# Unnatural



## ZDP-189 (Mar 14, 2010)

I set out to make a natural fork, but something other than the usual. I started with a (birch?) natural fork that Frodo (_*THANK YOU*_







) kindly sent to me and immediately I loved the way it fit my hand. My strategy was to work from the natural fork and to keep the fundamental grip of the natural fork, but to enhance what was right about it and to fix what little I didn't like.

As you can see the grip remains fundamentally as it was. The first thing I did was to reshape the tips. I have made then flat at the front, straight at the tip and they curve away gently at the back. This gives a sweet release, long band life and keeps the same structural strength. You can see that the forks are not triangular in cross section, representing less weight for similar strength, and are ergonomically better fitted to the hand providing support with the maximum contact area.










The strength of the grip is greatly enhanced by allowing all the fingers to curve around the fork and shaft. The forefinger and thumb rest in a shallow depression that helps locate the fingers. The shaft is kept full width to provide maximum palm support.










I have carved a great deal away from the shaft, but nothing structural, and I left everything that is in contact with the hand. it really fills the hand, because I have accentuated the curve of the back of the shaft.










In the pictures above and below, you can see the front an back grooves used to locate the band ties.










There is some cant to the shaft. It is biomechanically better this way, as it drops the elbow a bit.










This last image shows how radically I have carved away at the shaft. You can see that the finger grip rail slopes down as it nears the fork. This naturally bunches the fingers together against the top of the deep middle finger groove (_ooo err_







). It doesn't need individual finger grooves; I find these can form pressure points and are best avoided. However, you can also see the gentle undulations where my finger tips fit.










A friend of mine who runs a toy factory came over to visit today and he said it would make an ideal mass-production plastic casting with a punched steel insert inside. I'll pass on that for now as this model is a bit over-fitted to my hand and might not fit a western sized hand well. It's not a commercial design and I don't mind people copying it or any design elements that are new. Anyway, I hope this gives you some new ideas as to things you can do to a natural fork.


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## John-Boy (Oct 15, 2010)

Good job Danny, looks different from anything i have seen before, whats the finish?


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## Frodo (Dec 19, 2009)

You did a cracking job! What kind of stain/paint did you use?


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## ZDP-189 (Mar 14, 2010)

Just black spray paint. I didn't take the time to lacquer it at the wood was discoloured in the microwave drying process. This will be a user.


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## shot in the foot (Jan 3, 2010)

Thats nice Dan and would take any bands, i bet its nice to shoot, as alway great work, jeff


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## ZDP-189 (Mar 14, 2010)

Yup it's optimised for flatbands. The tips are both an inch across.

It's a dedicated side-shooter.

The natural fork is a good source of wood, being strong and light and big enough to carve down.


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## e~shot (Jun 3, 2010)

Wow, good job Dan,


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## jskeen (Feb 7, 2011)

Very well done! That's the kind of free style carving I wish I could do. Did you work it with traditional carving gouges and chisels, or a die grinder? Perhaps the hard way with a pocket knife? The black paint looks good on it, gives it a stealth weapon look. I wonder how a traditional urushi finish would hold up on a slingshot?


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## JoergS (Dec 17, 2009)

Very good job!

Regarding the discoloration, you can use my ink method to color the wood any way you want. The ink will cover the discolorations easily, and still show the wood grain. Then you can laquer it or use linseed oil, just as normal.

Naturals are amazing, aren't they?

Jörg


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## Rayshot (Feb 1, 2010)

Dan this is typical of you. In a good way of course. Very well done in an artistic, ergonomic and functional blend.


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## philly (Jun 13, 2010)

Very creative Dan. It does have that "Stealth" look.
Philly


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## Pro-Shot (UK) Catapults (Apr 21, 2010)

Dan you made a grate job of that i like the look of the fork tops the grip is very similar to one i have been working on for my farther inlaw who has atheritec only i used a walking stick top?
designed for people with atheritec .i bet it fit grate very nice .I think i may be getting the natural BUG


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## NaturalFork (Jan 21, 2010)

Wow that is a nice one!


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## ZDP-189 (Mar 14, 2010)

jskeen said:


> Dan you made a grate job of that i like the look of the fork tops the grip is very similar to one i have been working on for my farther inlaw who has atheritec only i used a walking stick top?
> designed for people with atheritec .i bet it fit grate very nice .I think i may be getting the natural BUG


If you cannot curl the end joint of your fingers (especially your pinkie), you cannot grip with full strength. There is a nervous reflex that prevents you from breaking your fingers and associated tendons. I am not sure how this applies to arthritis, but it is definitely possible to make a fully ergonomic grip, even with a natural fork.


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## Jaybird (Dec 20, 2009)

Dan
That is very nice.surprising what you can do with a natural fork.


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## ZDP-189 (Mar 14, 2010)

Jaybird said:


> Dan
> That is very nice.surprising what you can do with a natural fork.


Thanks Jay. There's not much left to identify it as a natural fork so I called it 'Unnatural'. In fact the only characteristics remaining are the strong comfortable grip, natural shooting action and superior strength to weight, all of which are enhanced.

I have two more forks from Friedrich. One is silver birch about the same size as this one and the second is a much larger fork. Unless Chepo objects, I'll probably make one like his with thesmaller fork and do a detailed carving with the other. I wouldn't say I've switched over to. naturals though, as my only source is Friedrich's generosity.


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## Martin (Jan 17, 2010)

Very nicely done, yet another well thought out design.
Martin.


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## The Gopher (Aug 25, 2010)

lookin' good!


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## foreigner (Jan 16, 2010)

Very nice!!!


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## FURGLE (Feb 20, 2011)

STUNNINGGGG!!! love these natural forks wish i could find some like this lol


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## Chepo69 (May 1, 2010)

Wow! Would not surprise me that this fork has a notch for the ringitself is that you use. lol!

Image number 4 is funny, it seems that he was drunk and fellhopelessly without putting your hands lol! lol!

Excellent as always Dan!


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## ZDP-189 (Mar 14, 2010)

jskeen just reminded me of this fork. I hope you don't mind if I give it a bump. Anyone else making forks like this?


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## bj000 (Jul 21, 2011)

this is great. i m glad it was bumped.


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

Yep ... that is truly a unique piece of work ... and what a lot of work! It is a fascinating looking piece.

Cheers ....... Charles


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## Hrawk (Oct 25, 2010)

It's the ugliest thing I have ever seen, yet somehow I can't resist the urge to want to reach out, pick it up and start demolishing cans with it.

Any good Z bump is a good bump.


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## Rapier (May 28, 2011)

Terriffic! I always get a bit carried away with striving for the perfect finish. It takes soooo long but then I never want to use 'em for fear my crappy technique will result in damage. I think I might take a leaf and make a few to use!







Hmmm


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## rockslinger (Nov 16, 2010)

That looks like a nice shooter! Oh and thanks again for the scrap theraband. The larger strips work great for the kids shooters.


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## Henry the Hermit (Jun 2, 2010)

rockslinger said:


> That looks like a nice shooter! Oh and thanks again for the scrap theraband. The larger strips work great for the kids shooters.


And the thinner strips are perfect for a BB shooter or can be trimmed for ties.


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## AJW (Apr 24, 2011)

I think we have to expect this caliber of work and creativity from you, and you never disappoint. I really like it.

Al


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## rockslinger (Nov 16, 2010)

Henry in Panama said:


> That looks like a nice shooter! Oh and thanks again for the scrap theraband. The larger strips work great for the kids shooters.


And the thinner strips are perfect for a BB shooter or can be trimmed for ties.
[/quote]
Yeah, It's all useable material W/ a bonus chunk of leather.


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## Ted (May 27, 2011)

I haven't made one like that but that's a very interesting handle shape. To compare it to the shape of the hand inside a closed fist, I rolled some FIMO Soft clay into a cylinder about an inch in diameter and then squeezed it with my left hand, hammer grip style, held vertically. The 4 pictures below show the 4 "sides" of the result (left side, front view, right side, and rear view, respectively). In all 4 pictures, the upper part of the photo is the top of the squeezed cylinder (where the prongs of the fork would go).

In the first photo, the ammo would be shooting from right to left across the top of the photo. You can make out a bump that fills the palm, just a little right and below the center of the photo.









In the 2nd photo, front and center are the shapes formed by the pinkie, ring, and middle fingers. There is more clay in this squeezed cylinder where the middle and ring finger are, which you might expect since they are longer than the pinkie finger.









The 3rd photo shows the indentations where the fingertips of the pinkie, ring and middle fingers were. In this photo, the ammo would be shooting from left to right across the top of the photo. The thumb fits into the upper left groove and the index finger (coming around the back of the photo) ends in the groove in the upper right of the photo. This photo shows that ZDP's design of the handle with an approximately cylindrical chunk for the 3 lower fingers to wrap around, where that cylindrical chunk is located just in the forward half of the handle, is actually pretty ergonomic.









The 4th photo shows a rear view of the material as it's held vertically. You can't really see from this photo, but the bump that fits into the palm (the palm swell) has its peak opposite the ring finger. That's kind of interesting because it suggests the palm swell should be on the side of the handle, not the front or back of the handle. Also, comparing photos 1 and 3 show that the palm swell maxes out just about opposite the fingertips of the pinkie, ring and middle fingers. This also matches ZDP's design where the round swell of the handle is about opposite where the grip of the 3 lower fingers has its left edge.









Although this clay was gripped hammer grip style, the placement of the thumb and index finger in this FIMO clay can just be ignored when thinking about a handle with thumb and index finger supporting the forks.

I haven't shown a photo but overall the dimension from front to back of the handle is larger than the dimension from left to right.

So it seems ZDP's handle is pretty ergonomic. Maybe an improvement would be to make the palm swell on the left side of the handle more pronounced and "centered" opposite the tip of the ring finger, but the hand is pretty adaptable so there's no real problem there. This design is not easy to mass-produce since everyone has a different hand size. But it would be great for someone to carve from a natural.


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## Hrawk (Oct 25, 2010)

Awesome handle Ted.


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## ZDP-189 (Mar 14, 2010)

Ted said:


> I haven't made one like that but that's a very interesting handle shape. To compare it to the shape of the hand inside a closed fist, I rolled some FIMO Soft clay into a cylinder about an inch in diameter and then squeezed it with my left hand, hammer grip style, held vertically. The 4 pictures below show the 4 "sides" of the result (left side, front view, right side, and rear view, respectively). In all 4 pictures, the upper part of the photo is the top of the squeezed cylinder (where the prongs of the fork would go)....
> 
> This photo shows that ZDP's design of the handle with an approximately cylindrical chunk for the 3 lower fingers to wrap around, where that cylindrical chunk is located just in the forward half of the handle, is actually pretty ergonomic....
> 
> ...


Yes, that's more or less the philosophy. You need to thoroughly understand how the hand works and to get the grip right. Gripping a wide shaft is less strong than gripping the offset finger ridge. Better grip means better controlled torque and less wobble.


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## Rapier (May 28, 2011)

Hrawk said:


> It's the ugliest thing I have ever seen, yet somehow I can't resist the urge to want to reach out, pick it up and start demolishing cans with it.
> 
> Any good Z bump is a good bump.


Bahahahahaha...


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## Rapier (May 28, 2011)

Wow. Some of Ted's pics look like some kind of crazy dinasaur bone!
I wonder if anyones ever made a catty out of dino bone?
How cool would that be?
... "yeah well the smithsonian offered me a couppla grand for it but then i thought, 'if it's worth that much I'd better keep it.... and make a slinggy outa it!"


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## ZDP-189 (Mar 14, 2010)

Rapier said:


> Wow. Some of Ted's pics look like some kind of crazy dinasaur bone!
> I wonder if anyones ever made a catty out of dino bone?
> How cool would that be?
> ... "yeah well the smithsonian offered me a couppla grand for it but then i thought, 'if it's worth that much I'd better keep it.... and make a slinggy outa it!"


It would be very heavy. Heavy like a rock.

Ted's approach has been used to make some really good frames. What you do is take a bent metal frame and enclose it in fimo/sculptey, then squash it with your hand and bake it. Epoxy putty also works.

However, a properly sculpted handle works better than finger grooves and a moulded grip, because it allows your hand to move around in the right way, enabling a proper shooting action, rather than just a strong grip.


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## TandocTools (Oct 2, 2011)

This is a beautiful thing. Thank you for making it!


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## Rapier (May 28, 2011)

ZDP-189 said:


> Wow. Some of Ted's pics look like some kind of crazy dinasaur bone!
> I wonder if anyones ever made a catty out of dino bone?
> How cool would that be?
> ... "yeah well the smithsonian offered me a couppla grand for it but then i thought, 'if it's worth that much I'd better keep it.... and make a slinggy outa it!"


It would be very heavy. Heavy like a rock.

Ted's approach has been used to make some really good frames. What you do is take a bent metal frame and enclose it in fimo/sculptey, then squash it with your hand and bake it. Epoxy putty also works.

However, a properly sculpted handle works better than finger grooves and a moulded grip, because it allows your hand to move around in the right way, enabling a proper shooting action, rather than just a strong grip.
[/quote]
I was only foolin round bout the bone thing. Just my sence of houmor.
One of the first catty's I made was a monster out of 25mm marine ply plus laminates. It's sculpted finger groves and palm swell pistol grip style. Took along time. You can see it in my gallery 'Customs by Rapier' if you want to check it out. the galleries are awesome for seeing peoples different styles...
cheers


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