Can I tell by looking.....?????

[Scrub]

I am interested in making so silnylon stuff sacks and possibly compression bags for some of my gear.

Can you tell the difference between sil and ripstop by looking?.............is there another litmus test?.............

Reason I ask is that my local Wally World has 20 yds. of gray nylon material on a remnant roll for $1.00/yd, but no one can tell me if it is sil or ripstop. Is there a way for me to figure this out, or am I out of luck?

Thanks

[jlb2012]

similar question - can one tell the difference between the various nylon based fabrics (uncoated, silnylon, PU coated, DWR coated) by taking a small sample and burning it - observe how it burns and then carefully smell the smoke or the remains?

[Grinder]

There are at leas three grades of nylon.

Untreated
DWR (durable water resistant)
Nysil (silicon treated nylon.)

Rip stop refers to the woven grid in any of the nylon materials. You can clearly see the grid. The piece I just looked at had about 1/8 inch squares. Some are more like 1/4.

1.Untreated leaks. You can easily blow through it.

2.DWR barely leaks. They say you can blow through it. I found it hard to tell if I was. I'm told , if you pool water on it and leave it over night, it will drip.

3.Nysil can't be blown through and won't leak if water is pooled on it and left over night. The other test is that nysil "crinkles" when you bunch it. (kind of like a grocery store plastic bag does)

The grey I have seen at Walmart is DWR. When I bought it, I thought it was nysil. People smarter than I straightened me out. I have ten yards of it reserved for a hammock.

I feel your pain. It is hard to tell. I'm still feeling my way.

Tom

[jazilla]

DWR is kind of shinny and if you pool water in it and squeeze it out it will come out like pin holes.
Syn was told feels like wax paper. It isn't as shinny as DWR and feels thicker.

[hammock engineer]

I am a fan of wathcing people blow and burn fabric in the store, I don't think the staff likes the burning part. The fabric ladies really are not a big help.

Here is how I tell:

non-coated - box pattern, frays on edges, not shinny, if you look close you have see very small holes in it

DWR- box pattern, coated, looks shinny, frays on edges, you cannot see small holes up close

sil- box pattern, coated, looks shinny, DOES NOT fray on edges, you cannot see small holes up close.

Sil is the only ripstop that will not fray. This is because the coating goes all the way through. On DWR the coating is only on one side, hence one side looks shinner than the other.

BTW, let my know if you have any extra sil. I will be more than happy to take it off your hands and send you some money for it.

[zelph]

If I can't suck air through it, it's sil. When your face turns red from blowing that's a telltale sign your up to something:banana Be descrete!!!!

[saimyoji]

I'm just impressed that your Walmart still has the fabric section.....

[jrwiesz]

I'm just impressed that your Walmart still has the fabric section.....
Most of the women in the local Walmart's in my area have no knowledge of the fabric department going out of existance, as far as they know, the fabrics will continue to be available. I'm some what lucky, in that, I am near 5 different locations that I check periodically. Occasionally finding some silnylon. All of the colors, however, are not all that conducive to the colors one would desire for the out-of-doors. So far I have found only white and orange. I do buy all that I find, and so far have stock-piled approximately 20 yards of the silnylon for future projects.

[hammock engineer]

Most of the women in the local Walmart's in my area have no knowledge of the fabric department going out of existance, as far as they know, the fabrics will continue to be available. I'm some what lucky, in that, I am near 5 different locations that I check periodically. Occasionally finding some silnylon. All of the colors, however, are not all that conducive to the colors one would desire for the out-of-doors. So far I have found only white and orange. I do buy all that I find, and so far have stock-piled approximately 20 yards of the silnylon for future projects.

I made a tarp out of white walmart sil. It isn't as bad as you think. It is no grey or black, but it blends in well enough.

http://www.hammockforums.net/gallery/showimage.php?i=473&catid=member&imageuser=79

Of course the snow on the ground and the grey sky helped in the pic. But in the woods setup I think you would really have to look close from 20 yds away.