Dawesome21
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Slinging Rocks!
Posts: 66
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Wow, thanks for the input everyone. I'm surprised that not many people experience this issue. IronGoober seems to be the only one so far who understands me! haha
Y'all are right to point out to me that not every sling has a finger loop. Good point. And some even have wrist loops. I would guess that wrist loops just result in wrist chafe though?
Tombelaine, thanks for the link to the British Museum! Wow! There are some really high-class intricate sling finds. I need to up my weaving game for sure! I especially like the ones from Micronesia and the Marquesas, the Pacific Islands etc. I didn't realize we have found so many awesome extent slings. Some of these are made from coconut fibers and rough vegetable fibers etc that look really coarse/rough/scratchy. I would have to imagine they would tear skin during heavy throwing. But As,+.1961 has a really nice thick finger loop... Some don't have finger loops at all. None have double finger loops, and only one loop I see even cinches.
I use a lot of jute and rough hemp (twine is pretty coarse, not smooth seaming twine), but I also have the problem with paracord. I'm just throwing tennis balls.
Maybe I have been going about this all wrong in my personal slinging. I have been trying to do a double finger loop and cinch it down really tight, but maybe this just distributes more chafe around my fingers. Maybe it would be better to do one large, loose, wide, and smooth finger loop and allow it to swing/move around while twirling?
I didn't have the problem early in my slinging journey when I did mostly casual short slinging. But also early in my journey I didn't cinch down the fingerloops tightly.
I'm going to have to mix things up and see what works for me, it sounds like this isn't a universal problem and it's probably from something I'm doing wrong.
First step, maybe I'll get back into a loose, wide single-finger loop and let them move around freely while throwing. Maybe trying to make a tight loop is the opposite of what I should be doing.
Second step, maybe don't go so hard, stop when I get hot spots, use a lip balm or such after the session to help heal. See if I can build callouses. Using band-aids is only giving my fingers an excuse NOT to develop thicker skin.
I'll have to let you know how this goes in a few weeks.
I also definitely crack skin open on the inside of my release/pointer/index finger, for sure. Especially with rough hemp.
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