Good Deal On Polyester Webbing.

**GREEN THERAPY** · 08-30-2007, 20:14

My two cents worth is that I have been looking for 1" webbing that I can use hanging from rings. There was a local discount place that had a roll of high tensile polyester webbing for .17 cents a foot that worked great. Went to buy more and they are out and will not be getting any more. Have tried various other webbing and it all slips in the rings and or has far to much stretch for my liking. Soooo ... have gone back to the cam buckles and the tie down webbing which other than the weight of the cam buckles themselves is a wonderful system. Just pull up the slack and your done, never slips and the straps have little or no stretch. I am still hopeful about finding some thicker straps that will not slip in the rings. Will have a look at Home Depot stuff.

Has anyone tried the square tubing straps from rock climbing supply retailors?

**FanaticFringer** · 08-30-2007, 23:06

Originally Posted by GREEN THERAPY

My two cents worth is that I have been looking for 1" webbing that I can use hanging from rings. There was a local discount place that had a roll of high tensile polyester webbing for .17 cents a foot that worked great. Went to buy more and they are out and will not be getting any more. Have tried various other webbing and it all slips in the rings and or has far to much stretch for my liking. Soooo ... have gone back to the cam buckles and the tie down webbing which other than the weight of the cam buckles themselves is a wonderful system. Just pull up the slack and your done, never slips and the straps have little or no stretch. I am still hopeful about finding some thicker straps that will not slip in the rings. Will have a look at Home Depot stuff.

Has anyone tried the square tubing straps from rock climbing supply retailors?

Why not use the cinch buckles instead? Much lighter. Did you tie a slip knot at the rings to avoid slippage? Your the first person I've heard that is using the cam buckles and not cutting them off.

**FanaticFringer** · 08-30-2007, 23:12

Originally Posted by warbonnetguy

i've been testing several different types of polyester webbing. in general, i've found that anything under 1700 # or so has noticeable stretch. this is just in general. have not tested the harbor freight webbing. the weave of the webbing has alot to do with this as well. the stuff referred to as polyester backpacking webbing, even the heavyweight 1800# stretches too much b/c of the weave.

the best deal i've come across (at least for small quantities) is the 1" woodland camo polyester from www.owfinc.com it is 2000# and stretches very little. it weighs 6.1 g/ft, which is quite light for its strength, and a pretty reasonable weight in general.

I was thinking of ordering some of that camo webbing and having it directly shipped to Speer Hammocks and have them sew the loops on. My cheapo sewing machine does'nt have a zig zag option on it and I love the way Speer sews their loops. I've been a good customer in the past.

**GrizzlyAdams** · 08-31-2007, 00:15

Originally Posted by FanaticFringer

I was thinking of ordering some of that camo webbing and having it directly shipped to Speer Hammocks and have them sew the loops on. My cheapo sewing machine does'nt have a zig zag option on it and I love the way Speer sews their loops. I've been a good customer in the past.

If you have Speer-sewn-loops in other webbing, can you put a picture up in the gallery? My wife's machine is a step up from yours, has zig-zag. Psst. Can you keep a secret? The loops in my webbing are tied bowlines, not sewn. Slowhike may kick me out of the club if he knew.

thanks,
Grizz

**FanaticFringer** · 08-31-2007, 00:21

Originally Posted by GrizzlyAdams

If you have Speer-sewn-loops in other webbing, can you put a picture up in the gallery? My wife's machine is a step up from yours, has zig-zag. Psst. Can you keep a secret? The loops in my webbing are tied bowlines, not sewn. Slowhike may kick me out of the club if he knew.

thanks,
Grizz

YOU DID WHAT?

I'll go take a pic of my Speer straps right now.

**FanaticFringer** · 08-31-2007, 00:36

Hard to see the sewing.
Details: The loop itself is 1 1/2 inches (flat). There are a total of 6 seperate zig-zag stitches across the webbing. About 1 inch apart.The first two rows of stitches at the loop end are right next to each other. 6 inches from top of loop to other end.

**GrizzlyAdams** · 08-31-2007, 00:41

Originally Posted by FanaticFringer

Hard to see the sewing.
Details: The loop itself is 1 1/2 inches (flat). There are a total of 6 seperate zig-zag stitches across the webbing. About 1 inch apart.The first two rows of stitches at the loop end are right next to each other.

I can see it. I can do that. Thanks!

Grizz

**slowhike** · 08-31-2007, 05:42

Originally Posted by GrizzlyAdams

If you have Speer-sewn-loops in other webbing, can you put a picture up in the gallery? My wife's machine is a step up from yours, has zig-zag. Psst. Can you keep a secret? The loops in my webbing are tied bowlines, not sewn. Slowhike may kick me out of the club if he knew.

thanks,
Grizz

you did WHAT !!!

i'm surprised at you grizz

just kiddin... i've tied knots in my webbing too... in my early days

**terceiro** · 08-31-2007, 06:41

I'm all for knots in my webbing. I don't like a bowline with webbing, however, and much prefer a figure-8-on-a-bight.

Knots are easily field-repairable, don't damage the webbing, and are really, really simple. Looking at the Speer straps looks like there's a lot of fudge-protection going on, just in case the sewing fails.

I dunno, I just kinda like knots better. Is there some benefit (besides aesthetic) where sewn loops beat knotted ones?

**GrizzlyAdams** · 08-31-2007, 07:39

Originally Posted by terceiro

I'm all for knots in my webbing. I don't like a bowline with webbing, however, and much prefer a figure-8-on-a-bight.

Knots are easily field-repairable, don't damage the webbing, and are really, really simple. Looking at the Speer straps looks like there's a lot of fudge-protection going on, just in case the sewing fails.

I dunno, I just kinda like knots better. Is there some benefit (besides aesthetic) where sewn loops beat knotted ones?

So the received wisdom in these parts is that knots significantly lower the strength of the rope (or webbing). If I recall, my reason for using a bowline included that among knots it weakens the rope less than others. The other is that you can untie it after it's been under load.

The truth of the matter is though, that my use of it (webbing wrapped twice around the tree) puts very little load on it. Even with one wrap, the load is nowhere near what's on the end that goes to the rings.

But I'm thinking now of making short tree huggers from the QWF 1" polyester webbing (replacing the rest of the webbing with lighter Spyerline), and running a suspension line from each end of a bridge hammock's spreader bar to each hugger loop. Now the loop is under the full load that the suspension line is. Does it matter with 2000# rated webbing? Even if the knot reduced the strength by 50%, the load on each line (including the effects of geometry) will be on the order of half my weight, say, 95 lbs.

I have more to worry about from my sewing.

Grizz