Slungshot - darned if I know where to post this

[KenpoTex]

Should I stick with lead and just use shrink sealing and a layer of Dipit, double stitch all seams and call it good? Or is it worth the expense to switch to another metal like copper or stainless steel or at least bismuth or copper-coated shot where appropriate? Am I being paranoid enough or too paranoid?

Any suggestions welcome.

I would imagine that, as you said, the main hazard presents itself during the manufacturing process. If you seal it as you described I can't see it being a problem to carry/use.

kenpotex,
Home grown every single one.
I have one of Todd's but it's not in the picture. He does beautiful work.
These are for sale BTW.

PM sent.

 

[Bill Bednarick]

Todd I wear a respirator, gloves, face sheild, hat and coveralls when I cast lead. Is it too much? Maybe but I have the stuff so I might as well wear it.

Also I try not to drill, grind, file or eat the lead. My brother however puts in X-Ray rooms and cuts lead sheet with a skillsaw. They have been using it for years and thats just how it's done.

But personally I look at lead like grinding nasty stuff (micarta, G10, Carbon fiber, etc) better safe than sorry.

On the topic of leather I like veg tan 9-10 oz. for most of my saps. The straps and stuff are 7-8. I generally don't go lighter since it's the same stuff I use for knife sheaths.

I look forward to this gathering. We are going to have a blast.

 

[tellner]

It's gonna be fun. I'm bringing things that are a little different than yours just to give everyone some variety - a few rope items (as soon as a I can make the crowned star knot look pretty), a couple prototype palm saps, my own version of the book weight and a couple others. With any luck everyone there will look like kids in a candy store. I've got to admit that the flexible ones are easy to hurt yourself with in training. Even the light wood-cored ones have a bit too much inertia for comfort.

By the way, Rigid makes a really nice (cheap) dust collection system. It works with any standard shop-vac and collects the particles from up to three power tools at a time. I was surprised at just how much was getting scattered around when I emptied the canister.

Got some powdered lead from a golf supply store. I think it's used for tweaking the balance of driver heads. I've seen it used in sap gloves and am experimenting with some other things. That stuff gets the extra paranoid treatment. To easy for it to sneak out through seams otherwise. So far it seems to land like a dead-blow hammer. No bounce. No "thwack". Just a "thud". Interesting stuff.

 

[KenpoTex]

just bumping this one back up to show one that I made.

On a recent trip to my parent's, I was poking though a couple of boxes of my "junk." Lo and behold, I ran across a 1 1/2" ball-bearing that I think I found at around age 14 or so (don't know why I kept it...I must have been prescient ).
I decided to try my hand at the whole slungshot thing. I used regular old 550 cord in lime green and blue. Given the size of the ball-bearing and the small diameter of the cord, I had to go with an 8-strand knot (that was a PITA to tie). Anyway, here she is...

 

[howard]

Hi Tellner,

I just saw this thread a couple of minutes ago... very interesting stuff.

You had mentioned looking for a substitute for sisal / hemp rope. Way back when I was a young man, I did tree work for a few years. I used hemp ropes for both climbing and roping down large limbs until I could afford a really nice synthetic material called Esterlon. Looks like nylon, but won't stretch under weight nearly as much. Extremely strong. And won't give you those painful little splinters in your hands like hemp will.

As for where to find it, you could check any supplier to the tree business, or just about anything nautical. When I got my ropes, I lived in the Tidewater, VA region, so there were plenty of suppliers of the stuff around.

btw, that is a really cool weapon... uses the same principle as in that Steven Seagal movie where he put the cue ball in the doubled towel... ouch.

 

[Boomer]

You know....I just got a german shephard puppy. Don't worry...I'm on topic....
Anyway, I went to Petco and got toys and a crate, etc. My 7 y/o son was swinging this thing around, and we ended up buying it for $8. It's a tug toy for the dog, and it looks exactly like what you've got here. When we brought it home, I found myself playing with it, bouncing the knot off my shins (old shotokan/muay thai habit of seeing "how good is my conditioning") and thought that it'd make a damn fine head knocker.

There's no metal weight in it of course, but I do think it's kind of a neat parallel to see it here on the forum.

 

[Devon]

I attended the ISMAC (International Swordfighting and Martial Arts Conference) in Michigan two months back, and they had a class in slungshot/Monkey's Fist fighting. The weapon was originally used during the 1800s as a weight to load lines when throwing them from ship to ship, etc.

The instructor had developed a system for using the slungshot partly based on old-school bare-knuckle boxing techniques, combined with the more obvious whipping/flailing strikes. They did a bit of grappling and garroting using the lanyard as well.

 

[Big Don]

just bumping this one back up to show one that I made.

On a recent trip to my parent's, I was poking though a couple of boxes of my "junk." Lo and behold, I ran across a 1 1/2" ball-bearing that I think I found at around age 14 or so (don't know why I kept it...I must have been prescient ).
I decided to try my hand at the whole slungshot thing. I used regular old 550 cord in lime green and blue. Given the size of the ball-bearing and the small diameter of the cord, I had to go with an 8-strand knot (that was a PITA to tie). Anyway, here she is...

That just looks cool! I'm impressed.

 

[tellner]

Kenpotex: Very kewl! Is the long part a square sennit?

Howard: Thanks! I'll definitely look into it. The main problem with the synthetic ropes I've tried so far is that the stranded ones don't take knots nearly as well. This one might be what I've been looking for.

Devon: The slungshot goes back to well before the 19th century. Heaving lines are as old as sailing, and "life preservers" have a long and extremely checkered history.

I'm developing a couple variants for Terry Trahan. Unfortunately, they will have to wait a bit. There's a shed to build and a basement to finish before we will have a workshop. If I take time out right now my wife will kill me for the insurance money

 

[KenpoTex]

sorry I haven't posted here sooner, I've been having some major computer and internet issues for the past month.

That just looks cool! I'm impressed

thanks
It's a little too big to actually carry (the thing is ridiculous) but it was fun to make. Everyone that has seen it usually reacts with some variation of "holy ****!"

Kenpotex: Very kewl! Is the long part a square sennit?

yeah, I think that's what it's called.