Choosing the Right Spline
NOTE: Spline may be purchased separately if not chosen as an option in the sling products.
In some cases, it is possible to reuse the original spline as long as it is not brittle as you remove it from the old slings.
A spline is the long, rounded, flexible piece of material you will see in the rails of your sling patio or pool furniture inserted in the loop sewn on each side of the fabric sling. This is used to keep the fabric securely attached across the two rails. The spline must be large enough to keep from slipping through the opening slot running along the rails yet not too big to fit well in the ends of the rails for easier installation.
Most quality patio or pool sling furniture such as Winston, Woodard, Tropitone, Mallin, Carter Grandle, Brown Jordan, Agio, Innova, Telescope, Lyon Shaw, is designed to use spline material to install the fabric replacement slings on the frame. There are some exceptions like Homecrest or Samsonite which use two layers of material on some of their furniture to slide the slings over an internal frame.
We have 1/4″ (.25″), 7/32″ (.22), & 3/16″ (.180″) spline.
The example above is from the rail of a Winston Key West Sling chair.
The .180″ small spline is too small and will not keep the sling in place.
The 1/4″ is bigger than needed and may make the installation more difficult.
The medium 7/32″ is just right for the Key West Sling chair.
As you look at the 3 splines we have available and then look at the spline you have in your old sling material, you may find what you need to order with your slings. If you do not have your old slings you may measure the slot width running up the rail and find which size you will need. Make sure you find the widest area of the rail slot and be sure your spline choice is just slightly bigger than that rail slot area so that it will keep the fabric in place when tightened.