Hey folks, I just made my first pair of woopie slings using Amsteel 1/8". I had a tough time getting my Bates plastic yarn needle to go thru the bury. All I could get was about 7" of bury. I couldn't get the needle to slide thru the rope with the tail end wrapped double thru the eye of the needle. Am I doing it wrong?? This noob needs help!! The whoopies ended up looking okay, but I had a heck of a time getting the needle thru to make the bury. Any suggestions before I try my next pair??
If you taper the end you're pulling through first and put about half the taper into the eye hole, then when it is doubled over it is not so wide.
I heartily recommend a "loop turner", e.g. see here. Available at fabric stores, under $5.
have fun!
Grizz
(alias ProfessorHammock on youtube)
I'm not familiar with the diameter or length of the yarn needle but would suspect that one or the other is the problem. I use stainless wire available at any auto parts store as safety or utility wire doubled as a fid. Tapering the end of the cord greatly facilitates the pull through of the tag end. You also have to "push" the braid back to loosen the braid and enlarge the center opening when working the fid or other splicing tool through the Amsteel.
There are several videos in the whoopie sling threads that do a great job of showing the way to a successful setup.
Others here have far more experience than I but I would not feel good with just 7" on the main bury.
I also like the loop turner, but you still need to taper the end that you grab with the loop turner. I also have used a large darning needle, but I use a small file and turn the point from a sharp into a ballpoint. Even though the darning needle is only about 3 to 4 inches long, I've been able to do 12" buries with it. The main thing is to do as Grizz suggests above. Keep the number of strands in the doubled portion the same as the number in the main part of the line. 7/64" amsteel is eight-strand, so you cut out 4 strands in making the taper. 1/8" amsteel (I believe) is twelve-strand, so you would cut six.Originally Posted by GrizzlyAdams
TexasRT has some good points, too. The type of fid you use is less important than the way you handle the line.
What worked well for me was using some utility wire I had lying around in my craft supplies -- I just took about two feet of it and doubled it over. I went into the rope with the fid where I wanted the exit to be, came out where I wanted to entrance to be. then just slip your tail in there and pull it back through. I never had to fish the fid through the rope at all because you can just bunch it up on the fid instead.
What I found extremely useful was taking about 2 ft of coax cable and removing the core wire. Bent that in two and ended up with a piece about 12 inches long that worked amazingly well. Just slipped the taper through the middle of the two pieces just at the bend and it pulled it right through, didn't even slip out of the wire which impressed me.
Like Grizz, the Loop Turner is what I use now. Also one can use fine gage wire, piano wire, guitar strings, etc. Bend a 2 or 3 foot length in half. Slip the empty "V" shaped bent end of the wire carefully between the strands at the OUT point. Push it gently through the middle of the bury to the IN point where you carefully exit the line between the strands. Now place the tapered free end in the "V" and pull the wire back through the bury dragging the free end through to the OUT point.
One has to be extremely careful that you don't snag even one tiny substrand of the braided line. Otherwise it will be nearly impossible to push or pull the free end through the bury. It sounds to me like that is what might have happened to you. It should take almost no effort to slide the end through the bury. (Well, at least not much effort). It is definitely more finesse than strength.
-SlowBro
"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are."-Theodore Roosevelt
Thanks for all the help guys. I like Opie's suggestion since I have some coax cable lying in the garage. I will also taper my ends more- that will probably help too. Just as I suspected, 7" of bury is not enough. This is a great site and the amount of info is amazing. What a great community for hangers. I am just getting started on my hammock journey and you are helping a lot.
I look forward to posting more and meeting some of you this year!
This is what I do, although I am using one insulated strand of a telephone cable; solid strand. Works really well. I had to strip the insulation off to be able to use it for splicing lash-it.
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