I want use Hennessy snake skins with my JRB 11 x 10 tarp, but I'm not sure what size to get. Example, what's difference between snake skins #2 & #3? Is there that much of a difference?
I want use Hennessy snake skins with my JRB 11 x 10 tarp, but I'm not sure what size to get. Example, what's difference between snake skins #2 & #3? Is there that much of a difference?
Not much of a difference. Either would work well. The #3 fit just fine for my JRB 11x10 tarp.
"Every day above ground is a good day"
I used my old #3's. The worked but the tiny hole on the small side was a pain when I wanted to switch the location of the ridge line to switch from A frame to a Baker Hut.
A friend of mine at work made me a real nice set of custom ones that are longer than HH's and have larger holes at the small end.
I found that using snake skins for my Mac Cat was hard to do due to the big ball of fabric that always seemed to gather in the middle between the two skins as they were pulled on, SO... I made a single skin fourteen feet ling that pulls on all from one (either) side. This way, the air in the tarp can be pushed out the end, not trapped in the middle between two skins. Works really slick. Mule
Predictions are risky, especially when it comes to the future.
Just made a pair of skins for my DIY Hallelujah tarp. Hallelujah because it was a celebration when I finished! 10x12 with 10 cat cuts!
I made the skins out of some $1 "tulle" fabric I bought thinking it would make a bug net. Digression... never, ever try to make anything out of tulle. The stuff is wicked to work with, and its too stiff in all the wrong places... back on topic. I used tulle because it is lightweight and "airy", and... I want to get rid of my supply.
Each skin was 6' long. 12" wide at the big end, ~4" at the little end. Run a seam on the long side and the short end. Make a draw cord channel on the wide end. I used a electrician's soldering iron to burn a hole in the short end for the cord to the tree. Afterwards I found that the hole isn't good enough. It was stretching/tearing and the tarp, not the line was sticking out. I now have a very short piece of string tied tight around the fabric at the ridgeline tie outs.
As skinner said, there will be a bulge in the middle, but the convenience outweighs this minor irritant.
and having sunk $10 into 10 yards of the stuff at Walmart a while back, I was thinking this very evening of making up some snakeskins for my tarp using that stuff. And now I see your post!
I do know it is very stretchy....my thought was to cut it (burn it, actually with a hot knife, maybe reduce the pulling on the fabric that way), and edge it with bias tape. That way whatever sewing I do the bias tape will be what the feeder feet grab and maybe I'll escape multi-dimensional warping of the material. Whaddya think oh blazer of the tulle sewing trail?
seriously,
Grizz
Grizz, I did same thing. Got tulle at WalMart a while ago thinking I'd make snakeskins but after making a simple ridgeline pocket holder with it, I thought "Maybe Not!" Stuff is pain to sew. Perkolady told me she uses a zig-zag stitch to help control it, but even she admits it's a pain to sew.
I used bias tape on ridgeline pocket. I think it makes it more durable where sewn.
Maybe I'll wait for Grizz's detailed sewing instructions and photos on how to make "tulle snakeskins for your tarp" before I try it!
Considering it's Grizz he probably whipped them up last night and is getting ready to post instructions at any moment
I was tempted to have a go at them last night, but instead I undid a bunch of Alpine Butterfly knots from some Vectran 12 I'd put them in. Just about any knot clamps down in that stuff. Good thing the Alpine Butterfly is supposed to be easy to undo, at least in sheathed cording. Quiet evening in the Grizz home...
So clearly I need to try running a stitch with this stuff before committing to a project with it! Thanks for the added warning.
Grizz
The snake skins that you were using at the RRG were the smallest diameter skins I have ever seen. They certainly make a nice, compact tarp when skinned.
I have been thinking about making a 1 piece skin like yours that is attached to the inside of astuff sack, sorta like a BB sack for a tarp. You would open open the stuff sack and would have a skinned tarp stored inside. One of the guy lines would exit out the back of the stuff sack, just like a BB bag. Tie that line to a tree open the bag and pull out the skinned tarp and tie to the opposite tree. You would slide the skin back to deploy the tarp and the unused skin could be stored in the stuff sack. Is that clear as mud?
“Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it." -Terry Pratchett
Some where on the forums is a pictorial tutorial on how to roll for snake skins. It has to do with pulling the fabric away from the center to avoid that big lump. There is a practical minimum for how small you can get it, but by pulling away from the center as you roll it makes a huge difference.
I may be slow... But I sure am gimpy.
"Bless you child, when you set out to thread a needle don't hold the thread still and fetch the needle up to it; hold the needle still and poke the thread at it; that's the way a woman most always does, but a man always does t'other way."
Mrs. Loftus to Huck Finn
We Don't Sew... We Make Gear! video series
Important thread injector guidelines especially for Newbies
Bobbin Tension - A Personal Viewpoint
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