Living 5 hours north of the closest leather shop, and having a thing for big boys in the 200 to 330 lb range, I tend to make and modify my own toys, and equipment. Being a Bear Master of size, once 290 lb now 260, I have broken a few leather slings in my day.
Years ago when cleaning out our backyard of a country house we had bought, I came across the solution, which was used conveyor belt. Since then I have not broken any of my slings. To date my orriginal conveyor belt version has been tested to a dynamic load (two bouncing Leather Bears) totaling 625 lbs.
Here is my original prototype which I still use to this day.
- Original design with conveyor belt covered with sheep skin
Here are the dimensions that seem to work the best for a 5’9 to 6’2 bear.
Cutting of the conveyor belt required an electric jigsaw. For the rings the belt was cut in such a way that there 2 triangles removed forming a strip a strip that is then folded over to hold the ring. This seems to work fine as the belt is reinforced with fiber glass layers as shown below.
I have also discovered that pick-up truck bed mats are also a very good material for a sling, however the weak points are the ring mounts when the same technique is used.
When my alpha slave Eric moved into the slave quarters, he was given a sling which I made with a truck mat using my original fold over design. This past weekend we re-did the ring mounts with 1200lb rated cargo strapping after one of the ring mounts started to rip. The following is how to prepare them.
Using one of the staples of BDSM for cutting people loose in an emergency, good old kitchen meat scissors, to cut the straps to the correct length. Please note they should not be used against the skin.
To make sure the ends of the strap do not unravel, I used a hot element of a kitchen stove to melt the ends of the cargo strap then with a cold butter knife to flatten the ends. Once flattened they were cooled with cold water.
The holes in the strap were made (melted) using a soldering gun. The trick as with the ends is not to have any loose fibers that may unravel.
Carrage bolts and washers were used compress and secure the straps onto the truck mat.
Here is the final product looking at the underside and from the top.
Photos of the “end” result coming soon.