Bolas

[Man of Tanith]

Evening All
I've got the curiosity itch going again
now before anyone says i know bolas are naughty and not allowed for use in this country.
This being said has anyone made a set for personal experimentation?
i've a hankering to make one but am not sure if i should just do two stones on one bit of string or four stones on strings meeting in the middle or make leather pouches and link them together or what really.

anyone got any ideas they can help me out with?

 

[Loenja]

i always thought bolar had four or five weight...
not an expert though

 

[Mesquite]

Here's how to make a set of monkeys fists bolas

 

[TeeDee]

Here you go From the Wilderness Survival School Hunter-Gatherer Course I was lucky enough to win a place on , displayed is Glen with his balls swinging around his head.
We had a primitive hunting weapons display and use day , and the Bola was one of those, my thoughts from MY limited use were that to successfully sight, swing and launch at an animal , the action would have to be a single action of the bola's coming up , around the head once and then Launch. No time to keep whirling around your head like a helicopter..

If your target is at 12 0'clock , to allow for the Bola's you need to be releasing at 2 O'clock ( obviously Counter-clock wise in my case)

There is a free download e-book over at Bushcraft USA that i read very recently that covers primitive weapons and the construction and use in an indepth manner , I think IIRC it was written by KEPIS.

I may be wrong but I can imagine it would be more successful against smaller tightly grouped animals, I can't imagine being successful in bringing a large quadraped with it. But then I was cack with it!...

 

[woof]

I made some back in the 70's, used a couple of snooker balls(got banned from the snooker hall)in a pouch each, became fairly accurate(rose tinted glass'es)at short distances.

Good luck and enjoy yourself experimenting.

Rob

 

[TeeDee]

Sorry should have mentioned the construction of Glens balls , his were made from Buckskin wrapped around stones and being tightly bound. I don't think the cordage was natural.

Glens set does actually contain 3 balls ,we found there were a couple of way of holding them , method one , Hold ONE of the three balls in your hand and spin the other two , this creates a larger circle as its swing around your head and I thought accuracy was increased with this method.
Method Two , hold the Cord Nexus point where all three cords coming together , in this way all three Balls will be swinging around your head in orbit ,better for enclosed environments , just didn't seem that accurate.

HTH

 

[forestwalker]

IIRC the Inuits used them for hunting sea birds. I'm imagining them to be effective against a flock of gulls, ducks or geese (entangle, and run up and kill before they can get free).

 

[Man of Tanith]

Cheers for the advice folks.
Reason i asked two or four is i thnk i saw a set in one book that looked like just one bit of string with lumps at each end.
off to experiment and possibly concuss myself now

 

[bikething]

Cheers for the advice folks.
Reason i asked two or four is i thnk i saw a set in one book that looked like just one bit of string with lumps at each end.
off to experiment and possibly concuss myself now

According to Andy Lane in his book "Survival Advantage" - It's 3 weights - you can either hold the center point and swing all 3 weights, or hold one and swing the other 2 (the line-drawing of this looks like a string with a weight at each end ) - The latter being more effective / accurate.

He did also suggest using 3 heavy nuts (as in nut & bolt) as Improvised weights