Thursday, May 30, 2013

Mesquite fork

John from Texas gave me this natural fork. It was very rustic, and obviously the grubs had been at it for some time. Seems like it was dead for at least a year, bone dry for sure.




First, I removed the bark. The grub canals came to dailight quickly.



I then decided upon the shape. I wanted to retain the forward canted angle of the fork, and at the same time I needed enough solid wood to make this a functional, strong slingshot. Took me while.



Then I cut the front and back. The typical hammer handle shape emerged for the first time. You can also see that the grub holes aren't that bad.



I closed the grub canals with a mix of the wood's own sawdust and tow component epoxy glue.



Then, I filed everything flush and started the sandpaper work. Here you can see it at the 80 grit stage.



This is the final slingshot, all polished and oiled (raw linseed oil)!



Some more pics of the beautiful frame:







8 comments:

  1. Excellent! That looks amazing. That fork definitely captured all the variety of color that Mesquite offers. I'm glad it turned out so well =)

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  2. Oh, also super bone dry because I had forgotten about it in the back of my car through the Texas Summer, so it got well baked. It was near dead when I cut it down though.

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  3. That's beautiful! As a Texan, Mesquite is one of my favorite woods.

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  4. By jazztuss,epic:D

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  5. Brilliant Slingshot, specially its shape and finish, Joerg could you give us hammerhead pdf of handle (both sides)

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  6. May be the wrong question but do you sell any of your work?

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  7. ...that pice of wood was in the best hands! It could never be better. My great respect Joerg, consistently! Btw, your hammerhead design is elementary my favorite, I would sooo impressive, when I could got once of your blueprints from you, Joerg.. thanks in advance and greets from Berlin!

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