"Lascivious Jaundice"

Theodore from Crete sent me some great natural forks from orange trees.

The web is full of information about oranges (the fruit), but there is really nothing about the wood from those trees. So I did not know what to expect.

I started to work on this frame - probably the smalles Theodore sent :)

First, I sketched out the frame.

 Sawed it out!

 As usual, I start with a very angular version, to get the shape just right. I also cut in the fork a little deeper than originally planned.
 

After the rounding and rough sanding (80 grit), the orange-yellow color came out! I was amazed as well as curious. How would this end up?

 Here is the polished frame. I can't believe the color! Will be interesting to see how it ripens over the next few days.

"The Flute"

Recently, I found some forks from a dead Sambucus bush (German: "Holunder").

Sambucus is very dense wood, but it always has a canal filled with the soft marrow. In dead Sambucus, this marrow is usually dust.

Made a slingshot from the first part.

As you can see, a thick fork - just the way I like it. You can see the marrow canal already!

Debarked it first.

Then, I sketched the slingshot frame onto the wood.

Then, I sawed out the rough shape.

Kept working on it until the file work and rough sanding was done. You can see the marrow canal!

I decided not to fill the cracks and the canal - simply because this looks very cool the way it is. Just oiled (raw linseed oil) and polished.

I called it "The Flute" for obvious reasons!

One of the nicest naturals I made so far.

Brickshooter: Slomo footage

Here is a video with some slomo destruction shots, recorded with my new Olympus iSpeed LT camera:



It is not public, only for those who have the link.

Enjoy!

Brick launcher for TV: First pics

Just completed the filming... but still travelling.

Here are some pics:

See them on the Zombiehunter forum

Wish us luck!

Time spent watching youtube

Youtube (google) is now measuring the time people spend watching individual videos.

Analytics state that number. Interesting!

Within the last 30 days, people spent 5 years and 209 days watching my videos! An enormous number, if you look at it this way. This means that, since I started the channel, people spent well over 100 years watching my stuff. Wow.

Slingshot for "Gear" magazine

The writer for the German "Gear" magazine visited yesterday.

The task was to do a photo workshop how to make your own slingshot from a natural fork, starting from scratch.

I picked up some chunky forks some days back, but then we settled for a quite ugly one from a dead dogwood tree I harvested on August 1, 2011.

So I turned it into a nice, albeit small frame while he took lots of pics. I used hand tools only.

The finishing is somewhat less perfect than usual, simply because we didn't have enough time (we only had a few hours total). But the slingshot came out rather nice!

We then let a few steel balls fly. He had his own one when he was a boy (didn't we all?), so he was hitting the target in no time.

I gave him the slingshot as a present, together with some 15mm steel balls. I hope he enjoys it - I am carefully optimistic though :)

Fork harvest

GEAR magazine (German version) plans to feature me in an upcoming issue. They will visit me next Wednesday, for a photo shooting about how to make a good natural slingshot from a wooden fork. The article will start with the "harvesting". Have done that today!

German forests have owners - and these guys don't appreciate others to come along and fell their trees. Therefore I used dead branches from shrub rather than live wood. And anyway I prefer the colors of decay in a thick natural!

Launcher of Love - the video

Last details

Have attached a few more details.

A matching aiming device, and an adequately shaped foregrip.

Shooting with the new toy

Finished the weapon. Put on dual Thera Tube Silver (about 60 kg = 132 lb draw per barrel). 

Frightening. It send the 72 gramm missile about 10 cm = 4" into my new dense foam archery target.

Then I made an equally heavy short bolt from a wooden rod, and attached a spike. The effect is devastating. A flying ice pick.

Can't wait to see the effect on ballistic gelatin :)

Shooting thingies

I am planning to make a parody about myself. Also, a lot of fans have requested this. Who am I to ignore my fans?   :D

Therefore I made a new launcher. It has two shots, and is chambered for 28mm Destruction Inflicting Longitudinal Defense Object caliber missiles.

The ammo is available at amazon, just under 7 Euros a piece. They list it in the "drugstore" category.

See it on ebay Germany

I plan to lovingly shoot those into ballistic gelatin, both with the "motor" on and off to see if there is a difference in flight characteristics and... ahem... penetration.

First test shots tonite!

Loong crossbow vs. coconut

I never managed to shoot a 20mm steel ball through BOTH SIDES of a coconut.

Tested one inch (25,4mm) steel balls shot from the loooong winch cannon - here is the result:

Twice as long!

OK, I am talking about slingshot crossbows... nothing more, nothing less :)

One of my most powerful slingshot crossbows is the winch operated hand cannon. It can handle much stronger rubber than any conventional slingshot. But it has an active draw length of only about 75 cm!

The speed (and energy) of a 25 mm steel ball fired from the weapon is an impressive 45 m/s, about 67 Joules of energy. But I extended the "barrel" to twice the original length, giving the weapon a total acceleration length of 165 cm.

This leads to a speed of 69 m/s, increasing the energy of the 25mm steel ball to about 162 Joules - 2,4 times more!

As a bonus, a new two shot bullpup crossbow is shown. It fires two full size arrows, either at the same time or in consecutive order. Outfitted with a surplus G36 scope, it is really accurate and powerful enough to penetrate a car.

 I decided to present a prototype in this week's bonus.

Smashing a Nissan with the Thor Hammer!

YouTube NextUp Contest!

YouTube runs this very interesting contest called "NextUp". You can participate if you are a partner that falls into a certain category.

See the info on YouTube

Turns out I qualify - and I'd love to be a winner!

As requested, I made a "Pilot" episode for my channel.

I had to keep a 3 minute limit... forced me to focus on the videos (= weapons)I like the most.

Wish me luck!

Forearm mounted mini hoopack

As I am currently investigating the "David sling" concept, I became a member of slinging.org. A great website and forum with a ton of information about that ancient weapon type.

"Curious Aardvark", the admin of that site, suggested I look into a weapon called a "hoopack". It is basically a staff sling with a forked tip. Advantages are less band entanglement and also a slight spin given to the ammo.

Ineresting concept for sure!

I made a test device yesterday, basically a forearm mounted short hoopack with adjustable "loop launcher" and a manual loop retainer.
 

The adjustable loop launcher allows you to change the angle. This way you can adjust the launch timing, in order to get just the right throwing distance.

The loop retainer makes sure that the loop does not slip of before you want to. You press down the "trigger" when you start the swing towards the target. The loop releases automatically once the hook is in the right position.

Will see how it shoots! It was already dark when I finished the weapon yesterday.

Second Persimmon Shooter

I promised to return one of the four Persimmon forks John sent me from Texas in the form of a finished slingshot. So I made a nice shooter yesterday!

Hammerhead handle, slightly more fat than usual, and a fork that is a bit higher and thicker than my extreme frames (I think John might prefer that).

This fork is entirely free from cracks, the result of very careful microwave drying.

As you can see, the fork was thick, but not straight. I had to place my cuts very carefully, but the results are really nice.

Second slingshot for the law professor

Here is the second one I made for the law professor... a Cougar with custom scales, made from zebrano wood. Finish is linseed oil.

The Cougar still is a very good finger+thumb support slingshot, especially for beginners as it will survive fork hits.

Will send both frames to him tomorrow!

Portable Trebuchet

I am thinking about making a staff sling that is accurate without any practice.

See the sketch!

Coverage by COLORS magazine!

A few weeks ago, COLORS magazine contacted me and said they'd love to include some of my weapons in their issue about "apocalypse".

COLORS is a magazine that is extremely artistic and has breathtaking photos. They dedicate every issue to a single topic.

Coming from out of Italy, they also have English text next to the Italian. 

Today, I found my reference copy in the mail - very exciting! The quality of the paper and the haptics blow me away. The photo that the guy made when he was here contains many of my weapons in a single arrangement - he actually shot it from the top of my staircase. What a masterpiece!

See a preview on the magazine's website 

(my photo is at the very end).

I am really proud and happy today!

Rope instead of rubber - it works!

Slingshots in ancient times?

As some of you may know I specialize in slingshots, and rubber based weapons. Now vulcanized rubber wasn't invented before the mid 1800's.

What did the Dennis the Menace kind of boys used before Mr. Goodyear's useful invention?

Well, we know about the "David Sling", and the related throwing sticks. But these weapons require lots of practice. No problem for sheppards, but what did the offspring of an urban Roman/medieval family use when he was up for shenanigans?

Torsion based weapons, using twisted rope, were clearly well known back then.

So it is likely that toy sized versions were made, too.

I want to find out if a handheld slingshot, based on twisted rope rather than rubber bands, is feasible. Of course it needs to fire rocks and lead/steel balls, and of course it has to be somewhat accurate.

I bought some 4mm hemp rope and tested the concept - it works! I chose an inswinger design for power and a larger swing angle. The hemp rops is very unelastic, and the swing has to be limited to about 90 degrees. If I go above, the draw gets too strong at the end of the motion. Keep in mind no trigger and no stock. Just a very wide fork with the rope casings at the end.

Should be interesting!