Go to a local salvage yard or pull-it-yourself auto parts place. Find a couple of seatbelts that are still in good shape. Cut them out (as much of the material as you can get). Get two climbing-grade carabiners. Tie the end of a seatbelt around a carabiner. Repeat with the other belt and biner. Use a match or lighter to melt the other end of each belt, so it won't fray. Learn how to tie the Marlin Spike Hitch. Voila, you have some pretty reliable tree-straps that are legal just about anywhere it's legal to hang, and you didn't have to spend much money.
Most climbing webbing is nylon and used in anchor-setting where a little stretch is helpful. For treehuggers stretch can be problematic. Some nylon treehuggers are just awful (Original ENO straps spring to mind). Others here do hang on nylon without too many issues. The other problem with climbing webbing is weight. Anchor systems must achieve 22.2kN, about 5000lbs, so it is unusual to find webbing with load ratings less than half of that. 2500lb webbing in nylon is not light.
$4 Harbor Freight Lashing Straps as seen here: http://www.harborfreight.com/set-of-...aps-67386.html. There are 5 Harbor Freight locations in the Atlanta area. The weak part is the cam buckle so you can cut that of with with a hacksaw, dremel, or bolt cutters. They are bright yellow but work great. 12' tree straps as inexpensive as you can find (other than free seatbelt webbing from the JY).
I just gave in and bought 14 ft of black seat belt nylon from strapworks since they had a 10% off sale (code: AR15).
+1 to this. I pulled mine out of a set of homedepot ratchet straps. 100% poly and rated to something like 1100lbs. I just popped the hooks off. I wrap it around the tree, and feed the strap through the original loop. I lash the free end directly to the rope loop coming off the end of my hammock with a figure nine.
Bookmarks