# Disaster Narrowly Averted



## flippinout (Jul 16, 2010)

I was fortunate enough to win one of Popshot's beautiful Koa wood pickle fork shooters as a door prize at this years ECST. I have always admired Koa and was elated when no one had chosen this beauty. Well, I am not one to have a slingshot that I don't shoot, so when I got home I banded it up and was having an amazing shooting session with the little shooter. It is a slender slingshot, about 1/2" thick and made from a solid board- no laminates.

Then, just as I was feeling comfortable with the little shooter, one fork hit ended all my fun! Snapped clean off with one glancing blow by a 3/8" steel ball.










Never one to worry about a broken slingshot, I set about repairing this little shooter, as Koa wood is hard to come by and the slingshot was a real shooter to boot.

Here is how I repaired it:

First, I simply used superglue to bond the broken bits back together








After sanding off the excess glue, the break was hardly discernible:










But this would not be sufficient to get it back in to shooting condition, off to the bandsaw to cut it in half so a composite core could be added:










Next, it was time to choose the inner laminate. I used a 1/16" thick piece of canvas micarta, so as not to detract from the beauty of the koa, but still provide enough strength for hard use:










Next, I glued the two halves together to the laminate with polyurethane glue and clamped it up:


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## flippinout (Jul 16, 2010)

Next, I cut away the excess laminate and brought the slingshot back to a high polish. Only a small bit of re-contouring was needed. The slingshot was given an oil/wax treatment:









Finally, it was taken to a final polish with tripoli, white diamond and finally a carnauba wax buff. You can hardly tell it was ever damaged and now impervious to fork hits:
























Disaster narrowly averted!

Thanks for the great slingshot Popshot, great little shooter now made nearly bombproof!


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## All Buns Glazing (Apr 22, 2012)

Awesome thread, looks better than ever!


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## mckee (Oct 28, 2010)

wow now that looks fantastic cant tell the difference !


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## newconvert (Dec 12, 2011)

the Koa beautiful! your patience with restoring the broken ss............................. priceless!


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## pop shot (Sep 29, 2011)

It looks better than before! Great job on that. I'm glad it's with someone who appreciates it, I milled that stock down from a log when I was in high school, helping with an eagle scout project. I found a stash of it at my uncles house a few months ago and snagged a few boards. I was wondering who got that prize!


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## Flatband (Dec 18, 2009)

The Man! Great job Nathan! Koa is awesome-can't waste it! Flatband


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## Quercusuber (Nov 10, 2011)

Great repairing job!!! Fantastic!!


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## Ryan Wigglesworth (Sep 10, 2011)

This is amazing. I just broke a tip off yesterday, took 3 hits and then wham gone, currently glued... I am just gonna shoot it as is with the glue, IF it breaks again I will give it the "special treatment" you have given yours detailed in this thread


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## treefork (Feb 1, 2010)

Amazing restoration.


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## Sean (Nov 17, 2011)

Good job on that repair and mod! Disaster averted that no teeth missing, no bleeding lip, or black eye.


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## e~shot (Jun 3, 2010)

Fantastic Job, Nathan!


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## Dayhiker (Mar 13, 2010)

Nice job. You got mad skillz man.


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## rockslinger (Nov 16, 2010)

Great job, that's a nice one!


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## pop shot (Sep 29, 2011)

Please tell me you freehanded that cut. if you did, you got skills and huge balls.


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## flippinout (Jul 16, 2010)

pop shot said:


> Please tell me you freehanded that cut. if you did, you got skills and huge balls.


A well tuned bandsaw, a steady hand, and huge balls as counter balance did allow for a free hand cut.

Now that I look back on it, that was really dumb when the fence was only inches away.

The things we do for the love of our craft.....


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## Dayhiker (Mar 13, 2010)

pop shot said:


> Please tell me you freehanded that cut. if you did, you got skills and huge balls.


Dude, I was thinking the same thing, but was too timid to ask. Okay, now I think Nathan's skills _are_ kinda freakish.


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## pop shot (Sep 29, 2011)

you're fukin heavy, nathan. my bandsaw is an ancient delta, if i tried that my girlfriend would kick my as$ before i got past my first knuckle. i guess i need to tune my bandsaw... got new tires, blades and guide blocks on the way!!!


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## MeatMechanic (Nov 13, 2011)

Sweet fix ! MM


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## flippinout (Jul 16, 2010)

pop shot said:


> you're fukin heavy, nathan. my bandsaw is an ancient delta, if i tried that my girlfriend would kick my as$ before i got past my first knuckle. i guess i need to tune my bandsaw... got new tires, blades and guide blocks on the way!!!


If you have one of the old Delta's with cast iron wheels, you are in business. Those are awesome machines. Good blades are as important as a tuned saw and I have a lot of confidence in TimberWolf blades- they are low tension silicon steel. On a tuned saw, they cut like a laser and really last- well worth the expense. Laguna also carries a similar blade, but a bit more expensive


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## WILD BILL (Jan 26, 2012)

Yup! This Dude has amazing skills!!

Bill


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## rem50 (Jan 5, 2012)

That was a great job you did nathan.


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## valkerie (Mar 5, 2012)

Well fixed. Thats what I would have done too.
These board cuts give me the ebeegeebees. Wood is so weak when the grain is violated and the shock that a fork hit imparts is quite severe. Think of wood as lots of very strong fibers stuck together with weak glue...The first couple of SS I made were from boards and I just kept looking at the grain and thinking man that is WEAK and after whacking them a few times with 12mm leads I was proved right. As a bit of back ground for you guys I make wooden bows for a living and making a bow is a lesson in taking wood to the edge....







so I have a fair idea what i'm talking about!
Now I wouldn't make a pure wood laminate without employing a few tricks. Although i'm a strictly natural materials man when it comes to bows I can certainly see the worth of using things like micarta for the ability to withstand shock. A SS should pretty much last forever in my eyes!


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## Incomudro (Jan 12, 2012)

Brilliant!

"We can rebuild it."
"We have the technology."
"We can make it better than it was, stronger - faster."


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## Deltaboy1984 (Jun 14, 2011)

Good rebuild.


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