new lighter weight toggles

[lugnut]

this will only benifit someone who is a gram counter of the most desprate kind. and i would like to appologize upfront if this has already been done as i'm a newb to the hammock world and hammock forums.

i'm awaiting the delivery of my whoopie slings today and i realized that i need some toggles cause i didn't purchase any.

i haven't tested this yet so bare with me.

for most of us that archery hunt, aluminum arrows are pretty much a thing of the past so i didn't have one to sacrafice in the name of the hang. what i do have is a ton of carbon arrows.

i cut one down to abut 5 inches and sanded the ends down, carefully drilled holes (carbon is bad about splintering since it's woven in fibers). i used the guts out of 550 cord to make the lanyard and finished it off with some high reflective tape used on aircraft and aircraft flightlines that i happen to have roll of. if i drop the black toggles at night all i have to do is get some light on the situation and they will shine!!

the total weight of the toggles, reflective tape, and cord was 4 grams.

i plan on testing it today, but in theory it should hold up better than the aluminum ones i would think. if alluminum gets a weak spot like a dent, it compromises the structural integrity of the cylinder. carbon tends to have more bend in it without failure.

with that being said, i can't imagine any situation within normal usage that you would run into any problems using aluminum arrow shafts as a toggle


here's a picture of the ones i made

[flatline]

way to go lugnut, those are very nice, ref tape is a good idea.

[VAHanger]

+1

Good point re: the lack of aluminum arrows in most archery quivers. A similar option (for those without access to broken arrows) might be the aluminum tent pole repair part REI sells for ($.75):
http://www.rei.com/product/753711
- but I like your solution more.

BTW, did you do anything special to prevent splintering (e.g., tape wrap)?

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Experience is learning from your own mistakes. Wisdom is learning from the mistakes of others...

[lugnut]

Vahanger, when i drilled i just went real slooooooow. as far as splintering during normal use; i haven't done anything, i'm interested to see if over time they start to splinter.

i'm going to chance it for the sake simplicity but if i were not going to chance it, i would probably take some of the adhesive that i use when fletching arrows and just but a small bead around all the cut edges and around where i drilled the holes. i don't think it's going to splinter but it's one thing i plan on keeping my eye on for sure.

i'm also interested to see if the ref. tape snags or makes it harder to pull the toggle out of the knot. it did interfer when i tried it with 550 cord but i haven't tried it with straps yet.

[lugnut]

whoopie slings and ridgeline just arrived!!

[lukesteg]

cool man!!

[Gumbi]

Maybe instead of paracord and reflective tape, you could use some kelty triptease since it is pretty reflective. You don't think that the ends would chip or splinter, do you? (Maybe that was your whole reason for putting tape on the ends in the first place?)

[lugnut]

gumbi, they shouldn't splinter but only time will tell. carbon arrows are very tough and you have to cut them to size for your draw length when shooting your bow anyway, that's my reason for saying that i don't think they will splinter. if they did splinter; i would make another set and just put a bead of apoxy along the edge to hopefully keep it from splintering.

i got the whoopie slings put on the hammock and i've organized a backyard campout with my 2 daughters, they are going to be in my eureka tent and i'll be testing the hammock suspension system. so far the toggles are working great.

as far as using the triptease; i was just using what i had on hand without having to buy or order anything. i suppose the triptease would work just as well.

[BearChaser]

Good to see another archery addict. Keep me informed on how those work lugnut. I have a bunch of both carbon and aluminum shafts. I have a couple trophy ridge blast 300 Shafts I received for a test run that I no longer use. These are the small diameter shafts with thicker walls, so I'm thinking they would make the perfect toggle.

[MadRacDad]

Another WV bowhunter here, I've gotten good results from 1/4 and 1/2 inch pex (water pipe from Lowes and other places). I like the reflective tape looks good! I'll have to hang on to my missed shots this year. Most of them end up broken. Just curious, how did you cut the carbon shafts? I don't have a high speed cutter.