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  1. #11
    Senior Member kayak karl's Avatar
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    you can buy the plastic sewing needles at AC Moore also.
    "Tenting is equivalent to a bum crawling into a cardboard box, hammocking is an art" KK

  2. #12
    Senior Member RootCause's Avatar
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    +1 on guitar wire
    +1 on thinning the end you're pulling
    +1 on patience

    I wrecked/frayed/shredded a number of Amsteel pieces futzing and trying and trying a bunch of things. What worked was persistence & methodically following the instruction. Thin the end. Squinch up the rope, work the bent wire in, feed it through, grab the thin end, work it back into the core, pull it out.

    Suddenly: MAGIC! Once I made the first one, the others just flowed. It's like climbing a steep hill, then suddenly cresting and seeing an amazing landscape vista spread before you!

    So: keep trying- it's worth it.

  3. #13
    SilvrSurfr's Avatar
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    I'm a simple fool with lots of patience, I guess. I've just been using a 4" piece of coat hanger as a fid (ends sanded). I use a small strip of duct tape to connect the Amsteel to the fid. I tried regular cellophane tape, and other types of tape, but the adhesive on duct tape holds the best, and the duct tape surface doesn't provide much friction so I can easily milk the rope over it.

    Recently, I started using a fiberglass rib that came from a kite. This works just as well. Eventually, I'll try some of the suggestions here like plastic needles or wire, but I've been doing fine with the tools at hand. It ain't fast, but it's effective.

    Occasionally, the duct tape slips off the Amsteel or the fid. If that happens, I just start over with a new piece of tape. Whoopies are really easy with the tools I'm using. Soft shackles are a little harder.

  4. #14
    Senior Member
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    I've tried wire and taper. May try thinner wire. Been using floral wire. Thanks for the tips. I'll keep trying. Just frustrated and lost patience. Appreciate the encouragement.

    ~S~

  5. #15
    Senior Member Jcavenagh's Avatar
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    Master the 7/64 you will, young Skywal,er Sidewinder. Hmm?
    Zing-It you will master also, I predict!

    Oh...you will...you wiiiilll....

  6. #16
    Senior Member
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    Any chance you are keeping tension on the outer layer? If you are keeping tension on the outer portion, it will fight you the whole way. You have to keep it as loose as possible. I bunch it up and milk it over the inner portion. Sometimes I have to use my nails to get it going, especially if I didn't do the taper as neatly as I should have.

    I use a high E string and my finger nails. I could not get the tube turner to work for me.

    You'll get it. Just remember that you are working with a very long Chinese Finger Puzzle.

  7. #17
    Senior Member TheHangingTechy's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jcavenagh View Post
    jeffjenn beat me to it...
    loop turner works great on 7/64 (doesn't work on Zing-It)
    http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog/p...PRODID=prd2991
    loop turner here works for me

  8. #18
    Senior Member
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    Success!!!

    I got it to work! Thanks for all the suggestions. What made the biggest difference was to use masking tape instead of clear cellophane and to keep the tapered end straight on the wire as I taped it. Before I was folding back the threads then taping. This made the whole thing too thick to pull through. Once I got the diameter of what I was pulling right it easily passed through! Whoopee! Or Whoopie!

    Thanks for everyones help on this. Next I will try some Dynaglide!

    You guys are the best!


    ~S~

  9. #19
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    I did not like fabric or upholstery needles for amsteel. To hard to pull. I had to grab the needle with pliers to pull it through. THe pliers keep pulling off and I break needles - especially in the Zing-it. I found the Deitz loop turner to be the best. Our local WalMart carries them for about three dollars. You can get them at JoAnns or Hancocks fabrics as well but the cost a little more.

    I have not tried the Guitar wire yet becuase I have had such good luck with the Deitz Loop Turner. I am using a modified loop turner on the 1.7 mm Zing-it as well. For the Zing-it, squeez the opening down enough to allow the truner to go through the Zing-It eaisly. I made the opeining about 1/2 of the orginal opening size. Without making the opening of the Loop Turner smaller it is very diffiuclt to pass the turner through the zing-it. I was making blind eyes about the size of a quarter in zing-it last night with this method.

    As mentioned above in this post, you must taper the end to make it easy. I have read that the number of woopies fail at the end of the bury. Something to do with the step off when using amsteel. The taper helps reduce this.

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