TechStuf,

No criticism of the design intended; the weight is just something to get used to.  Most of my slings are under 30 grams, this one has a fair amount of metal in it.

I did some no-release swings last night, with a golf ball and with a rock in the pouch.  It felt nice; very secure in my hand.  On the other hand, I still think I need to reshape the hook a bit, to get a quicker release when I intend to.

Here is a picture of my copy of your sling.  I had to use a bit of tape to keep the pouch from springing open, the leather is still rather stiff.


I made the release hook out of 12-gauge bailing wire, which is probably mild steel.  Certainly not as strong as what you are using, and it will probably bend eventually.  But it can easily be replaced.  The cords are my home-made static kernmantle cord (hollow-braid nylon mason's line with seven strands of 50-pound SpiderWire fishing line run up the middle).

The "nail version" was designed by Jurek, he drew a

picture of it

and I made one.  So did Hondero, his comments were later in that topic.  I think this was the first such no-foul design.

TechStuf also designed a

no-foul sling

, where the stone (or ball bearing) slips between two of the four pouch cords.  It is the 7th and 8th pictures in that post.  I made a sling with that kind of pocket, it works very well for golf balls.

My primary reason for making that cord out of mason's line and fishing line, is that the fishing line has practically NO stretch.  The difference between that and nylon is very perceptible.  But the fishing line does not handle very well by itself, and braiding it!  My braided slings have around four or five crossovers per inch, this stuff is like 15!  Braiding it takes FOREVER!  This way I get the nylon to protect the polyethylene, and I don't have to braid anything.

SpiderWire is just one of the high-density polyethylene fishing lines.  Tuff Line is another brand.  Spectra is a trade name for the fiber itself, a number of brands advertise themselves as using Spectra.  All these are rather expensive, so wait for somebody to hold a sale.  Or look for a sporting goods store that sells it in bulk; I got the 100-pound Spectra line for 15 cents a yard.  I bought 30 yards (US$4.50) and still have not used it all.

Another synthetic fiber that has little stretch is Dacron (which is actually polyester).  1/8-inch Dacron utility cord is only a few cents more expensive than nylon utility cord, and stretches very little. I have several slings using that for the cords.

Your upholstery thread sounds very good also.  Anything that can hold furniture together for years, has a lot of strength.

As for fancy versus simple, I like both.  I have some fancy rigs like the one I just built, just to see how they work.  This one, when I get it tuned right, feels like one that I will continue to use.  But I also have a basic leather-and-paracord sling that I can stuff in my pocket or roll up in a little ball, and it goes with me everywhere.