Hey little I recently made a jute baeleric style sling with leather reinforced pouch but how did you do the tapered release cord it looks really good.

new sling

Nice job Sobieski. Never seen a pouch quite like that one. How does it work?

_kava_ wrote on Jan 25^th, 2011 at 9:14am:


_kava_ looking at your slings always makes me feel like an imbecile.

Here a Sling in the Balearic style. She corresponds him to her form then competition regulations of Tir de Fona.
She has in length of 60 cm and is made out of hemp fibers.

new sling (1,06 m long)

this is my new leather and paracord sling.  you might notice that the cords are slightly tapered yet at the same time 3 strips of parcord all the way through.  i did what i will call the "core taper"  i started to braid and when i got to a certain point i slid each of the outsides from each string down so that the core was exposed.  then i cut the core and stretch the shells bak out.  Then i kept braiding. this give a very clean  taper.

I appreciate the more authentic and traditional slings pictured on this site, showing the weaving, complexity, ingenuity, materials, release mechanisms, projectiles, slinging styles, etc. that people come up with. It is interesting to see so many variations on such a seemingly simple design as a sling.

One modern material I think may have been overlooked for making slinging pockets is hard mesh replacement pocket material for lacrosse sticks. I used to play in college and it occurred to me that this would make a good sling pocket. This material is designed for making cupped pockets. The hard mesh is fairly stiff, but conforms well. The mesh replacement pockets cost about 8 bucks on the internet, come in many different (and bright) colors and you can make many sling pockets out of one piece of replacement mesh.

The first sling pictured was built horizontally and has a large pocket for golf or tennis balls. It doesn’t need to be nearly so large, but I am only starting to experiment with this material. Used in the horizontal direction, the mesh makes more of a rectangle and expands when pulled at the ends, like an accordion. I am guessing this is best for larger projectiles like golf or tennis balls since the mesh stretches out and might grab too much with smaller and pointy projectiles such as rocks.

The second sling uses the mesh in the vertical direction, where the mesh makes more of the diamond shape that seems to be best for slinging pockets. When oriented this way, the mesh pulls together tighter and doesn’t stretch much when pulled at the ends.  This seems to be best for odd shaped rocks since the holes in the mesh stay smaller and there is less wind resistance.

For a basic mesh sling, total construction time with paracord is about 10 minutes. I used simple larks head knots to tie off the paracord to the mesh and allow the paracord to be adjusted for length very quickly and easily without cutting off excess. I have also been experimenting with using a fly-tying bobbin to wrap the ends of the paracord to the mesh, instead of using a knot. Although it is more permanent, it looks cleaner to me this way. If you find the right kind of fly-tying thread, you can use a lighter to melt it a bit when you are done, just like with the paracord.

I could see other ways of using this mesh that I haven’t tried yet, such as using the mesh as a base to thread the paracord thru, filling up the holes of the mesh to make more of a solid pocket. The mesh can be pinched together at the ends as well, depending on your design, to make more of a cupped pocket. I have seen some sling designs where the cord diverges into two pieces and makes the pocket, where the mesh could be used in between. I’m sure there are lots of ways I haven’t thought of.

I would really like to see what the more experienced slingers think of this material and the different designs that can be made using it. Hope this inspires some more ideas for slings and I look forward to seeing how other folks use it.

Interesting site.