# types of wood



## slingshotvibe

hi i am wondering what is the best type of wood for a custom slingshot and what thicknesses should be used cheers

slingshotvibe


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## huey224

hey mate, im not sure about the thickness but multiplex is supposed to be the strongest wood avalable.
and ive been using old skateboard decks and they are quite strong.


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## USASlingshot

Oak or plywood is the best. I prefer 3/4"


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## slingshotvibe

thank you for that so usa slingshot did you draw straight on to the wood or did you use a template

sLiNgShOtViBe


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## The Gopher

Although i am newer to slingshots (particularly boardcuts) i can tell you that coming from the selfbow world, hickory and elm will be a coupe of the toughest woods you could find. of course hickory is well knwon for its strength but it isn't neccessarily because it is dense, hickory has a unique interlocking grains that makes it tough. likewise elm has interlocking grain, so even though some elm is not that dense, it is still tough. Ever try to split elm firewood!

with any solid wood board cut make sure the grain is running lengthwise not diagonal or across the slingshot.

The debate among wood bow makers has raged for years as to what the best wood is. But the answer is easy...whatever wood you have available is the best wood to use, provided it will produce a strong stable finished product. as a starting point, if it is a hardwood and the specific gravity is above 0.5 it will probably work. note that i said probably, use common sense if your design has a narrow area or the wood is suspect i can't be to blame for suggesting the 0.5 SG rule.

Oaks
Maple (hard)
Ash
Hickory
Elm
Osage
HopHorn Beam
Beech

Tropicals (purpleheart, yellowheart, ipe, too many to list)

Note that working with many tropicals and some local woods such as osage can and do produce very harmful allergic reactions to the sawdust of these species.


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## Tex-Shooter

I like Hard Maple, although not being the hardest or toughest wood has the best grain structure of any of the common hard woods. It is also a very strong wood and machines very well. With any non-laminated woods, you must not have too short of section across the grain, as this is its weakest point to split. -- Tex


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## slingshotvibe

Tex-Shooter said:


> I like Hard Maple, although not being the hardest or toughest wood has the best grain structure of any of the common hard woods. It is also a very strong wood and machines very well. With any non-laminated woods, you must not have too short of section across the grain, as this is its weakest point to split. -- Tex


sorry but i do not understand the across grain section part could you explain in more detail


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## Tex-Shooter

Here is a picture of a slingshot made with multi-plex plywood so what I am saying does not apply to it, but if it was made from a hardwood board then the area between the two pointers might be coincided a little narrow. I used this picture because you can see the grain of the top lamination very easy. You want as much width with the grain length as possable. -- Tex


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## Dayhiker

Tex-Shooter said:


> I like Hard Maple, although not being the hardest or toughest wood has the best grain structure of any of the common hard woods. It is also a very strong wood and machines very well. With any non-laminated woods, you must not have too short of section across the grain, as this is its weakest point to split. -- Tex


Tex, is Norway maple classified as a hard maple? I have a humongous one in my front yard with a nice looking fork I've got my eye on.


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## Tex-Shooter

I don't know, but I think that a natural fork from any Maple if properly dried would be a good fork. -- Tex


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## Dayhiker

Oh, yes I agree. Wasn't thinking on that one. . . the real reason I asked was that I'm going to have this tree cut down soon and was wondering whether I should save some big chunks for board cuts. Can anybody advise me on this.


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## USASlingshot

slingshotvibe said:


> thank you for that so usa slingshot did you draw straight on to the wood or did you use a template
> 
> sLiNgShOtViBe


we use a template but trace that with pencil or marker on the wood. good luck


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## The Gopher

norway is soft i think.
hard maple is usually just another name for sugar maple


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## bunnybuster

I like to make laminate boardcut slingshots.
A double 1/4 inch Hard maple,oak,ash,or hickory, center, works excellent. Then I will use a pretty hardwood for the sides of 1/4 inch each. the result is a 1 inch thick board,that can be sanded or planed to desired thickness.
With this method , you have 4 layers of opposing grains, that will make for a vitually indestructable fork. It is fun to experiment making your own ``plywood (laminate)`` slingshot. The wood combinations are limitless.


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## 919h

Boxwood is one of the best wood to make a slingshot.
I made two boxwood :


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## Dayhiker

919h said:


> Boxwood is one of the best wood to make a slingshot.
> I made two boxwood :


Those are beautiful







I'm gonna look for some of that wood.


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## slingshotvibe

Tex-Shooter said:


> Here is a picture of a slingshot made with multi-plex plywood so what I am saying does not apply to it, but if it was made from a hardwood board then the area between the two pointers might be coincided a little narrow. I used this picture because you can see the grain of the top lamination very easy. You want as much width with the grain length as possable. -- Tex


thank you so much i understand now im going to buy some mutiplex this weekend


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## MakeSlingshots

I use walnut, HDPE.. maple, beach, purple heart (note that purple heart is hard and tough to rasp and sand)


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## Filipino Resolver

slingshotvibe said:


> hi i am wondering what is the best type of wood for a custom slingshot and what thicknesses should be used cheers
> 
> slingshotvibe


What i can suggest is, if your on a budget, natural forks from a guava\bayabas tree and nymph wood. Philippines has an abundance of these that i made three micro slingshots. currently working on making a Conus slingshot with the log i got from my guava tree.


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## Slshooter

I have tried many wood, natural forks and also solid.blocks of cocobolo, ebony etc.


"Note that working with many tropicals and some local woods such as osage can and do produce very harmful allergic reactions to the sawdust of these species: do not underestinate this, see my pumpkin face that days. I now need to work rest of my life with a high grade gasmask, but im happy i can still do wood working.

If u want to make a beautifull sling my advise is to at least find a branche thats old.. you want to reach the corewood and skip young braches since they have a lot spintwoof. For example, a young pearwood fork will give you a whitish sling, whithout the real strength of actually pearwood. Take an old branch and go for the corewood. If you want to go for unique pieces I would never go for plywood, only if you are just a regular shooter. Instead look for Yewwood, prume, pear, golden rain.


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