Atlatl atlatl... show us your spikes

[rich59]

Yes, I have been making holes in my neighbour's fence and putting at risk my plastic garden furniture again when I broke out my atlatls and darts this week.

I'm doing a workshop on atlatls at the bushmoot 2009. Below are some pictures of the tips of my throwing sticks. Some of you guys got some to show?

From left to right:-

1) The mark II lash on spike

2) The carved antler spike - donated by a friend

3) The single piece of wood carved spike (my favourite)

4) The mark I lash on spike

5) The glued in spike (drill a hole and glue in a spike).

For those who know little about atlatls - they are the forerunner to the bow and arrow. It is a hand held stick with a spike on one and and you hold the other. You use it as an extension to your arm to throw a dart - a oversized version of an arrow really. Are they any good? Well, they may have been the weopon that exterminated most of the large fauna on our planet! Are they any fun? Throw a few darts with lethal force into a target and you can get rapidly addicted. Is there any skill to it? Lots. There is a whole science to explore, lots of making and lots of potential to travel the world to enter competitions.

 

[redneck]

so what sort of "nock" for want of a better word is on the end of the dart, a hole for the spike to fit in or a groove of some sort?

 

[stretch3144]

Years ago at a Scout camp I was taught how to make a "Swiss Arrow" out of a length of bamboo cane with some cardboard fins. The arrow was weighted to balance it in flight with lekky tape along the shaft.
It was launched using a length of string. The string has an overhand knot in one end and this end is wrapped around the arrow shaft below the fins and locked off over the overhand knot. The excess string is then wrapped around the throwing hand, and the arrow is gripped at the tip.
It is then thrown overarm, with the string acting as a extension of the arm (like an atlatl) to produce more throwing power.
Biggest problem I found is it is very inaccurate....maybe with more practise it could be an effective weapon/tool.

I would like to try an atlatl and dart, just need some "woods-time" to try that and many other things out.

Ian

 

[Cromm]

Normaly a hole or if you are using cane/bamboo for your dart just cut it next to the node in the cane.......

 

[rich59]

so what sort of "nock" for want of a better word is on the end of the dart, a hole for the spike to fit in or a groove of some sort?

- A hole usually. In bamboo darts this is natural and if near a joint then it is stronger.

 

[Matthew.Passmore]

do we need to "book" onto the workshop or just turn up?

 

[rich59]

Years ago at a Scout camp I was taught how to make a "Swiss Arrow" out of a length of bamboo cane with some cardboard fins. The arrow was weighted to balance it in flight with lekky tape along the shaft.
It was launched using a length of string. The string has an overhand knot in one end and this end is wrapped around the arrow shaft below the fins and locked off over the overhand knot. The excess string is then wrapped around the throwing hand, and the arrow is gripped at the tip.
It is then thrown overarm, with the string acting as a extension of the arm (like an atlatl) to produce more throwing power.
Biggest problem I found is it is very inaccurate....maybe with more practise it could be an effective weapon/tool.

I would like to try an atlatl and dart, just need some "woods-time" to try that and many other things out.

Ian

Atlatl accuracy is potentially pretty good, although rarely as good as with bow and arrow. The dart has to be long enough, flexible enough and heavy enough at the front end and lightly fletched at the back and you need to develop a standard throwing action. I did some videos of myself throwing and found that it went pretty well exactly where I pointed it. However, I find it difficult to sight down its length and use some tricks to try to get round this.

 

[rich59]

do we need to "book" onto the workshop or just turn up?

It will be turn up at the workshop. No booking before the moot. If popular there might be more than one session.

 

[stovie]

Made this one some time ago, on site. Dart is hazel with Cushot primaries and fire hardened point. The atlatl is carved from a piece of elder...

If you look carefully the dart is mid flight to the right of picture

Atlatl...ignore duct tape flight...though very effective..

Dart fletched with Pigoen (Cushot) primaries

 

[Seoras]

Hi Rich. Been working on Atl Atls lately myself. Made a primitive set recently. Do you want a hand on the workshop?

 

[rich59]

Hi Rich. Been working on Atl Atls lately myself. Made a primitive set recently. Do you want a hand on the workshop?

That would be ace.

 

[Mr Cake]

I've just caught on to the scarf and tube way of making the darts. Well worth doing especially if you're in a hurry to make some darts and don't want to go down the bamboo cane path. I've got a picture of some of my throwers up in the gallery but sadly no detail of the hooks - will try to remember to take some better photos.

 

[rich59]

I've just caught on to the scarf and tube way of making the darts. Well worth doing especially if you're in a hurry to make some darts and don't want to go down the bamboo cane path. I've got a picture of some of my throwers up in the gallery but sadly no detail of the hooks - will try to remember to take some better photos.

I found this link describing scarf and tube joints for atlatl darts. Looks pretty wow .

I guess I would have worried that the back piece would slide forward on impact.

 

[Mr Cake]

That site is where I got the idea from. For the tubes I first used some thin birch bark and some willow inner bark (the first things that came to hand). The willow split quite quickly but I think that was a consequence of it being too thick so it was hard to roll tightly so there was perhaps a little 'play' in the joint. The birch was better though it did split in the end. As I mentioned above the important issues seemed to be making a tight wrap with your tube and reinforcing it with plenty of cordage.
When the tubes split and the back piece slid forward on impact the backpiece only penetrated a short distance so the scarf wasn't damaged so it was just a matter of refitting with a new tube. It may not be very primitive but I found rolled up cardboard made an excellent tube; I made them for my sons birthday party so he wasn't that fussed about the aesthetics.
Recently I made a number of three piece darts (rear two sections 90cms long and front section 45cm long - I admit it I used 90cm dowel mouldings as I had to make a fair few darts in a very short time) as it meant I could easily transport them on a train. After putting extra wrapping on the front tube to bring the centre of balance forward they flew almost as well as the two piece darts.
One last thing I'd heartily recommend is making a jig to cut the scarfs over trying to cut them freehand.

 

[rich59]

Glue and drilling and then dowling across the joint would presumably make it more stable. I hope to experiment at the moot with this.