SlingerOfTheIsles wrote on Jul 14^th, 2024 at 7:10am:


Thanks for the welcome and sling praise. 🙂 I will look up what a mexican sling is.

Yeah new pouch styles and finger loops is what I'm doing currently but have not tried different braiding techniques besides "normal" round/flat; figure best not to stray too far from balearic slings and different braid types before getting the basics down better (still unsure on how to transition in/out of the 4 strand pouch smoothly even after seeing the Rockman tutorial; have made about 10 slings in total now and never did any of this before so figure that's not that many, still a LOT to learn and it probably won't get old in a while. Need to at least learn to make them consistently and with exact lengths of material).

^Is a 6 string round braid viable or is it too loose/more of a decorative thing (have seen it on eviltube)?

As far as the slinging goes... Well I can throw hard and far using figure 8 and balearic style but don't have much accuracy so must get onto ammo making. I like the "heft" of the 6 string and the new snake knot one so tennis balls first though.

Don't really think that was a wall of text but I like to get extensive information; am in need of it rn. Would rather know what to do before experimenting and losing more material. Thank you for the good input. 👍😉

Stabyhoun wrote on Jul 12^th, 2024 at 8:11am:


I just finished the snake knot for the next attempt at a similar sling as the last (got it right this time; last time forgot to account for it and lost material towards the end due to uneven length). Now remember this tip... Will the braid not come undone in this case when the sling twists?

Stabyhoun wrote on Jul 17^th, 2024 at 5:04am:


Thanks once again for the reply and all the useful tips. Yes that's how I've made everything up to this point; with the knot near the throwing hand. One of them had a shorter distance to the knot and didn't feel as good, that's the flat one where I can feel it turning, so thought maybe it wasn't good to braid too close to the loop (open strings swing nicely). Now thinking it was more due to the flat braid (and not getting the pocket lined up well).

Right will try that version of a 6 strand next then (the 3 strand fingerloop then a snakeknot version after that perhaps). No doubt; if you say it works I'll trust that and give it a go. 👍 Not attached to the idea of using knots at all besides at the end; the fewer of them the better it would seem to me (?). Also still not sure about the 6 strand MW knot. The 4 strand seems to work OK for me, despite possibly "dressing" it wrong, but the 6 strand idk. I have made one try and that's it but maybe just got lucky with the colors lining up like I wanted them to.

Also just learnt what "tapering" is, apparently I'm supposed to remove the innards of the paracords towards the end of the sling/make it slimmer there (?), so will have a chance to try that as well. Am thinking of splicing in 3mm paracord (rn using 4mm all the way) for that purpose.

just finished up another b&w 4 strand with the non-slip loop, smaller loop this time, and having it loose DOES feel fine (more sensibly sized than the previous one). The fact that it's faster to get off the finger is good too. Also melted a few extra paracord-innards onto it to braid for a possibly different sound; braiding them will be the last thing to do on it. Dk yet how it will hold up but is an experiment.

Still unsure how to attach the pouches closer/zig-zag them into eachother like seen in pictures, can't follow the tutorials on that, but will give it another go later. Was directed to the rockman sling tutorial but it doesn't seem to describe it the way I thought (?).

The pouch transition is getting easier to do; this last sling has the best one and colors line up on both sides of it too (photo attached). With this one also stuck the "smile" in there during the braiding phase rather than afterwards (with tweezers) so pocket seems to be more secure and less likely to become loose. I like this design but will still be checking out more braiding techniques and slings like suggested above. Thanks again to you and everyone else for the help/tips. Once the weather improves here should have some more designs with pouches designed for tennis balls to try out.

Is there a good and constantly accurate way to decide on pouch-size depending on the size of the intended ammo? Braided these pouch-sides slightly wider than my palm, saw this tip on some video can't remember which, but the tennis ball doesn't feel that secure; hands too small perhaps. 

Great slings, Klydd!

Stabyhoun wrote on Jul 18^th, 2024 at 5:51am:


It is possible to do it without damaging it, but it's hard to pull the sleeve back enough.

Klydd wrote on Jul 17^th, 2024 at 3:29pm:


You could determine the correct pouch size and measure sort of like what you were talking about, or just keep a projectile on hand to check as you go.

Finished sling. Didn't want to put the black slings in after the fact, didn't know how with the braided pouch I decided to go with, so put them in during the braiding process (hanging them from one side). Then turned out one of them was a little too big/they are a bit misplaced (it's a first) so wrapped another gutless spare string on and melted it and it can be slid back and forth a little bit to make an X; not perfect but was simple solution. Now when there's a weight in the loop it opens and does feel way better to swing (though still like the feel of the open strings). Left more distance in order to grab higher up; figure if a rock ever goes into this one (intended for tennis balls) then space for an extra finger for better grip is nice.

Going down to a 4 string earlier was probably also a good choice, it feels more "snappy" this way, so guess tapering IS for me. Didn't move down to a 3 string though; will need to look up knots for that first.

Thanks again to everyone for all of the input and tips. Guess a thicker round braid will be the next experiment.

Updating. "Finished" the above sling today. "Finished" as in I'm not sure where to keep the knot exactly, but have tied it, so trying it out with a tennis ball tomorrow before cutting anything (not making the mistake of rushing the end as so many times before). Knot feels REALLY good as it's small now thanks to the tapered string.

So I wanted to make an adjustable single loop string, and figured trying something like a yoyo-style loop at the top would accomplish that (experimentation to come) but in the meantime made this experiment (picture enclosed), two separate strings looped and connected via snake knots only, and I really like this. They turned out a nice size, the lower orange one being slightly larger to be in line, but this design also makes it possible to double them up and use them like a single loop, like BSRC's design, but now not so THICK when put over a single finger. Double they seem to be dispersing enough weight as well to not hurt throwing with (though have yet to try). Next sling either yoyo-loop experiment or trying to replicate this.

IS there an already existing design for an adjustable single loop that's not off center (besides putting a turk's knot on the outside of it; that doesn't seem to singe up very well)?

Was thinking I should ask this question in the beginner thread instead of just infinitely updating my introduction thread but also figure might as well continue here; if moderators feel a different thread is better (?) please lmk.

Just finished another sling of previous experimental design, using interlaced snake loops for the fingers, and it does feel fine (though next time am thinking I'll use double loops on both sides with open string to have it swing even easier), but I'm still thinking a bare paracord might chafe...

Is there a good knot/braiding pattern to wrap around a single paracord (ideally that could both be started/ended halfway into the loops in order to be able to keep the fingers closer and not destroy the idea of being able to use it separate/doubled up)? I'm looking for something that's just slightly thicker (to maybe use cored out cord or the core).

Any ideas besides that (?) would be nice to know. 

This is the latest sling; failed the braid on a couple of places so actually had to repair it (first time trying that) by using tweezers to shove an extra piece of cord into the spaces (there were two) and then melt it into the sling. Ran out of cord from the pocket for the downstring so one of the sides was spliced out too early. Size of picture kept slightly larger this time to show the imperfections.