honestly didn’t think it would perform as well as it has. 22in


The job site provides some excellent ammunition(:

I’d really like to get a seasoned professional to put my designs thru the works.
slingsjpeg.jpg (149 KB | 29 )

Title: Re: Experiments with simple design
Post by Goran on Jan 13th, 2023 at 5:23pm
This rules.

Making slings is almost as much fun as using them.

Title: Re: Experiments with simple design
Post by SmokinRocks936 on Jan 13th, 2023 at 5:36pm
I’ve been obsessed since I realized how easy it is to make them.  I travel across the gulf coast states for work and show anyone willing to stop and try it out. I’ve never met another actual slinger in RL but I feel like I’ve got about a dozen started...
One of us
One of us

Title: Re: Experiments with simple design
Post by joe_meadmaker on Jan 13th, 2023 at 8:16pm
Yep, good stuff! :thumb:

The experimental aspect of slinging has always been my primary interest.

Title: Re: Experiments with simple design
Post by Goran on Jan 13th, 2023 at 8:34pm
The coasts are the perfect place to get into slinging. I've only been hucking rocks into the ocean for a couple months, but it's amazing how far these things go with just a little effort.

Being accessible and easy to make is totally part of the charm. The creativity of people like you just blows my mind. I only started a couple months ago, and I never would have dreamed that I could weave these out of twine. But that was just copying someone else's crazy ingenuity. I've seen people make slings out of basically trash!

Title: Re: Experiments with simple design
Post by SmokinRocks936 on Jan 13th, 2023 at 10:16pm
I’d love to sit down and make some traditional style but all my ideas are just classics with a modern twist. I’d like to see one like your weaved version but with nylon or polyester fiber. 

Title: Re: Experiments with simple design
Post by IronGoober on Jan 13th, 2023 at 10:47pm
Here is a woven egyptian style out of dyneema. Fun to make, more fun to use... no stretch.
Dyneema_Egyptian_small.jpg (626 KB | 20 )

Title: Re: Experiments with simple design
Post by IronGoober on Jan 13th, 2023 at 10:47pm
Also, I see you have veg tanned leather. Did you, by chance, tan it yourself? I've been getting into tanning my deer hides.

Title: Re: Experiments with simple design
Post by Goran on Jan 13th, 2023 at 10:55pm

SmokinRocks936 wrote on Jan 13th, 2023 at 10:16pm:
I’d love to sit down and make some traditional style but all my ideas are just classics with a modern twist. I’d like to see one like your weaved version but with nylon or polyester fiber. 

I mean after a few thousand years, I suspect nearly everything we make today is essentially a classic sling with modern materials, lol

I actually used polypropylene twine to make my latest one. Not quite nylon or polyester, but still totally synthetic materials. Just $5 gets me 3 slings, and I don't need to worry about it rotting!


IronGoober wrote on Jan 13th, 2023 at 10:47pm:
Also, I see you have veg tanned leather. Did you, by chance, tan it yourself? I've been getting into tanning my deer hides.

That's awesome. I've never been much of a crafter, but leatherwork would definitely be my gateway drug.

Nice sling! Egyptian weaving scares me. Do you need to make your own jig for that?

Title: Re: Experiments with simple design
Post by SmokinRocks936 on Jan 13th, 2023 at 10:57pm
That Egyptian style dyneema sling is beautiful. I have an idea I’m gathering materials for that should look very very similar to your Egyptian.

I did not tan the leather myself. I got a roll at Tandy leather.  I’ve been slowly working on leather craft for about a year and saw slings with leather split pouches and said -hey that looks super easy and a lot nicer than my janky yin yang-!

My work partner is a bow hunter and next time he harvests a deer I’ll see what I can do(:

Title: Re: Experiments with simple design
Post by Rat Man on Jan 14th, 2023 at 7:55am
Experimentation is the only way to really know and to learn. 

Title: Re: Experiments with simple design
Post by IronGoober on Jan 14th, 2023 at 11:43am

Goran wrote on Jan 13th, 2023 at 10:55pm:

SmokinRocks936 wrote on Jan 13th, 2023 at 10:16pm:
I’d love to sit down and make some traditional style but all my ideas are just classics with a modern twist. I’d like to see one like your weaved version but with nylon or polyester fiber. 

I mean after a few thousand years, I suspect nearly everything we make today is essentially a classic sling with modern materials, lol

I actually used polypropylene twine to make my latest one. Not quite nylon or polyester, but still totally synthetic materials. Just $5 gets me 3 slings, and I don't need to worry about it rotting!


IronGoober wrote on Jan 13th, 2023 at 10:47pm:
Also, I see you have veg tanned leather. Did you, by chance, tan it yourself? I've been getting into tanning my deer hides.

That's awesome. I've never been much of a crafter, but leatherwork would definitely be my gateway drug.

Nice sling! Egyptian weaving scares me. Do you need to make your own jig for that?

100% we are just copying old designs at this point. There are a really wide variety of surviving historical examples and the number of slings that actually survive time is very small.

You don't need a loom to weave a sling, fortunately. Our very own "Teg" made this tutorial that I've followed several times to make these types of slings. I"ve used a loom too, but I prefer this method.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pM4qah0Ijwk

Title: Re: Experiments with simple design
Post by StaffSlinger on Jan 15th, 2023 at 9:00am
SmokinRocks936 -- if you ever get all the way down the Gulf Coast to anywhere near Fort Myers, FL, drop me a note.  I'd love to get together, swap ideas, and chuck a few rocks.

Here's my version of the Butterfly pouch -- I call it the Butterfly Net. 

Blue1_004.jpg (60 KB | 14 )

Title: Re: Experiments with simple design
Post by SmokinRocks936 on Jan 15th, 2023 at 4:53pm
I will definitely do that! I like the split design forcing the cup. Mine was wet molded to fit and I have no actual basis for comparison on a golf ball thrower.

I made this and thought you might like it.

staffslingRS.jpg (85 KB | 18 )
SSrodknotsRS.jpg (57 KB | 13 )
SSbasketRS.jpg (63 KB | 14 )

Title: Re: Experiments with simple design
Post by StaffSlinger on Jan 16th, 2023 at 10:05am
That's a nice simple staff sling although I would think your large knots and loops would get in the way of things. 

Here's the pattern for the Butterfly Net, and my Aussie pouch staff sling with 4 ft staff.
Butterfly_net_002.jpg (57 KB | 18 )
Aussie_sling_001.jpg (2393 KB | 17 )

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