Well, I did it. I bought my own supplies and made my own suspension! Early hang with the half completed suspension (one side done the other "rigged") went well yesterday. I wanted to try out what I had before dark to make sure I was on the right track....
I bought some 1" straps from Harbor Freight. I see what everyone here means about their being light. So I cut off the buckles and hand stitched loops on the end of each. I went to West Marine and found 7/64" amsteel for 27˘/ft, but they match published online prices (with a print out of the webpage), so they matched Redden's 20˘/ft (WM only had silver, so I will order the next batch from Redden, which, with shipping is still less than WM).
I watched the online videos and tutorials about suspension in general as well as making whoopies and straps (thanks guys! those tutorials were perfect!). As a sailor, I have done all kinds of splicing, but I must admit, burying that amsteel with a pull is e-a-s-y. And the whoopies are sooooo neat! I also made an adjustable SRL, which should make fine tuning my hang pretty easy. This setup is a dream to hang.
I have a small woodworking shop, and my next step is to turn down some toggles for marlinspikes. The question is what wood? I think I have some scrap mahogany, purplehart, maple, cocobolo, paduak, bocote and some others, all of which should be good. What kind of strength do I need and what diameter wood is appropriate for the toggles?
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