[Luc]

Is there a fabric material comparison chart out there? It would be nice to have some type of doc that would list different materials from burly home-depot tarps to dyneema and their different qualities, weights, and cost comparisons. These days I'm less interested in nerding hard over this but still interested in being informed.

[Ski]

I called Tacoma Tent and Awning and asked them your question. They use a variety of different materials for their products. They have product "swatches" - like what you'd find at a carpet store. But a graphic would be a pretty tall order - you'd have to include everything from burlap bags to silk hankerchiefs to tyvek house wrap. There isn't a big enough piece of paper on the planet to print all that information on. I could see it being possible to come up with some sort of graphic if you limited the types of material, but "everything" is possibly just not possible.

[Luc]

Good point. For us, maybe limit it to the types of fabrics used in tent, tarp, and backpacks. That's what I'm really getting at.

[Ski]

^ I had assumed that to be the case, but I addressed your question to them as you had it phrased - pretty much "everything". Narrowing it down to those types of products used for outdoor recreation might make it possible, no doubt. Where do you start? lightweight cotton canvas (e.g. Converse Hi-Top) heavy cotton duck (e.g. Trapper Nelson pack bag, my Swiss Army medical kit bag) plain lightweight nylon heavy nylon "pack cloth" silnylon Tyvek house wrap I'm not conversant enough about different materials to even come up with a list, let alone comparisons. A group effort here in the forum, "peer-reviewed" process - it can be done. (We do stuff like that on the "tool guy" website all the time.) * I have at least half a roll (about 60 feet) of some 36" wide HomeDepot generic "house wrap" here that I will not be using. We only needed 40 feet to rebuild the south wall of the house. Anybody wants to stop by I'll chop some off for you for ground cloth. Works great. Super lightweight. When it's buggered up, you toss it and beg a new piece. (Let me know via P/M on the house wrap. I'm near Pt. Defiance.)

[Luc]

Aaaanyway. If someone ever comes across a good breakdown of outdoor-use fabrics and their qualities in one doc or site that would be useful! From tarps to dyneema as an example.