I've decided to get back into Slingshots

That's cool.

It's been a minute since I've checked into this thread. Wow, Bruce! Congratulations of falling headlong into a brand new hobby! It looks like a lot of fun!! Thanks too, for keeping us abreast of your handiwork and processes!

Thanks Jessy and David.

As for falling for the hobby so quickly, yes. I am very much enjoying it, researching stuff, shooting, building frames and getting involved outdoors with the kids.

I should about 7 plywood frames to post soon, just putting some Tung Oil on them now to protect them. A couple of them are very comfortable and if they turn out to be great shooters, I can see myself making some plastic ones too.

That should be fun. I'll probably pick up a small Toaster Oven from the used store for $10, so I can bake my own. As David said, it is a very cheap hobby...almost free if you are willing to carve your own and use rubber bands and rocks.

brucered said:

Thanks Jessy and David.

As for falling for the hobby so quickly, yes. I am very much enjoying it, researching stuff, shooting, building frames and getting involved outdoors with the kids.

I should about 7 plywood frames to post soon, just putting some Tung Oil on them now to protect them. A couple of them are very comfortable and if they turn out to be great shooters, I can see myself making some plastic ones too.

That should be fun. I'll probably pick up a small Toaster Oven from the used store for $10, so I can bake my own. As David said, it is a very cheap hobby...almost free if you are willing to carve your own and use rubber bands and rocks.

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If you don't want to go to the trouble of making your own plastic, you can carve all sorts of things out of thick nylon cutting boards.

[MENTION=19423]Legion[/MENTION]

Yes, I've seen quite a few guys make frames from plastic or bamboo cutting boards. I always forget to check Ikea and other places for them, so thanks for the reminder. Gives me something to look for next time dragged to one of those stores.

Not sure a set of knuckles is a good idea for me, but they look nice!

brucered said:

@Legion

Yes, I've seen quite a few guys make frames from plastic or bamboo cutting boards. I always forget to check Ikea and other places for them, so thanks for the reminder. Gives me something to look for next time dragged to one of those stores.

Not sure a set of knuckles is a good idea for me, but they look nice!

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Not for you, but might be a nice stocking stuffer for the kids.

Here's where I'm at now. These all have a couple coats of Tung on them and will all get a couple more.

The green was one I screwed up and cut too close to the Ply so made the best of it. The one to the right of it is probably my favorite in hand, hope it shoots as well as it feels. The three on the right all got 1/4 round from the router. Future frames will probably get the router to them as they are more comfortable and I like the look of exposing the Ply edge. The ones that didn't get the router all got slightly rounded over by hand and the drum sander.

The one natural is also very nice in my hand, comfortable and seems quite sturdy.

Just having some fun with some leftover paracord.

8 more started. I picked up two more 12x12 boards for $3.50 each, 12 Ply Baltic Birch good both sides.

My last batch ended up being all OTT shooters and these will mostly be TTF or both.





Also picked up a nice rotary cutter from Lee Valley to cut my bands nice and even. It worked like a charm. It was night and day compared to the Olfa straight cutter.

Lots more Theraband ordered too!

Uh oh. SCD has struck.*




*Slingshot construction disorder.

Legion said:

Uh oh. SCD has struck.*




*Slingshot construction disorder.

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Yeah, it has hit. Luckily it is cheap, af least so far. Even to buy, I spend $80 on that G10 FlatCat and the next one I'm looking at is cast aluminum with clips for bands and all decked out for $160. That's a far cheaper hobby then collecting shave brushes or straights and far more enjoyable and useful.

Once I'm done these two ply boards, I'm guessing I'll be able to shoot a lot more in the warmer weather. With that will come more naturals and time to research making some with plastics, cutting boards, palm swells, band attachment methods, laminating, inlaying etc....it never ends. A couple of the ones I'm making will be going to a B&B friend and if they all turn out, maybe open up a PIF or two when I get them all banded up with pouches. That was I'm not the only one on B&B shooting.

I got to make some flat bands for my restored Wham-o frame.

Deltaboy said:

I got to make some flat bands for my restored Wham-o frame.

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That's was Mike [MENTION=27468]simon1[/MENTION] is shooting.

Simple-Shot.com sells an HDPE version of it, as well as bands.

Deltaboy said:

I got to make some flat bands for my restored Wham-o frame.

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I ordered a couple of sets of these; they work great.

http://simple-shot.com/accessories/natural-gum-rubber-bandset/

simon1 said:

I ordered a couple of sets of these; they work great.

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You USA guys are lucky to have a vendor that offers free shipping on $10 orders. It would make my life so much simpler if I could order small quantities of bands and pouches.

It was scorching hot today at +2c or 35f , so I got out and did a bunch of shooting in the snow and not having to worry about freezing my hands.

Here is my first official can hit, using my G10 FlatCat, 1/4" steel ammo at 10y.



Normally I just shoot at plastic bottles, yogurt containers or whatever we have in the recycle bin. But today I decided to hang a can that was laying around. After a few misses, I figured out the aiming and plunk it.

Pling! What a joy to hear ringing through the air, as I stood in the snow with a grin from ear to ear. The icing on the cake, was when it spun around and got hung up on the hanging rail.

After that, I was nailing it on a regular to semi-regular basis. No through shots on this soup can and the bands are still fitted to the length they were sent.



What a happy day.

[emoji106][emoji41] Looks great Bruce, thanks for posting this!

Here is the next batch, almost done. Still need band grooves, lanyard holes, final sanding and staining/painting.

Routing them prior to sanding, saved me a ton of time on the drum sander and hand sanding.

The one in the top middle, isn't all cockeyed and crooked. It is offset for your hand but just slightly. Some of the others are more obvious and exaggerated.

Nice Frames .

bruce, you are a slingshot making machine!!!! Quite a number of nice examples... Thanks for posting!

Thanks guys.

So far they've been cheap and fun, so I can't beat that.

These ones still need finishing and router etc, but I didn't loose any to the saw or drill press yet:


Then I decided to use the last board to test my repetition cuts. Some of these will be used to give away to family and friends or who knows....but not until they are all banded up (quality pouches are on there way). My little plastic template made tracing them out quick and accurate:




And I will try a cedar palm swell and see how bad I can mess it up:




After these, I'm going to source some HDME or cutting boards and try my hand at plastic ones with different band attachment methods.