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Natural knotted fork

2K views 10 replies 10 participants last post by  seppman 
#1 ·
After joining the forum a few months ago, I decided to make my own slingshot! It is technically my second slingshot, but the first one was made of spare slingshot parts and a really boring straight-Y fork, so I wouldn't really count it!

I went searching in my local woods for forks, and after an hour of looking, I found a mysterious thorny dead branch with a fork in it. Using a hatchet, I began chopping it, only to find out that the wood was extremely hard!

After freeing the fork and taking it home, I looked up the rambone design to get an idea of where the curves should be. I took a marker and sketched out the design on the wood and used my jigsaw to cut it out. I was going to cut out the thickness of the handle (the side perpendicular to the plane of the slingshot) using the jigsaw as well, but the wood proved too hard to cut and hold still. So, I went to the hardware store and bought a dremel and a desk vise. The carving bit made slow, but steady progress on the slingshot, since I had to avoid friction burning the wood. After a few hours, I realized that the asymmetry of the slingshot could not be avoided without weakening the frame significantly, so I left it. However, the wood showed some remarkable knots and twists that I really think is beautiful. I spotted a small crack in the middle of the handle, but it is vertical and since it is in the handle, I don't expect that it will cause any issues.

I sanded with the roughest and then the finest sanding bits that came with the dremel first, which did wonders to bring the slingshot out of the pitted and scarred wood. I finished with 320 grit sandpaper for a baby-soft finsh.

I bought teak oil and stained with multiple coats. By using a spray polyurethane, I first put on a thick coat that took two days to dry, and then sanded again with 320 grit to remove any small bumps and even out the surface. Finally, a light coat of polyurethane finished out the slingshot. The polyurethane and teak treatment really gives the wood a smooth marbled look to the grain and makes it feel indestructible!

For the bands, I went on amazon and bought theraband gold as well as 11 mm steel ammo. After trying unsuccessfully to cut the bands with an exacto-knife, I ended up going out and buying a roll cutter. These things are insanely good at cutting!! I cut the bands based on the calculator Joerg made. The pouch was cut from some scrap leather I had, and dental floss was used to attach the rubber to the pouch. Attaching was quite tricky, so I made my own jig using two clamps, an altoids container, and a piece of wood! Finally, some spare inner tube was used to attach the bands to the wood. I would have used theraband, but I wanted the colors to match! However, the attachment has already failed once, so I will either need to attach with a longer piece of inner tube or resort to theraband.

After testing, I can say that it is a great shooter! I am interested in the wood, so if anyone knows of what kind of wood it is, please let me know. It had some thorns on the branches I picked up that were maybe 2 cm long. The wood is very hard.
 

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#3 · (Edited)
Very nice sling and killer grain!!!
The color and texture of the bark reminds me of a small tree,about 3-4 meters max in height,that has hard wood with thorns about 5-10cm apart and 4-5cm in length.Here we call it wild pear (Pyrus spinosa forssk),it makes miniature pears (like a marble in size) very hard.
 
#4 ·
Very nice sling and killer grain!!!
The color and texture of the bark reminds me of a small tree,about 3-4 meters max in height,that has hard wood with thorns about 5-10cm apart and 4-5cm in length.Here we call it wild pear (Pyrus spinosa forssk),it makes miniature pears (like a marble in size) very hard.
The thorns were smaller, but otherwise your description fits really well. I wish I had taken a picture! By the way, I live in Ohio if that helps.
 
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