Upgrading or restoring our throw lines.

I have decided to take a cue from our esteemed climbing guru Tom Dunlap and opened a separate topic on throw lines. There are a lot of new throw lines these days. Who is using what and what is working best for you?

Myself, I am still using 4mm slick line at the school and at work. It is easiest to hold in the hand in my opinion, and it is especially easier for a firm grip with new students having tender hands. I have gone to soaking my line in vegetable oil to cut down on friction and promote free running action. I use sesame oil as it tolerates heat in a far superior way and leaves your hands tingling with the aroma of a stir fried menu, which excites me greatly.

What other tricks are being used these days? Has anyone tried Safflower?

I don't want my throwline to attract the tree rats I want those fuzzy tailed critters going the other way

When I was in FL I picked up a large diameter fishing spool to store my throwline. A couple of weeks ago I bought a small diameter one and it worked ok. This larger diameter should work better. The way the line is looped onto the spool will determine whether any snaggles come off. After throwing and coiling a few times I'm starting to get the hang of a good method.

Slickline would be the best for small, tender hands. The performance is good enough. For tall tree climbers the small diameter lines really fly.

Speaking of tender hands... a gal that I used to date was holding my right hand. She took my hand in both of hers and rolled it over to ask me what "this" was. "This" was the callous that I have on the outside of my little finger from pulling throwlines. At the time I was climbing regularly so "that" was noticeable. I asked her if the callous bugged her. She said no but it was interesting to feel her finger twitch against it when we held hands? Good interesting

1.75mm Zing it, spliced eye, 8oz bag.

Originally posted by NickfromWI
1.75mm Zing it, spliced eye, 8oz bag.

That's insane! You're splicing 1.75 mm line? Is the bag permanently tied on or are you girth hitching it?

to restore the throwline , use BALLISTOL (get it at baileys)

I'm using 1.75mm zing-it, like Nick. Except without the spliced eye!

I have blackline 4-ml (most used regularly) and also have a roll of Zing it 2.2-ml for using with the Big Shoot.
When the old blackline was getting fuzzy and "hairy" I roled over a large wax candle and added wax to the outside making it more water resistant and less likely to get tangle up in the linemug bag.
Just an Oldtimers Tip.

About 2 years ago I started wearing my atlas gloves while throwing and have sorta fallen in love with it. I can still throw bare handed, but not as well, and it hurts sometimes.

I think I'm going to have to take a picture of this to really explain it, but when I throw the 1.75mm line, I weave it in and out of my fingers so that it requires less pinching power to hold on to it. It is as if I'm using my fingers as the bars on a rappel rack.

I'll try to take a pic later.

love
nick