Wet torch

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Slings are made of cord .

Actually I've never even heard that. It's been my impression that slings were made from leather.

Elasticity also seems irrelevant. I'm not even sure what your failure mode is unless it's "falls apart" and I'd think you were exaggerating that.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Actually I've never even heard that. It's been my impression that slings were made from leather.

Some slings are made of leather or have leather pouches with otherwise cord construction but cord (from vegetable fiber or hair) is most common.

I second Anthony's point about wet & changes in sling behavior, although based on exact sling construction a few shots might be enough to "sling" out enough of the water that weight is close enough to baseline. Change in elasticity is a different issue.

In addition to the problems that Anthony raised, some types of materials soften when wet, weakening them and increasing chance of breakage.

The reason that all these factors matter is that getting an accurate sling shot requires split second timing to get the sling bullet release vector right. Given that the shot end of a sling can be rotating at 100+ mph at maximum velocity any serious change in sling mechanics can mess up the slinger's accuracy, range or both.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Actually I've never even heard that. It's been my impression that slings were made from leather.

A sling consists of a pouch to hold the payload, and a pair of cords that run between the pouch and the hand. Both pouch and cord can be of a variety of materials, including but not limited to leather.

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Elasticity also seems irrelevant. I'm not even sure what your failure mode is unless it's "falls apart" and I'd think you were exaggerating that.

It's going to spin differently, and it might not release properly. It also could fall apart entirely though that's probably unlikely.

A sling would be easier to transport through water, because it can be collapsed down into something small that you can stuff into a jar or other waterproof container.

None of this means it couldn't function when wet. Just that I'd want to see actual evidence of that claim, because it's not obviously true.

[mburr0003]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

It's been my impression that slings were made from leather.

Leather doesn't like getting wet. Leather cord that gets soaked gets really messed up if it dries "improperly", also it's far more likely to break and stretch when wet.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by mburr0003

Leather doesn't like getting wet. Leather cord that gets soaked gets really messed up if it dries "improperly", also it's far more likely to break and stretch when wet.

Rawhide is even worse, it literally turns into glue if it gets wet.

Much of the work in curing a hide using primitive methods is in making the leather flexible. Getting the leather wet undoes much of that work once it dries in addition to the problems that mburr mentioned.

Of course, if you've already gotten your leather wet and stretched it out before you turn it into cordage, you have fewer problems with elasticity and stretching if it does get wet, although the weakness still remains as long as it's damp.

It's common practice for traditional archers, at least those who still use linen or other natural fiber strings, to wax their strings. This increases strength (slightly), prevents fraying and helps hold twisted cord together as well as adding waterproofing. I could see slingers doing the same thing with their sling cords for similar reasons.

[seycyrus]

I've used a sling before and even had one get wet while crossing a creek. Worked fine afterwards.

Maybe it slightly increased the chances of breaking? Nothing happened after another 40 or so shots...

Edit: Leather. Tho I doubt that some of the cordage slings that I have seen would be greatly affected either.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by seycyrus

I've used a sling before and even had one get wet while crossing a creek. Works fine afterwards.

Was it made of historical materials? Plenty of modern materials will be fine.

[seycyrus]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Was it made of historical materials? Plenty of modern materials will be fine.

Eh, tanned leather I suppose. Tanned using modern methods one would assume.

[RGTraynor]

Well ... I humbly suggest that unless any of us are expert slingers (... odds of that are?), we're just indulging in wild speculation.