hiltsbilt Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 I haven't posted here in forever, but I wanted to share. I wanted to make something for my nephews, so I thought it would be cool to forge out some slingshots (even though I have never made one lol). They are going in the mail tomorrow, I hope they like them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joel OF Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Good idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Very cool! I was just re-introduced to slingshots myself. Even found a website that is the "iforgeiron" or "bladeforums" of slingshots. I would post a link but don't want to tarnish my clean record LOL. However, if you want to google, its called Slingshot Forums and admin-ed from Germany by a man named Joerg Sprave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSW Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Neat. Way back when I forged a wrist rocket type sling shot in Jr high shop class. I think it may still be around in one of the boxes of old junk some where. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimsShip Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Nicely done! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Neat. Way back when I forged a wrist rocket type sling shot in Jr high shop class. I think it may still be around in one of the boxes of old junk some where. Making one of them in most schools today would get you expelled by having a weapon, and probably get the teacher fired. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 To right NJ. I carried a bic pen and a paperback book. This nerd surprised more than on jerk that way, lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSW Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Making one of them in most schools today would get you expelled by having a weapon, and probably get the teacher fired. Yeah that is so true. Looking back I am surprised at what they would let us do. I guess since with no bands, it wasn't a "weapon" yet. At the same time we had one guy doing wood work in class who made a laminated boomerang in class. That seemed to be acceptable at the time also. However with both our projects we couldn't "show" them off during school. The teacher had no problem with all of us showing up after school and trying them out and he even participated. Of course this was back in the early 80's in rural Wa. and I can still remember guys pulling into the high school with rifles and shot guns in the racks of their trucks to go hunting as soon as school ended for the day. I went all thru Jr high and high school while I was there like most other guys ( and many girls) with a 6" folding buck knife openly displayed on my hip and no one ever thought twice about it. A few guys even had fixed blade knives, but they were frowned on a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
windancer Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Yeah, gotta be PC nowdays, and heaven forbid upsetting anyone for any reason.Nice job on those slingshots, brother! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njanvilman Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 I began teaching in 1977. During those first ten years, it was a common site to see many pickup trucks with shotguns in the racks in the parking lot in the fall. Both owned by students and school employees. This school was rural in nature. Most farm kids carried a pocket knife. We even had the first day of deer shotgun season off. When the new administration came in in 1991, all that ended. They were from 'out of town' and did not understand the traditions. Then after the world of the last 10 years of school shootings, everything changed forever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EtownAndrew Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Neat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 Not so long ago you had to have a knife in school to sharpen your quill pen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles R. Stevens Posted December 21, 2014 Share Posted December 21, 2014 It becomes a real problem for FFA and rodeo/horsemanship programs, as the liability of not leting students carry a knife is an issue. Large animals and ropes meam entaglements and other situations that requre cutting a rope in a mater of seconds. Recue tools have proven to be inefective. As to school shootings, most perpitraters sufferd from PTSD, yes severe bulling can cause it, as can sexual and lusical abuse. The high cortisol levels prevent normal brain development. School adiministrators that still take the "boys will be boys" are part of the problem. As are school administrators that do not report crimes. When I was in school, I new who caried guns and knives in school (I carried a knife for the first two years) I remenber the natinal news havind a conniption in 86 about it, I temember thinking "and?!" But then again the Army was dening that the Bradly fighting vehicle would sink (saw two sink), lol. Sad that the kids are having to strike and hire lawyers to get bullys expelled. Nj, I must say, thank you. Teachers are one of the most impotaint peaple in the world Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 Interestingly, slingshots are illegal altogether in the Netherlands. Even in the US, there are restrictions on building them in many states. (I didn't know this until after I built a couple :D ) But as been mentioned, they aren't weapons until they have bands and ammo pouch attached. :ph34r: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Evans Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 No kid should be without one! Loads of fun and frustration. :) Great gifts, what a cool uncle! Did you check out their parents permission by the way? I always remember one of my distant (geographically) great Aunts giving me tin drum one Christmas. I loved it, I took it to bed with me. Strangely, although I had not worn it out even though I had rattled on it all through Christmas day, it was not there when I woke up on Boxing Day! :( I never did get any body to admit to removing it! :) Though I know them as catapults rather than sling shots....what are the simple string and leather 'slings' that you swing in a circle and then let go called in the 'States? I have not seen ones like this before. Is the rubber tubular and is it just held on with super glue? On the catapults I used to make from a hazel stick fork, the rubber was 1/4" square section solid. I could never hit anything consistently with mine, I never managed to figure out the technique. One of my chum's father was a road sweeper/ ditch digger and he always had one in his pocket in case he saw a rabbit, he could hit anything. I did get on better with a sling though...I could get the stone in line every time, but the height was problem there. Slight nuances on just what part of the arc you let the string go, let alone the trajectory and distance to target. Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSW Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 Though I know them as catapults rather than sling shots....what are the simple string and leather 'slings' that you swing in a circle and then let go called in the 'States? I have not seen ones like this before. Is the rubber tubular and is it just held on with super glue? The simple leather thong ones are called slings here as well. The one shown uses surgical tubing for the bands although I have seen ones done with industrial flat rubber bands in the past as well. The tube is held on by friction. The tube stretches over the ends of the steel rods. I'm guessing you all over there don't have the wrist rocket style either since these are unfamiliar to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Evans Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 Yes I have seen that wrist rocket style before. But just in a tiny thumbnail image in the back of a hunting/fishing type magazine advert. I did not know that was their name or noticed the detail of the surgical tube. Do you have to warm the tube up to get it on or is the compression of pushing enough to expand the diameter? I can see that the tension of pulling could make it grip. Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 The proper size tubing is the key. It will slip fit over the ends of the sling shot and compression fit when pulled. Different surgical tubings give different draw and power combinations. This is the same for different sizes and dimensions of flat bands. The aim is more experience and what feels right than anything else. With lots of practice you can get close. With more practice you can get closer. Consistent ammo is another factor in accuracy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Evans Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 Extraordinary! Your consistent ammo comment reminds me that my friend's sharpshooter dad always had a pocket full of glass marbles. Interesting that the guy Rufus in the film had just similar-ish lumps, he must have been adjusting by feel and muscle memory for every shot. Extraordinary! Alan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted December 22, 2014 Share Posted December 22, 2014 A blacksmith from Illinois said he shot metal balls designed for sling shots, a little less than 3/8 inch diameter as I recall. I told him my sling shot was from the fork of a tree and the best ammo I found was #57 gravel. He had a one word reply, WOOF !! Many think of a sling shot as short range shooting. The real challenge are targets at a longer distance, far enough away that you have to add the proper elevation into the firing solution. A metal trash can at a distance of one telephone pole to another will tell you if your on target with a nice crisp report upon impact. Gives the term "trajectory like a rainbow" a whole new meaning. It was always neat to take a less than round rock and shoot it at the road and listen for the whine of the ricochet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DSW Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 I used to shoot mine on the beach. After a good summer weekend there were always bottles and cans and other debris washed up on the shore for use as targets. Throw them out as far as you could and take turns trying to hit or sink the "ships". Like you said the ones that would get washed out farther often were the most fun. You'd have to lob your shots out there and the splashes told you easily how you needed to adjust your fall of shot, left or right, short or long, and of course many times the target was constantly moving away at the same time in the gentle surf. You never wanted to let a good target "get away" without sinking it. The beach had tons of gravel for ammo. but if we could locate some old 1/4" to 5/8" steel nuts in the industrial dumpsters near the shore, that was always the best ammo. The sharp corners tended to cut into cans at longer ranges and sink them better than rounded beach rocks. We almost never managed to locate decent sized ball bearings in the scrap bins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 I found that on the slingshot forums strips of Theraband, the exercise band stuff (the best (most powerful) is theraband gold) is the standard band set up for homemades although many do use the surgical tubing as well. I'm using non-latex burgundy doubled simply because I had it on hand. Non-latex doesn't stretch as far as banding containing latex, but I can still dent my wheelbarrow from fifty feet :ph34r: Also, the common ammo used by the guys on the ss forums is in deed purchased steel balls (More accurate than rocks and other ammo and not as abrasive on the ammo pouch) 3/8 to 1/2" is common but some guys use up to 3/4". Much depends on the size bands used as to much weight will not travel as far without the proper power behind it. Target shooters use catch boxes to reduce overhead ;) I have not advanced to such high tech shooting. Small stones from the garden suffice for now LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frozenforge Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 When I was 12 or so we lived at K.I. Sawyer AFB in the UP of Michigan and we all had wrist rockets! We would go to the railroad tracks and the railcars were always hauling the processed iron ore pellets and the tracks were almost buried from them falling out of the cars. We would scoop up handfuls for ammo! They were roughly 3/8 round and heavy for there size, of course our pouches hands and pockets or what ever we carried them in were all stained by the iron oxide. The ones you made will work great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimsShip Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 I once had a slingshot with that used the tubing and the tube popped off while aiming. I always tied mine from that point on. Safety first! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobody Special Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 You can add glue or epoxy, but mine always used to tear the surgical tubing long before slipping off. Steel balls work well, but too large definitely takes the power out of it. Ever try a regular sling (the kind that's braided, and works on centrifical force)? Hard to get the hang of, but a LOT of power once you do. (try the first bit in an open field where you won't break anything, or look as silly til you figure it out. It's worse than trying to fine tune the sling on a trebuchet.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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