How can i tell? fabric question [Archive] - Hammock Forums - Hammocks and hammock camping

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Zorminster

08-21-2007, 17:00

So I stopped at my walmart today and found what appears to be some form of ripstop nylon. Unfortunately, it says "PROMO FABRIC" as the only source of ID on the bolt of fabric. How can I tell if its 1.1 or 1.9 or if its treated or if it actually is ripstop nylon? I went ahead and picked up 3 yards x 60" for a hammock sock because it feels and looks so similar to the material my pack is made of and i'm only out 3$ if not. lol.

slowhike

08-21-2007, 20:19

Zorminster... welcome to hammock forums.
we've got to come up w/ an article telling about identifying fabrics from the $1.00 bin.
we were just talking about that on another thread.
i'll see if i can find that thread & get back to you if someone doesn't beat me to it. ...tim

stoikurt

08-21-2007, 20:25

slowhike

08-21-2007, 20:30

Ewker

08-21-2007, 22:07

Take a look on this page. (http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1410&page=4) There are some links to help determine some fabrics based on burning small samples. Pretty neat.

Oh, and welcome to the forum.

I saw a bolt of green ripstop this past weekend. It is pretty slick so it might be some silnylon but I don't know for sure.

That would be nice but I am not sure Wal Mart is gonna let you burn a piece in the store :p

Shadowmoss

08-22-2007, 07:25

The fabric I got at WalMart is not waterproof, so it's not silnylon. I did the suggested thing of putting the fabric over a glass and securing with a rubber band and pouring some water into an indentation. It did take about a half hour for the water to start seeping through. It was dry again after I poured the water off in just a few minutes. I did have a wet spot in the fabric where the water had been standing at first though. I got some green, don't know if it's the same type fabric you saw, ewker.

JackRabbit

08-22-2007, 18:23

The easy way to figure out the weight is to weigh it. If your piece is 9'x5' it is then is 5 square yards. The weight of the fabric divided by the area in square yards (in this example 5) should come close to either 1.9 or 1.1 oz.

Untreated ripstop will fray around the edges. Sil or DWR will not.

If something here doesn't make sense, let me know and I'll try to explain better.

slowhike

08-22-2007, 19:56

i've loaned out my "hammock camping" book (by ed speer), but if any one has one handy, they could share the formula he gives there for determining fabric weight.

angrysparrow

08-22-2007, 20:21

Taken from Ed Speer's 'Hammock Camping', per slowhike's request:

Calculating Fabric Weight
Since we know that 1yd squared = 1,296 inches squared, we can take any large piece of fabric with known length, width, and weight and figure out the weight per square yard.
(length in inches) x (width in inches) = (area in square inches)
(area in square inches) = (weight in ounces)
(area in square inches) divided by (1,296 inches squared) = (area per square yard)
(weight in ounces) divided by (area per square yard) = (weight/yd squared)
(1 yard squared) = (_____ weight/yd squared)

Example:
If the length of the fabric is 144 inches (in)
If the width of the fabric is 60 inches (in)
If the weight of the fabric is 22.6 ounces (oz)
144 in x 60 in = 8,640 inches squared
8,640 inches squared = 22.6 oz
8,640 inches squared divided by 1,296 square inches = 6.667 yards squared
22.6 oz divided by 6.67 yards squared = 3.4 oz/yd squared
1 yard squared = 3.4 oz per yard squared
Example Fabric weight is 3.4 oz per square yard.

slowhike

08-22-2007, 20:47

thank you very much angrysparrow.
we'll need to remember were that post is to use as a reference.
thanks. ...tim

warbonnetguy

08-22-2007, 20:48

sil will not fray (after a long time it will though), but factory dwr frays just as much as untreated nylon in my experience.

Untreated ripstop will fray around the edges. Sil or DWR will not.