Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Slingshot

Here is my latest project. While on a fishing trip recently the wind started howling. The side of the lake I was on was downwind so of course I was facing into this gusting gale. It was so bad that the waves were white-capping. Now this is a lake mind you, not a river, so the fact that there were waves to begin with should tell you how strong the winds were. Anyway, this makes for lousy casts so I put my rod and reel down and just sat for a few minutes then I thought I would see if I could make something useful while waiting on the wind to die down. I am a big fan of the Backwoodsman magazine and there have been three articles about slingshots published within the last year. So, I thought I would see if I could find a suitable piece of wood with which to make one. As luck would have it, I did. Honestly I don't think it could have been a much better specimen to use. So, the photos you see are of the "Y" shaped handle after I removed it from the small tree and then a detail shot of the notches I cut for the bands. There is also a photo of the materials I used. The yellow bands I purchased at the store for about 1500 WON which is about $1.50 US. The pouch I attempted to make out of an old leather belt I have but found that the thin covering on the belt was stronger and more suitable. I shaved all of the bark off with the blade of the multi-tool I had with me. I then shaved slivers all around the stick until it was thin enough to break off. That is how I cut it down to the size I wanted. I used the same technique on both forks as well as the handle. It took about two hours all together to whittle it down. I used braided fishing line to lash the bands to the forks and used the technique from the Backwoodsman article to do so. Finally, there is a photo of the completed project. I took this thing out last night and tried it out against an old yogurt cup. Sadly my aim is way off so the yogurt cup survived. Luckily, I still have my head because I almost took it of with a ricochet! To use only a single thin band this thing packs a wallop! I am pleased and will definitely be making another. One final note, if you haven't checked out the Backwoodsman magazine, you should definitely get a copy it is well worth it for outdoors enthusiasts, farmers, personnel into "green living" and others. As always, Thanks for Stopping By!

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