Tree straps...What kind of material ?

**MikekiM** · 12-17-2015, 14:37

So I found a webbing that is commercial grade material and a good candidate for use as tree straps. It's one inch wide, double walled with a sewn in loop on one end. It has zero stretch that I can measure. It's made for use by commercial package delivery firms to use to strap boxes to a hand truck. Far longer than I need but for its length and being double walled, it's pretty light.

I recall from my old auto detailing days we could tell what material detailing cloths were made from by lighting a thread of it with a match... No smoke meant cotton and that was good. Wisps of black smoke meant polyester or other man made material...not good.

Is there a similar test I can do to determine what material these are made from and whether they are suitable for use as tree straps?

**MikekiM** · 12-17-2015, 18:35

Cue the crickets.. any time now....

**Solohammock** · 12-17-2015, 18:47

Polyester is the preferred material for tree straps... That and the Kevlar ones people are using these days. There are also nylon straps but they are super stretchy. All of these materials are man made though so your burn test won't work, they will all smoke black. I would say what you found will probly work but you should get a piece wet and hang some weight from it over night to see if it actually stretches or not...

**pgibson** · 12-17-2015, 18:53

And do a weight load test.... most of us that make gear specifically for hammocks do tests out to over 1000 pounds for suspension purposes. Most webbing is not put under the loads that we need and feel is safe.

**SlowBro** · 12-17-2015, 18:53

Well, I would do the same test, however, in this case the cotton would not be my material of choice. Polyester straps would be great- strong and no stretch unless the weave is loose. Nylon, not very good- plenty strong, but too much stretch. Polypropylene- very light, but not strong enough. However, I think all the synthetics will produce black smoke when burned, so no help there. Check http://www.strapworks.com which might help you figure out what you have. You can always get some and try it out. Just pitch your hammock very low to the ground so if the mystery webbing gives you aren't hurt. Good luck.
-Mark

**MikekiM** · 12-18-2015, 12:04

Thanks all.. I wasn't suggesting that these might be cotton.. nor would I use cotton as tree straps. I was merely referring to the fact that there was a reliable test I had used in the past and thought there might be some other test, in addition to the load test, to determine what these are and whether they are worthy of trust.

I have a full olympic gym in my house, so I can and will do the weight test...

Since these were obtained from and intended to be used by a commercial delivery service, I would think they are strong enough to keep the workers out of harms way. But I'll load some 45 pound plates on them to see how they hold.

**Floridahanger** · 12-18-2015, 12:37

I believe quality polyester fibers will not smoke too much, but will melt very fast (possibly before the smoke would be produced).

So, yes, we do like these tests here as well. Any hydrophobic materials are a plus for outdoor gear.