Bull-roarers

[Chance]

Anyone else had a shot at a bull-roarer (I got a couple of hits from "Search") ?.
I was expecting a degree of tuning, having read about them in one of the SPT books; but within ½-hour of a plank of softwood, I had one working. A second one worked fine, too.
I used a spinner shape (teardrop), rather than an oval; mainly for 'aesthetics', but also on the assumption that fishermen had done the research on the appropriate geometry (no comments on Reynold's number, please).

No flint involved, I'm afraid. All steel cutting surfaces. And no photos: I passed the risk of broken windows onto the neighbours' children.

 

[silvergirl]

I haven't made one for years, but I've offered to help up to 50 guides make them in three weeks so I'd better get practicing.

Glad to hear yours works.

 

[Chance]

That's a lot of sawdust and chippings !
First aid kits at the ready (what's the treatment for accidental garroting?).

 

[British Red]

Sounds interesting...can I ask what an "SPT" book is ?

 

[Anhurset]

Sounds interesting...can I ask what an "SPT" book is ?

Society of primitive technology.

Bryan

 

[Chance]

Sorry about that.
I'm sure that the SPT and their books will be mentioned elsewhere, if you have a dig around (I don't have a convenient link, I'm afraid).
They're good references, if not page-turners in the style of Northern Bushcraft. Some of the chapters are a bit pre-spell-check; but that is far outweighed by their enthusiasm.

 

[jerv]

I like 'em, a sound that gets the hairs on the back of your neck going. And a truly international "human" instrument. Found on every continent.
My soft wood one works well but the maple one I made doesn;t seem to go too well. According to spt you should use a very dense wood.

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[jon r]

i have made one and have helped others to make them too. People are suposed to use them to call in the rain! so stop all that swinging about!

 

[Cormac]

forgive my ignorance

but a what??

use ? function? design?

 

[BMFHL]

Have a look here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullroarer_(music)

 

[Longstrider]

Used to make them when I was a kid, usually our of a split piece of willow. We got fed up with having the string twist up tight so we used to incorporate a cheap but large fishing swivel in the line to prevent this hapening. They rarely failed to work, but things only became really interesting when the cheap swivel wore out, parted company, and sent the wooden bit off at whatever tangent it liked ! Theyc ertainly make an eerie noise, especially if heard from a distance on a misty day...
We called them a "woomera" as thats what we thought the Australian Aboriginies called them (Don't know if thats correct though).

 

[jerv]

A woomera is a type of spearthrower. Sorry