Well hello Slingers,

I've been interested in slinging for a couple of weeks now, and did think it was time to join this forum.

I've picked up an interest after a reddit post where someone was slinging tennis balls for their dog. I decided to try and make a sling for myself, without doing any research.
The first one was very rudimentary, made out of a bicycle inner tube, and wasn't very much of a succes.

I then had some progression as seen in the attached picture. I started with a simple loop sling from some rope I had lying around. It wasn't a big succes either, but could make some distance with it... 
I guess that's where I discovered this site, and made a black seatbelt-sling-type thing with some paracord and felt.
The red/blue/black sling is where it really took of. I made it based on some post here on the forum, and it works very well. It has a nice crack to it. Unfortunately it starts to show some wear already.
The last one is the blue sling. I haven't really got the chance to test it, probably will do so this afternoon. It is a mersa-style sling, but somehow my ammo keeps falling out. Might have made a mistake in the balance/centering of the lead cords.

I live in the Netherlands, and mainly use my sling when I'm taking a walk with my dog, slinging tennisballs for her to fetch. That's also where my username came from, a Stabyhoun is a dutch breed of dogs.

Nice to meet you all, and thanks for all the available info.

Stabyhoun

Made a new sling yesterday. Out of jute cord. It is based off the rockman design.

The pouch holds really well. It is remarkable that it is way more silent than the paracord sling. Probably because of all the fibers sticking out.

Is there a good way to fix this? Burn it off with a flame?

Welcome from Pennsylvania, USA!

Stabyhoun wrote on May 17^th, 2024 at 8:23am:

Exactly.  If you have a lighter, it will clean it up really fast.

And nice looking slings!

I decided not to burn the jute sling. I kind of like the silent whoosh it gives now.

Instead I made a new sling out of some desert camo paracord.
I made a double finger loop, twisted flat braid for the retainer cord. Rockman style pouch, finished of with a cobra knot for the ends of the weave.

I've waxed it with some ski-wax I had laying around, and melted it into the fabric in the oven.

In the oven the whip cracker kind of hardened, and didn't work anymore, so I removed it, and made some new cracker cords. I'll try to give those a whirl this afternoon.


I do have a small issue with the double finger loop and the flat braid. The finger loop is kind of at an 90 degree angle in comparison to the pouch, so the cord twists a quarter turn.
Is this normal for this construction, or did I make a mistake?

I was thinking of making the next one with a 6-strand round braid, to be able to turn the finger loops, and align the pouch better.

Stabyhoun wrote on May 28^th, 2024 at 4:09am:

I don't know if I would call it a mistake.  Most of the double finger loop slings I've seen (and used) do have the loops and the pouch in the same orientation.  So if the pouch is laying down flat on a table, the loops are also laying down flat.  In that sense, yes, the sling you have pictured does have them at 90° to each other.  But as to which is correct, that will come down to you (how you hold and release the sling).  With your normal throw, if it seems that the sling is twisted a 1/4 turn, then you'll probably benefit from getting them lined up.

All that said, the sling does look nice.  It would actually be my preference for a double finger loop.  A double loop like that has never worked well for me.  Even after multiple 100-Rounds, I just can't get a consistent release.  So I end up just using one loop.  And when you do that, it's much better to have the loops and pouch oriented as you have them.

Rat Man wrote on May 28^th, 2024 at 9:07am:

Thanks!

joe_meadmaker wrote on May 28^th, 2024 at 9:37pm:


Yeah, That's why I was wondering if I should try a different braid next time.


joe_meadmaker wrote on May 28^th, 2024 at 9:37pm:


I never really thought that having a single or double loop would actually effect the release. I must say that I haven't really used this sling enough to be able to tell the difference.

I've added a couple of pictures, one how the sling naturally holds. You can see the twist in de retainer cord.
While inspecting the finger loops; they have a natural tendancy to twist the cord 45 degrees. I might have to look into the braid crossing over in eachother, there might be a more square way to do that. I've just improvised this one on the go

Stabyhoun wrote on May 29^th, 2024 at 1:24am:

It could just be me.  I don't actually recall hearing anyone complain about the double loop other than myself.

Most of the time a double loop is going to naturally come out at a 90° angle to the fingers.  There's not really a way to get around that.  With a single loop it can easily be held at an angle.  I attached a couple pictures to show that more clearly.  With the double finger loop I can feel it when I release and I don't like it.  And just to note, I'm not bashing the double finger loop.  There are plenty of great slingers out there who use it.  It's just not for me.

My latest creation; with a 6-strand round braid for the retention cord.
I really had a hard time with the round braid. Got lost in the pattern several times, and the braid hasn't become very even.
I rotated the pouch 90 degrees, and it seems to work very well.