Knee and belly are more specific to balearic type slings. In these slings the way the pouch splits gives the appearance of a knee due to the way the braids are overlaid immediately prior to the split. Belly is the part of the release cord following the rejoin which is the fattest part of the sling.

On soft vs hard pouches, my take is that smoother/rounder ammo can benefit from softer pouches as it will provide better grip and is unlikely to get caught. Harder pouches are preferred for rougher ammo as rougher ammo will catch in soft pouches.

ScantPalaver wrote on Sep 7^th, 2024 at 10:20am:


It doesn't have to be, but that is the standard for balearic slings. Different approaches will probably handle a bit differently.

Klydd,
Yup, weird question ....or Im doing something wrong as my paracord sling does not crack.
In fact, only one of my braided slings has cracked ....fitted with a cracker.
Just a thought, slinging with earphones must be at least as dangerous as riding a bike or horse with earphones......if you aren't fully aware of your surroundings you are a danger to yourself and others....remember a sling is designed to kill and injure.
😁👍

Klydd wrote on Sep 24^th, 2024 at 3:17pm:

Do you really need a cracker ? I say that because it seems that there is a real problem.
Your choice is yours and it's good.

IronGoober wrote on Sep 27^th, 2024 at 10:19am:


Thanks for the reply. Yeah that sounds exactly like what I'm looking for. Idk what a tab is in this instance though (tried searching it but couldn't find info)?

IronGoober wrote on Oct 17^th, 2024 at 3:12pm:


Thank you for the tip. Will be trying this in the future; guess I need to get needles. 👍

Another question for anyone... Have just ALMOST finished up my latest sling but this one feels really good and I like the all yellow, so I'd ideally like to make this my main, but having a hard time balancing it. Was now thinking I could just keep the release cord longer, in order to adjust more on the fly for different projectiles, and just hold further up (unlike normally when I hold ON the knot)? It's currently a couple of cm/inch-ish in freedom units longer.

Question is... Is this bad practice? Or should I just shorten it more to where it feels closer to balanced from the get? Would a longer release cord affect accuracy/power negatively (if holding further up like I was thinking of)?

I have tested swinging it with both a tennis ball and a balloon beanbag. As far as the tennis ball is concerned it holds it well, because that's the projectile I had in mind/used to measure out the pocket, but the beanbag seems to want to roll/move closer to the release cord while in the pocket.

Or is it better to just go with different slings for different size/type projectiles if they vary too much (if that's the case would limit this one to tennis balls exclusively)?

Edit: oh and another reason I'm not sure about the balancing is that I haven't braided this one as hard as my previous slings so it has more "give". I pull on either side and it has some/more leeway. Idk wether that's good or bad; still not that experienced at making these.

Taking picture of the sling to show what it looks like now and the size of the beanbag next to the ball for reference on current lengths/sizes. Edit 2: Better to shorten it or keep as is? Normally hold ON the knot with my main (though that one terminates in a single string with a granny knot so it's minimal) but with this I just hold further up, away from it the knot, so the release would be even lighter (which I like).

With herrinbone braids (e.g. 5-strand braid used for balearic slings), you can flex the braid along its wide edge more easily than along its short edge. This difference in stiffness between adjacent edges is very much desirable, as it allows you to better control the pouch orientation without impeding the release.
Opposing edges should have the same stiffness, otherwise the release cord will probably move weirdly on release I think. That's the reason why odd strand herringbone braids are favored over even strand herringbone braids, for example.
I'm not exactly sure how your trapezoidal braid flexes, what is the angle between the directions you described?

Ah ok, I'm not sure if that is good for a sling, but do try it out. Would be interesting to hear how it performs