Soft Shackle pictoral. Picture heavy, dial up beware

**g0bez** · 07-05-2010, 18:29

yah man -- 5 gold stars to Opie for that tutorial. I'm always amazed at how hard it is to put these things into words (or worse, turn the words back into action on this end of the screen)... ends up being a little more obvious when you actually start doing it, at least in my experience. All of these pics *really* help though -- bravo for the walkthru!

**MondayHopscotch** · 07-06-2010, 00:07

I have a handful of these that i've made out of zing-it. I actually like them a lot! Many more uses than their amsteel counterparts (at least I think so)

**SmokeHouse** · 07-06-2010, 11:35

Looks awesome,,, thanks for the info and pic's

**SwingingBagpiper** · 07-09-2010, 22:05

Just made two of them!

**GvilleDave** · 07-11-2010, 13:54

Thanks for the instructions! These seem like a good low weight diy replacement for a carabiner in my suspension. I found it fairly difficult to start loosening the closed end so I added a small pull loop of zing it strung through the closed loop that way I can pull the zing it and start opening the closed loop easier.

**opie** · 07-11-2010, 14:07

Ive thought about adding a loop to make disengagement easier... But that would add to the price. And at $6 they are already on par with the CAMP or MM biners.

Perhaps the new owner will have some suprises up his sleeve.

**g0bez** · 07-11-2010, 15:39

I saw a youtube vid on how to make a soft shackle (was for nautical purposes, so the line was HUGE), but picked up a great release mechanism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH66tGsWv_Y

1. make the soft shackle as normal

2. take a length of zing-it (or other similar small line) and pull out one strand... ie - very thin

3. open the shackle to the absolute widest it will go

4. run the strand of zing-it through the inner core of the shackle (make sure the zing-it is long enough to stick about 1" out of the top of the outer shaft)

5. tie a knot at the end of the strand (now double) to make it a loop

6. close the shackle

now, when you want to release, you just pull the strand and it backs the outer sheath down *very* easily. I can do this with one hand now.

With this, as long as I make the shackle so that I can not lose the bury (which I'm pretty sure I saw is a feature of Opie's already) I don't need to tie a strand in the eye...

**Chicky** · 07-11-2010, 19:18

Nice tutorial, I just made my first one and I am sure I'll find many uses, especially with my hammock, while on the trail. I made mine out of 7/64 Amsteel, which worked great. My dad cannot believe that the Amsteel is rated to over 1000 lbs.

chicky