In trying to reduce the calf-ridge and floppy sides on my DIY channel end hammock I started playing around with catenary cuts this weekend. Has any played with this before, and any results? good/bad/ugly?
I tried a google search but only came up with a brief discussion on a yahoo forum from 2005, with not much info and no results. I don't think channel end hammocks were really developed at that point, with most people using a whipped end and it seems the consensus from that was to pull the gather out, as most people do with a whipped hammock today.
My idea behind bringing this back up is that using a catenary cut with a channel end hammock is effectively similar to pulling out the fabric at the whipping. Reducing the material length as you get farther away from the center of the hammock should accomplish both my desires.
I experimented with a modest 2" cat cut on the ends of the hammock. Pining and sewing the channel wasn't any more difficult with that moderate curve than doing a straight channel. Stringing it up I noticed a significant reduction in calf-ridge, the hammock was much more "tub" shaped, but while the floppy sides were reduced, they weren't eliminated. A 3" cat cut might be a bit better.
My next idea is to cut a 4" - 6" cat cut along the long edge of the hammock. This would simulate having a narrower hammock in the center, but still leave more material at the head and foot end for a diagonal lay. Has anyone tried this? I noticed at had the most "flop" at the center of the hammock, with it reducing the further you got to the ends. Any reason not to try and remove this "excess" that doesn't seem to do anything?
In the attached image the black dimensions show my current set up, with the white dimensions showing what I'm proposing. The light green is the material that will be removed from my current hammock.
Bookmarks