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  1. #1
    Senior Member Strapped-4-Cache's Avatar
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    DIY Tree Huggers?

    I ran a quick search on the forum but was unable to find any posts that referenced this idea. My apologies if this is a re-hash of an old subject.

    Has anyone tried making tree huggers out of old seatbelts? I have seen several posts about people ordering seatbelt materials to modify their rigs, but not much else.

    I’ve scavenged several seatbelts from old cars in a scrapyard in order to run tests to see if the material can serve as a travel strop for my razors. (Short answer – it's not as good as a dedicated strop, but it still does a great job of keeping a fine edge.) I’ve learned that I can usually pull about 8 or more feet of seatbelt material from any given seat in a vehicle. If I’m lucky I may get as much as 10 or more feet. The stuff comes in a variety of colors and costs me anywhere from $0.25 to $0.50 per foot, depending on if I just cut the fabric at the anchor point or if I take the entire assembly from the car.

    I realize that the material is at least twice as wide as the stuff I’ve seen referenced on here, but it’s thin, soft and easy to sew loops into with needle and thread. Am I missing something here, or is this material a good, cheap alternative to store or web-bought tree huggers? I don’t mind spending the money on purpose-made items, but is this a viable alternative?

    Just curious,

    - Mark (S-4-C)

  2. #2
    Senior Member gargoyle's Avatar
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    It will work, and like you said it will be heavy.
    Old ratchet straps (take off the rachet) work well too.
    Make sure the fabric is not nylon. Nylon stretches and you'll end sagging your way to the ground.
    Ambulo tua ambulo.

  3. #3
    Senior Member angrysparrow's Avatar
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    That's absolutely viable. As long as you can sew strong loops in it, you're in business.
    “I think that when the lies are all told and forgot the truth will be there yet. It dont move about from place to place and it dont change from time to time. You cant corrupt it any more than you can salt salt.” - Cormac McCarthy

  4. #4
    Senior Member pgibson's Avatar
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    The short answer: Maybe

    The long answer: Yes the webbing is plenty strong to get the job done. I carrie 1" wide seatbelt webbing that is rated to 3000 pounds. But the rub comes in the fact that seat belts in cars are exposed to a lot of UV rays and UV will deteriorate the strength of any petroleum based fiber, be it polyester like most seat belts are made from or nylon like may hammocks. So that being said, the webbing may be ok or if that car spent a lot of time in the sun, the webbing may have weakened over time. Now the webbing is way over rated with that in mind but there are no assurances that it will hold, just that maybe it will be fine for thousands of hangs or it may not.

    Good luck
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  5. #5
    Member AhNuts's Avatar
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    Hi Mark,

    The answer is ... you can make a tree strap out of any thing you want. The question is does it have a working load limit that will keep you off the ground. The seat belts are plenty strong (if they are in good shape) but are a bit on the heavy and wide side.

    There are a lot of webbing suppliers out there with lots of choices.

    Good luck on your research,

    John
    I spent most of my money on beer and women and hammocks.
    The rest I just wasted.

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