Friday, January 29, 2010

New pouch concept!


The discussions about the lifespan of flat bands have been inspiring. Most shooters confirmed my experiences: The bands always break close to the pouch, and some forum members said that the kinking may be responsible for that.

So I "designed" (it is really a simple idea) a pouch with slits, made for looped flat bands. I call this the "Reverse Chinese Loop" method.

Advantages: Longer band life (hopefully), cleaner look, no band loss for pouch attachment, thinner pouch (no kinked rubber and string).

Disadvantage: Cutting the tapered bands is a little harder, you have to cut them in a romboid style.

But that is not so hard, you simply fold the band in the middle. So you cut a 44 cm long piece of rubber from the roll, then you fold it at 22 cm. Then you use your pen, mark it, say, 3 cm at the "open" side and 2 cm at the folded side. Then you cut both layers. That would give you a band that is 2 cm X 2cm at the pouch and 3 cm X 3 cm at the fork (like the Fish Hunter). This tapering automatically centers the pouch.

Tested this on my trusted old Freddy, works like a charm!

We will see how long the bands last.

PS: This idea was inspired by the Saunders plastic pouch, and also of course by the Chinese "pretzel" shooters. I am sure someone used it decades ago already. But I haven't seen this concept used recently.

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