Slings!

[Vovolov]

I have been inspired by LindyBeige and other sources to plait my own sling. I planned to make mine of a design like this (clicky).

I live in a town, but there are some areas around where I expect it should be suitably safe for me to sling (regarding bystanders). I somehow doubt I'm safe from myself, however, but I guess I'll need to practice with somewhat smaller or softer objects to start anyway.

I would like to know if anyone here has experience with slings and if they could recommend me building a short or long sling to start. I personally imagine a short sling would be a little easier to use, but would obviously lack the impressiveness of the longer slings.  ()

As I was looking for cord/rope/string to use, I came across 2mm thick hemp rope, however, it would seem to be called 'bell rope' (literally translated from Dutch) and has apparantly been polished. I honestly have no idea what this exactly means, and if it'll have any effect on the braid of the sling. The stuff is cheap, though. 20 meters of the rope is €10. I was wondering if anyone could tell me if this would be suitable for making a sling out of.

Thanks in advance for any advice. And if anyone feels like chatting about slings, that's also welcome here, I suppose.

 

[Devercia]

I am going to hazard a guess and say that polishing the rope is burning away stray fibers and perhaps applying oil.

 

[Vovolov]

That makes sense. I wonder if it will cause the rope to lose some of it's 'grip' when braided, and perhaps start loosening up when being used? I guess the only way to really find out is to just take a chance and buy a bit...

 

[NikeBG]

And if anyone feels like chatting about slings, that's also welcome here, I suppose.

If I may take use of that - several times now I've tried and failed to find one specific video I've seen about slings. I don't remember much of it, though I think I've probably found its link somewhere in this forum, at least a couple years ago, so maybe someone will remember it. Basically, they were demonstrating the use of slings, their advantages and disadvantages. They were shooting at a dummy (not sure if it was a gelatinous or a plastic one), with and without armour, which showed that slings can inflict quite a formidable damage to an unarmoured target, but rather little damage to an armoured one. The armour they used seemed to be of rather Hellenistic design (with a red-crested helmet, IIRC) and the area they shot it at seemed rather like a desert or a prairie or some other barren "orange land". And I'm not sure who was the host of the show - I think it was Mike Loades, though it might have been Peter Woodward instead. I've tried finding the video several times, but have failed miserably - maybe it's been removed from YouTube. Anyway, does any of this ring a bell to anyone?

 

[Bohemond Chesne]

I've always used slings made from cheap twine (just the white natural fibre stuff from a garden supplies/DIY shop) or long thin leather thongs(these tend to stretch with age and dont last any where near as well) with a leather cup much like the one pictures on LLoyd's/LindyBeige's website.
http://www.lloydianaspects.co.uk/weapons/sling.html

As for length I have varied but find that a third longer than my forarm is about right. Longer slings are a little more awkward to spin but I find they greatly decrease the spread of shots.

If you want a really easy weapon to pick up and use, with good obscurity bonus and a nice wide dateline for use try a staff sling. Great for lobbing missiles over castle walls. Lloyd gives some instructions on his site and they more or less match up with my staffsling.

 

[Vovolov]

I did look into staff slings a little bit, and they seem pretty cool! I imagine you could use the staff to carry equipment with too, like the Roman furca. Perhaps if I want to go super extravaganza I could imitate Lindy Beige's multipurpose staff. Ideas, ideas.

 

[Bohemond Chesne]

Oh and thinking about it a friend of mine used boot laces (the oldfassioned non stretchy kind) for a couple of slings. Worked fine.

 

[Vovolov]

Well, I do really want to plait my sling; I've sent the website with the polished hemp rope an e-mail to ask if they have an unpolished 2mm version, but no reply so far.

 

[Vovolov]

Ta-da! I ordered 50 meters of hemp rope and it worked fine. This is my first sling (with it's many braiding flaws):

隐藏: Warning, huge and phone-quality

I was also stupid enough to test it in the back yard. I'm glad that rock broke in two on the pavement, not somebody's head or windows.

 

[Bromden]

I remember a documentary about Indian rat hunters. They were of the pariah caste and hunted with slings. Their skills were quite exceptional, although it was said that they used their slings 8 hours a day, and it definitely needs much practice to actually hit a rat with a slingshot.

 

[Vovolov]

Been having some success slinging. I find the short sling does not work well over-head, but can throw rocks to about a hundred meters out under-hand easily.

It's a joy to use this thing, so I have ordered another 170 meters of rope to make more slings, and this time I'll make a long one, to test.

 

[Druzhina]

This picture of David in the Navarre Picture Bible, Pamplona, Spain, 1197AD shows some detail of the sling's construction.

MIRROR SITE
David in the Navarre Picture Bible, Pamplona, Spain, 1197AD

Druzhina
Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

 

[Vovolov]

That's sweet. In the picture, it looks as if his sling is a piece of cloth, left open at the centre, then twisted for the cords.

Perhaps the artist's skill was not sufficient to draw plaited string, though.

That's a mighty big rock, too. There is also something to be said about his technique though, maybe I'll find holding the sling like that in the starting position easier to do an overhead throw... worth testing, I guess.

 

[matmohair1]

隐藏