Cat cuts?

[Vincethebutcher]

Mabye its because I'm new to this whole DIY thing, but i cant figure out what cat cuts are. Can someone give me an easy to understand explanation? I've been trying to decipher it from different threads but am just not getting it.

Thanks

[Theosus]

catenary cuts. sort of an arced edge in tarps from one tie-out point to the next so the edges stay nice and tight. If you cut them straight the edges would be loose and flappy. Tight edges are nice, less flapping and throwing rainwater around.

[VictoriaGuy]

Check out some plans and you will see what people are talking about.

Scott at diygearsupply (http://backwoodsdaydreamer.com/) has some plans for you to look at, and pics of the results.

[Vincethebutcher]

Awesome! That spells it out perfectly, i figured it was something simple that i just wasnt seeing. I didnt know it was catenary cuts. I tried googling cat cuts and you get some pretty weird stuff, mostly cat stuff.

Thanks

[SweetLou]

A cat cut is short for catenary cut. A catenary is similar in appearance to a parabola, but mathematically very different. In tarp making, a catenary is easy to reproduce. It is the curve when hanging a rope, chain, etc by two points (the ends). Hang the fabric on the wall, place your Amsteel on the ends and the result is a catenay. Cut along this path.

The reason for using a cat cut is mentioned above, it is to have the tarp in tension with no slack fabric.