RAM-Bone - more pics

The tool makers have finished their job. Here are some pics. First real samples should be ready when I return from my US trip (next week). Here is the technical drawing:

Some more ray traced pics:

This will be a great product. Inexpensive, durable, highly ergonomic and versatile in terms of bands.

Hartriegel rulez

I wanted to make one more Panther custom today. Settled on the European Dogwood, cut of a nice chunk from the wood I harvested about two years ago.

http://slingshotchannel.blogspot.de/2011/08/13-fresh-forks-from-common-dogwood.html

I love that wood. Hard, dense, heavy and bright - with that faint pinkish tone that makes it so special.

As always I put on a nice shine, and oiled it with Linseed.

New catchbox

My old catchbox is now beyond repair.

It lasted more than three years! Here is a pic from April 2010, when it was new.

Pretty nice, from solid steel. I sawed out the front and mounted the cutout to the back, as a reinforcement.

Here is it in July 2013, after countless hits and constant bombardments. Of course I hammered it back into shape many times in between.

So I made a new one! From 50mm wooden poles (2" by 2") and 18mm boards.

It has an angled bottom board so the balls roll into the box I specifically made for the thing. Very comfortable!

I use 1cm thick rubber stripes to catch the balls - this works great. Indestructable, silent, and strong. Some old T-shirts and an old door mat catch whatever energy is left after the rubber strips have done their job.

I also protected every face that is directed towards the shooter with that rubber.

It works like a charm! I do hope it will last as long as the old metal one...

Zombie Walnut - Now Polycoated!

Finished the coating.

Sculpted German Walnut

I have a very old walnut tree in my garden. It still gives us many walnuts, but it also has several dead limbs. So I took my trusted chain saw sword and cut one of them off.

It must have been dead for a looong time, bone dry and with lots of growth on the bark.

Stripped the bark of and applied the outlines - a narrowed version of the Hand Mortar design.

I cut the frame out and did the file- and sanding work.

The marrow was brittle, I removed it and filled the holes with epoxy+sawdust.

Here is the piece oiled and sanded (80 grit), awaiting the polyurethane coating (I always like to do that on pieces that are as old as this one).

Will post some pics from the final finish, as soon as the coatings are done.

Bola Launcher!

The "TUMahawk" University Project

The loverboy of my niece Julia (she lives with us) is studying engineering at the Technische Universität München (TUM). He had to design a survival tool and his group settled on an axe - but with extra gimmicks!

The boys visited me yesterday, we had some fun.