What sentimental things have used in making your gear?

[Hangs4Fun]

I used the plastic spools from my first 3 Gutermann Mara 765 yard spools and found that putting a piece of DynaGlide in the end made a great spike (for Marlin Spike Hitch knots, which I use a lot at camp). They are sentimental, because they represent the first gear I made. Out of those 3 spools I made, 3 WBBB clones, 1 tarp, 5 stake organizers, 2 misc organizers, 2 CS UQs, 1 CS TQs and over 10 sacks (stuff sacks, bishop bags, compression sack). I will always remember those projects, getting my feet wet, so I think using them as my spikes, which I always use will always get me to think back. Hmmm, 3 spools at 765 yards each that is almost 2,300 yards, 6,900 feet or 1.3 miles :-)

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[Poedog]

Great idea H4F; actually really cool as I was pondering toggles earlier today. I don't have any sentimentals yet as I've only made 5 or 6 bugnets, but I think I'll have to use your spool idea when the time comes.

[Hangs4Fun]

I also used a Sig 357 case for a Whoopie bead ;-) When I was making my adjustable hammock ridge line (ARL), I was basically making a really long whoopie sling out of Dynaglide connected to the hammock via a Titanium Dutch biner to a 12" amsteel infinite loop on one side and by lark heading to the other side another 12" amsteel infinite loop. Well, I didn't want the free end of the ARL to pull out, so I looked for a bead and at first I was going to cut off a 1/4" of an antler from the first deer I shot on my farm, polish it up and drill a hole.

But I ended up using the Sig 357 case, that I used to save my butt on my farm several years back. Long story there, but short story, I shot and killed a rabid fox that was determined to bite me. I just drilled out the primer end and reamed out the hole so that it was not sharp and did the same to the neck of the case.

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[Hangs4Fun]

So no one, has anything? Surely, someone here has SOME thing they can share here?

I'm beginning to wonder if this site is dying, been looking at other hammock sites/forums since there doesn't seem to be much feedback going on here. Main founders left and my last several posts have gotten a cold shoulder, so maybe it is not the friendly atmosphere it used to be. Peace out

[Floridahanger]

I like the idea for sentimentals. Not a reused or repurposed item, but, my hammock is my first camping hammock I made years back. I only use this one. The toggles for my MSH are from my wife's old windchime. So I always have a piece of her when I'm in the woods.

Hopefully, someone comes along and adds something better than this.

[ntxkayakr]

I still have a Vietnam War surplus jungle hammock I used as a kid about 40 years ago, not very comfortable but i keep it for sentimental reasons. Also a worn out cotton hammock that I slept in as a kid but most everything else is just totally worn out, thrown out to make room for more gear. The garage is full, rented storage full, stacks of gear often clutters the dinning room really upsetting the rest of the family so not much room for worn out sentimental stuff. Even the computer's "HDD" must be purged of photos and videos (DVD backup) due to hundreds of Gigabytes of them.
HF is like YouTube and cable TV so much to choose from it is difficult for anyone to get noticed, don't take it personally.

[WV]

I wanted a bag for transporting my Turtle-Dog hammock stand, and the only heavy, sturdy fabric I had was the Navy surplus canvas hammock my father bought about 1950. It wasn't big enough to make a bag to hold the whole stand, so I made two end bags about 10" in diameter and 20" long. The original hammock ends with brass grommets are the top edges of the bags, so I just use a piece of rope with a taut-line hitch between them to hold the bags on the ends of the stand. This was the hammock that was in our back yard every summer. Somewhere there's a photo of me at age 7 or so lying in the hammock flipped upside down with my arms crossed, gripping the edges so I wouldn't fall out. This was so I could read the book that was lying on the ground underneath the hammock. As I recall turning pages was tricky, but it could be done.

[craige]

I use my sewing machine (singer 227k) that my grandmother used for a small home business making curtains and doing alterations and my mum used to make all her clothes between the ages of 8 and 17 (when she started working full time). Does that count?

[Hangs4Fun]

Heck Yeh that counts. Thanks, great stories. I think Shug always has that piece of reflectix with him and that green hammock but not sure if there is anything to them.

[JToon]

I am still on my first roll of thread. But maybe someday I will get to the end of it. If I keep measuring incorrectly I will be to the end of this roll of thread sooner then anticipated.