I had no idea there was discussion about either lol. 

Mind sharing some links?

I know it's not location or material appropriate. This is a Hawian sling, after all.

joe_meadmaker wrote on Feb 28^th, 2025 at 9:56am:


Thank you for the link.

And it would be awesome if you got one of my slings. I get too excited when someone I know gets a sling from me. Lol. Or when I recognize a customer's name because they are ordering again. I am still shocked I get to do this for a living.

That looks so cool!  It looks like a crystal sling!

I decided it was time to stop messing around and finally learn the twist technique for braiding. And I figured cotton would be an easy place to start. It came out decent! The retention cord is a little lumpy in places where I was still figuring out the technique, but I'm pretty happy with how clean the release cord is.

That is a consideration when making twisted rope - the fibers twist in the opposite direction than the yarn (the next size up) which twists in the opposite direction of the larger strands(the next size up) to make the final rope.

Maybe someone more experienced than me can answer whether this makes any difference for slinging, but the main reason for the twisting in this case is because each strand was composed of 3 separate strings of twine(and then 6 once you get past the finger loop). So if you don't twist them you'll end up with a lumpy inconsistent mess of strings on each pass, even if you pull it tight.

Even in that case, I don't think it matters much. If you are twisting opposite directions on each side (outwards on left and outwards on right) then you are "undoing" the twist from the other side as you pass each strand over. So you are really creating your own new twist each passover, so I don't think the original twist matters much.

In other news, I tried my hand at a second stretch wrap sling (see my original thread here), but this time twisting the strands. It turned out super clean! I'll need to put it through its paces for testing, but I think it's going to be great.

I wanted to experiment with a few things.  One is material: tarred nylon.  A second is a ten strand square braid after joining the fingerloop.  Third is dropping strands from a braid.

The material is fine.  Found it on Amazon ( https://a.co/d/9s2MC9k ) The tar really stiffens up the nylon and adds a good deal of abrasion resistance since I'm using pliers to tighten the braid and when they slip, there's almost no damage.

The square braid down the retention cord is stiff (maybe due, in part, to the material).  Seems to have some interesting flexibility properties, seeming to "prefer" flexing in certain directions and resists twisting.  It's just this braid with ten strands. (https://www.seekyee.com/Slings/howtos/8strand1.htm)

I started the release cord with a Matthew Walker knot and nine strands.  I wanted a good sized stopper knot so the pouch has something to grab when I attach it.  But I didn't want the whole release cord that thick, so once I reached an arbitrary length of nine strands braid, I wanted to drop some strands.  Not something I've done before (dropped material from a strand to make it thinner, but never dropped a full strand).  If you just leave the strands out and continue the braid, it'd be easy for them to get pulled up and out and the braid would unravel.  I've seen people talk about "burying" strands, but figuring out the process took some messing around.  Basically I ended up leaving a strand at the top of each side of the braid, then continuing with a seven strand braid, but wrapping up and around the dropped strands, so they became kind of a core on either side of the braid until I felt I'd gone long enough they were secure, then I just continued with the braid, leaving the two strands behind.

I've kinda liked this experiment.  Making the cords individually has been interesting.  I plan on finishing it up with some webbing for the pouch to make a seatbelt sling.

erricrice wrote on Mar 15^th, 2025 at 12:49am:

Yep, if you do it the same on both sides, it will end up a trapezoid.  When the number of strands on each side isn't even, I usually do one higher on one side, and one lower on the other side.  As an example, with 10 strands (5 on each side) I would do under 2 over 3 on the left, and under 3 over 2 on the right (or vice versa).  This creates a pretty even overall result.


@ScantPalaver - How's the stretch on that stuff.  Because it's already a braided cordage, I would think very little.


Beautiful looking slings guys!