Welcome Lacumo,

at the top of the page click and go back to general slinging discussion.

scroll down to
"Frequently asked questions and tutorials"

its all there.

Don't hesitate to try braiding. The only braiding I had done before was my daughters hair many years ago.

My first attempt was a balearic and that was way easier than hair. It looked a bit rough, took less than an hour and was "useable".

Since then I have made another 6 or so and each improves.

My favourite is still a seat belt sling  !!!

Good luck, have fun, play with string and be happy, look at cats   

Cheers

Zud

Follow the tutorials closely Lacumo and like SerKraus said you will progress faster than you might imagine.

Don't forget to sling tirelessly with the slings you do make. Get a feel for them and identify which attributes you like best to incorporate them into future designs.

Hi Lacumo,
I always start with "bad" stones to understand a new sling. Big, small, flat, rounded, etc... It allows to better feel the sling.
Take pleasure is the most important.

What is the best size (diameter) cord to make a Rockman or Apache sling out of?   I got some jute twine from Ebay but it's way too thin for this application.   A Rockman made out of it would be robust enough to sling marbles but nothing bigger.   I've read that regular 550 paracord (4mm) is way too thick for this project.   What would be best -- something around 2mm diameter?

Morphy wrote on Apr 20^th, 2021 at 11:48am:

OK---thanks.   I've got a box of of 550 waiting for a project, so I'll try one of each with 550.   

MikeG wrote on Apr 21^st, 2021 at 4:30am:


If youre getting it once but not the other times it means something in your throw or ammo is changing from one shot to the next. A video would be helpful if you can post one so we can see you clear enough to make a judgement on what might be going wrong.

Pay attention to the orientation of your hand/palm in relation to the direction you hand is moving at the last part of the pitch as that can affect the spin you get. For example, if you are doing a side arm throw with your arm moving in one smooth horizontal plane and your palm pointing forward in line with the direction your arm is moving try adjusting your hand position so your palm is pointing slightly up or downwards in relation to the plane your arm is moving in.

This is just an example. Sometimes a throw movement is so off palm position cannot fix it by itself. This usually means you need to change something in your arm movement. Changing the path of the pitch drastically from the general path angle of the powerstroke/pitch can lead to some weird effects. Sometimes a large amount of unwanted spin can happen if a person is moving the arm forward but sharply pulling down (or any other direction far outside the main paths plane) at the moment before release.

These are all just examples. Basically play around with the angle of your overall arm movement and pay careful attention to how your hand is moving in relation to over all arm movement that comes previous to the powerstroke. Also the orientation of the palm in relation to those other two issues.



This is a crude representation of changing angle of the throw during the powerstroke.

The sling is like a comet with a tail that follows the path of the comet in a delayed reaction. Changes in angle or palm rotation half way through the power stroke “can” work but usually just because the change doesnt happen to produce unwanted spin. Other times the change can and it’s often easier to just adjust your powerstroke to stay in one “plane” of an angular path as much as possible. This also tends to be best for power as well.

Take all this with a grain of salt as I haven’t done the kind of scientific testing it would take to prove this beyond my own experiences. That being said I’ve dealt with similar issues and have come to the point of being able to fix most spin issues by keeping in mind the principles mentioned above.