[PapaWhiskyBravo]

Heres a sling I constructed about a year ago from a local sedge that grows all over my area. I harvested the sedge from some common land across the road from my house. Took a bit of practise to get the hang of at first, but its like riding a bike, as soon as you pick it up again it all comes back.

I cut the long leaves of the sedge into very thin strips with my knife and plaited them together. If made 3 of these plaits and then plaited them together too. I used three of those lengths of cordage to make the finished product.

At its thickest part it is incredibly strong and can hold my bodyweight just fine.
I should have protected the part that the rock sits in with leather wrapping as the rubbing of sharp rocks has worn thru some of the strands.

Not my first choice for a hunting tool, but if I was stuck outside with nothing but a Swiss Army Knife, its good to know I could whip one up.

 

[sprkymrk]

Pretty cool. Even if not a sling, it's cool that you could make cordage like this for shelter building or many other useful purposes.

 

[PapaWhiskyBravo]

I think i could make an effective snare out of the stuff if i set it up as a spring/drop fall trap to use the weight of the animal to keep it tight. I need to experiment more first though.

The plaiting method is fairly time consuming, i need a quicker way to make it for general cordage me thinks.

 

[busykngt]

I'd see it used as part of a real missile weapon system

in the primitive sense of the word (of course)...a hunting weapon called an "atlatl". This was a javelin-type weapon that had one of the first recognized mechanical advantages invented (discovered?) by multiplying leverage to achieve greater range and velocity with a spear.
If you Wikipedia the term "atlatl", you'll find out that several states allow hunting game with an atlatl. And the OP's effort could be used as basically a sling but instead of a rock, an atlatl (and still made with just a knife if survival depended upon it) - however, you'd better start practicing now if you expect to get halfway as good as our paleo-ancestors.

 

[PapaWhiskyBravo]

I remember as a kid we made spears and would make a notch at the blunt end. We'd get a piece of string and put it in the notch, twist around the shaft of the spear and then use it to gain more leverage and some spin on the spear. I was too little to make it go far, but an older friend of mine became pretty good at it. Funny how you think these things up as kids, it comes so naturaly to boys.

 

[busykngt]

Sorry PWB...

didn't recongnize you were half a world away from me (Texas). When I said hunting was allowed, it was in reference to "our" states -- you know how us Americans can be... we sometimes forget the Internet is truly 'global' (and we're NOT the only ones using it!!). :

You did a good job on the al'natural cordage project - very interesting. However, not sure we've got a plant similar to what you used.

But we've got hemp (from which lots & lots of rope was made during WWI) - and as long as you don't smoke the leaves, you could probably use it!

 

[tiecuando]

I like it, I like it a lot!

 

[papa]

Look's good, good thing to know how to do in an emergency. Thanks