# My first shot at making a band set



## newconvert (Dec 12, 2011)

i have been reading, and learning, as i learned i thought oh my! i am going to have to invest a lot of money to become self reliant at making bandsets. I was wrong! i thought it through and with materials i had in the house i made proper bandsets. COOL HUH!

1) the white cutting board is a hard plastic, but it allows for a straight supported cut while not dulling the blade.
2) the leather i used for the pouch is 3 mil vegetable tanned honing leather, the size is the cut out portion of the leather.
3) the holes were made in the leather by drawing 1/8" rings, and cutting with the tip of the hawk bill Spyderco cricket.
4) the there band is the silver you see in a roll upper left
5) upper right is the small strop i treated with .5 micron diamond compound w/ .5 micron chromium compound on the other side.
6) first strop the very tiny/thin swiss army knife to razor sharp, than lay out the lines on the thera band, both for band length, and tie downs.
7) I used a plastic engineers rule as my straight edge, careful place the rule on my lines cut and stropped as needed to make 2 band sets.
8) folded 1 end as much as possible to get through the pouch, pulled enough band to just touch the same edge of the leather pouch.
9) no vise? used the key chain on a door knob, hooked the opposite end of the pouch, stretched the bands to bind using 15 wraps than tuck.
10) tied the fork end doubling the bands once.

walla!!!!!!!

oh yeah, i was not going for speed-power, just my first attempt, i just quartered a 10" long piece making for 4-1 7/16" inch bands, no science there!


----------



## Imperial (Feb 9, 2011)

next thing you know, youll be trying chains and tubes and rubber bands and latex balloons. welcome to step one...


----------



## Hrawk (Oct 25, 2010)

Good job!


----------



## newconvert (Dec 12, 2011)

Thank you gentlemen, i think you are right Imperial, that was step 1 lots more in store i think


----------



## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

Nice job! Always good to be able to make do with the stuff at hand.

Cheers ... Charles


----------



## Danny0663 (Mar 15, 2011)

Nice job on the band sets!
That flippinout frame looks awesome


----------



## bullseyeben! (Apr 24, 2011)

Improvisation! It's not the tool, its how you use it! Lol.. great job mate, Ben


----------



## wombat (Jun 10, 2011)

_other _then I think you'll find the 3 mm leather too thick, everything else looks right and you've certainly started off with the right frame.


----------



## Henry the Hermit (Jun 2, 2010)

Good job! You are now officially a slingshot addict. There is just one small detail that may need attention. When you fold bands, fold them so that the edges are to the outside. That reduces the chance of a projectile getting caught in the fold and producing a fork hit, or worse.


----------



## newconvert (Dec 12, 2011)

AHHHHH! i did them the other way for aesthetics, will do henry

thanks


----------



## Dayhiker (Mar 13, 2010)

I bet that's a great setup for shooting. I tape my rubber down to the board first when I use a knife. But save up some money for a rotary cutter. You will be wanting to make a LOT of bandsets, and it is a lot easier with the rotary cutter. You can sharpen the rotary blades too and get a lot of life out of them.

Good job!


----------



## pgandy (Aug 15, 2011)

You started off with less investment than me. I tried some improvised methods but found them less than satisfactory in the long run. Looking back on it the only thing that I would have done differently is to use a cutting board. That mat cost so much to import that I am ashamed to say. The rotary cutter made life much easier. And now that I am sharpening the blades to extend the use is helping much as everything costs so much to import. Good for you.


----------



## newconvert (Dec 12, 2011)

THANK YOU Charles, Danny 0663, Bullseyeben!, Dayhiker, Henry, wombat the 3 mil pouch works really well is there something i need to know? pgandy, yeah the cutting board was something i had laying around, it worked better than the tray i began with so walla sorry to hear everything is so expensive where you are at. and to all thanks so far, now if you could just come over and teach me to shoot!


----------



## Henry the Hermit (Jun 2, 2010)

I count my blessings every time I buy a couple of new rotary cutters. I get Chinese cutters for $1.69 each. They work fine and can be resharpened.


----------



## newconvert (Dec 12, 2011)

i will stick with my knives, part of the fun of a hobby is doing it the old fashioned way, unless you are doing high volume of course, using the knives keeps my sharpening skills on track. in fact i have so many strops is there a place i could trade a good 3 sided strop for a PFS on this site, i guess my collection is in the works!


----------



## Bob Fionda (Apr 6, 2011)

Awesome work!


----------



## newconvert (Dec 12, 2011)

thanks Bob, its such a pleasure to do and share


----------



## newconvert (Dec 12, 2011)

wombat said:


> _other _then I think you'll find the 3 mm leather too thick, everything else looks right and you've certainly started off with the right frame.


wombat? why do you consider the 3 mil leather too thick? i have read recently that even the weight if the pouch is important? or is it something else, its very comfortable in the hand


----------



## Jim Williams (Jul 6, 2011)

The thicker the leather the slower the pouch will travel thus making it less powerful, you are also more likely to get bad hand slaps. If you do find you are getting hand slaps you might want to try tying the pouch with fine twine rather than rubber too as that will make it lighter.


----------



## newconvert (Dec 12, 2011)

all good info, and you are right about the handslaps! i will have to find some twine thanks.


----------



## bullseyeben! (Apr 24, 2011)

Sling Jim said:


> The thicker the leather the slower the pouch will travel thus making it less powerful, you are also more likely to get bad hand slaps. If you do find you are getting hand slaps you might want to try tying the pouch with fine twine rather than rubber too as that will make it lighter.


Actually despite some people thinking the nasty hand slaps are a result of pouch weight size etc, many slaps aren't even the pouch hitting you! A heavy pouch will return slower than a light one! Every time I've split my poor middle finger has been a hit half way up the band, not the pouch making contact.. lengthen your bands slightly, or thin the cut slightly to reduce slaps, and i always tie with rubber, tb blue actually and get great life and can shoot at over 330 fps with never a slap..


----------



## Jim Williams (Jul 6, 2011)

bullseyeben! said:


> The thicker the leather the slower the pouch will travel thus making it less powerful, you are also more likely to get bad hand slaps. If you do find you are getting hand slaps you might want to try tying the pouch with fine twine rather than rubber too as that will make it lighter.


Actually despite some people thinking the nasty hand slaps are a result of pouch weight size etc, many slaps aren't even the pouch hitting you! A heavy pouch will return slower than a light one! Every time I've split my poor middle finger has been a hit half way up the band, not the pouch making contact.. lengthen your bands slightly, or thin the cut slightly to reduce slaps, and i always tie with rubber, tb blue actually and get great life and can shoot at over 330 fps with never a slap..
[/quote]

Well that's bizarre, since I started tying my bands with twine and used a leather punch to lighten my pouch my hand slaps have stopped!


----------



## Danny0663 (Mar 15, 2011)

I used to wrap my bands heavily with 3-4mm thick belt leather, even though i was using 12/14mm lead. I was getting really nasty hand slaps and couldn't shoot more after a couple of shots.
I am now using 1/1.5mm light leather, with light string ties. I get no hand slaps at all. Same band lengths/same draw weight.

You can also notice to some extent that your are your shots are faster, due to the light pouch/ties.


----------



## Sean (Nov 17, 2011)

Great job, nice little knife that Spydie. My hat's off to you for being able to do something I have a lot of trouble with. Flatband
bandsets. Being around here though is filled with great ideas and tips.


----------



## newconvert (Dec 12, 2011)

Sean said:


> Great job, nice little knife that Spydie. My hat's off to you for being able to do something I have a lot of trouble with. Flatband
> bandsets. Being around here though is filled with great ideas and tips.


yes Sean, i like improvising, the more i learn and the more i make, i might in the future invest in a rotary cutter, but for now i am just learning, so i am having great fun doing it myself, i do have a few very nice bandsets from flippinout, will have some soon from Henry, and maybe soon from Bill Hayes, but i am kinda saving those until i can hit the side of a barn, its not as easy as when i was a kid?


----------

