intriguing test, it definitely shows the sail like tendencies of flat cords. unfortunate they dont line up into the most aerodynamic position lol

from my experience this phenomenon is limited by a couple factors mainly the torsional and general stiffness of the cord. for instance, a 2mm dyneema cord pre flattened, spliced into itself and flattened again is much more stable and less prone to deviation than a single flattened cord the same size. of course the cross sections are of different ratios but you can still get the spliced line very flat.

a gutted and flattened paracord line will deviate even more than both pf those options.

it also depends on length of sling. or specifically the length of the flattened section. you can get away with a 25" completely gutted paracord splice or noodle sling but trying the same design for a long sling 40"+  you really start to notice especially if the weight and balance is off. ie no tapering.

also as with most things you can use this "disadvantage" to your advantage with practice. it may limit some aspect for example max speed during windup, but the flattened cords tend to open in a preferred direction enabling some consistency. these are just examples, every unique sling will have unique tendencies however small and seemingly insignificant.

there are always trade offs. some things you might consider a downside initially but with repetition you may find a niche throw or specific technique that works well with the unique physics of that sling

Spliced sling I made from Dyneema following some tutorials on the tutorial forum (wild I know). Last splice is lock stitched for security and provides a nice visual cue of sling alignment. Instead of a release knot I finished with "west country whipping." I didn't like it at first but I've changed my mind. It provides a tactile reference for where to grip as well as providing a real slick release.

FloatingFlint, Rhodophyta...Great slings.  We need to put them to the test as soon as possible!!

Made a long-distance sling for a new "primitive" category in IronGoober's distance competition next weekend. You must have made the sling out of fibers you harvested and extracted yourself, as well as ammo(so rocks/clay only, unless you're making a habit of mining for lead).

This guy is made out of stem fibers from a Bismarck Palm (the blue ones) - real interesting stuff! Super stiff, light, and strong. This 46" sling is only 13g. Not sure about abrasion durability yet, but I'll find out!

These ones came from the stem of the palm, rather than the leaf(see photo) - I didn't ret them at all, I simply crushed them laterally when freshly cut, then peeled the stem into a few large lengths wherever it split from the crushing, then peeled the fibers out of the center of the lengths, which happened to also free the fiber of most of the pulp. The rest I could either scrape off easily by pulling the fiber through my fingernail, or wait until it dries and it cracks off pretty easily while handling.

Somehow I didn't take any pictures of that part of the process, whoops! These happened to come from a very young Bismarck, so I'm not sure if it's something unique to its age, or unique to the Bismarck itself. I'm still looking around for some adult ones within reach so I can test on those stems. I'm excited to find out if the fibers simply get longer/larger with the stem, or if there are more fibers of about the same length. Strangely, stems of traditional leaf fiber palms like palmetto and cabbage palm weren't suitable at all - there was no continuous fiber in the stem, just brittle woody pulp the whole way.

I got about 30g of fiber out of 10 young stems that were each 1-2 feet long. It took maybe 1-2 hours to extract from all of them. Most of the time was just spent pulling the strands free. Very little effort involved, easily something you could do absentmindedly while watching a movie or something. Nothing like the difficulty of scraping fibers out of tough leaves.

With this 46" sling weighing in at only 13g, I'm confident I could get at least an entire second sling out of what remains - probably 2 at a more standard 28" length. I probably don't have enough left for a balearic 5-strand braid, but I intend to harvest some more fibers so that I can do one of those and see how it comes out.

And according to some very cursory research(take with lots of salt), these fibers should have more moisture resistance like esparto rather than pita/sisal which is very sensitive and can be destroyed by getting wet.

After writing all this up, I'm realizing I learned quite a bit in the process. There's very little literature out there about Bismarck fibers, so I should probably take some photos/video and make a separate post about this.

Nice colors man! Super bright. And your braid looks real clean.

Did you follow Channing's tutorial? He's got one of the most detailed videos out there on making a paracord sling, and he's got a section about tapering in there. He does a pretty aggressive taper all at once, but you can also do a more gradual taper by cutting only one inner strand at a time every couple of inches. Either way works fine, Channing's slings crack pretty dang good.

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

Yeah, I understand not wanting to break down your hard work. I've run into that conundrum plenty of times. The right solution is always to just make more slings! More practice never hurts anyway.

Also, I would highly recommend you make a side-by-side with and without taper so you can feel the difference in throw. Braided slings are lightyears better with a taper! Single-strand slings can usually get away without a taper because they're generally so light, but when you start hitting 30g+ that release cord starts to yank a lot if it doesn't taper.

So I made a taper from Channing today, let me know your thoughts.  Same colours until I decide on whether to go Dyneema or not, like Primal Slings.

I tapered the 4 cords guts. 10" ish for 4 full cords. Cut the guts out at:-
Cord 1 — guts cut at 16"
Cord 2 — 22"
Cord 3 — 29"
Cord 4 — 35"

Still cant get it to crack! 

erricrice wrote on Aug 27^th, 2026 at 11:54am:


Completely agree, Make more slings.

erricrice wrote on Aug 27^th, 2026 at 11:54am:


Sorry, I don't know what this means.  Make a "side by side"?  Also I take it 30g is referring to the weight of the sling itself?

Apologies, I am only 3 weeks into slinging so I am a complete amatuer.


Snow Serg wrote on Aug 27^th, 2026 at 11:54am:


Oh my god, these are stunning.  Would love to be at your level.