# Palm Swells... questions!



## HungaJungaESQ

Hey gang.

I would like to make some palm swells for 2 slingshots I have in mind for some arthritic acquaintances. I've seen the finished result, but never really how they're added. I assume from pictures that you glue it/screw it on before you do much finishing? I was thinking of using some cedar plywood on the handle of these birch plywood shooters.

I would just try it out and guess, but these are two of the cleanest board cuts I've made, and I'd hate to ruin them...

-Bob


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## Hrawk

Cut your basic frame out. Glue on a big block of whatever you want the palm swell made of. Start shaping.

Most people I assume would use a PVA wood glue or epoxy to glue it on.


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## HungaJungaESQ

Keen. So it is how I thought... though I don't imagine mine will look as nice as some of yours =)

-Bob


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## Hrawk

Patience grasshopper. Don't try and remove too much material too quick. You can cut off, but you cant cut on!

Just remember, clamp it up nice and tight, but not too tight you squeeze all the glue out.


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## HungaJungaESQ

Christ this is hard to sand... I don't have any power tools that help with shaping, and the only files I have are kind of fine. Using 60 grit sand paper to try to round these after chiseling the "slope" toward the forks.... ><

-Bob


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## Hrawk

Keep your eyes open for a 4-in-1 rasp. They usually have a flat and a curved side, rough and medium for both.


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## Knoll

Dremel-type tool makes process go soooo much quicker. 'Course such a tool can make things go toooo quick too.


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## JLS:Survival

if you have a harbor Freight store around you go check out there belt sanders, they have them for pretty cheap, i picked one up for sanding and shaping my SS's works very well for the price $25-30 or so.


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## newconvert

HungaJungaESQ said:


> Christ this is hard to sand... I don't have any power tools that help with shaping, and the only files I have are kind of fine. Using 60 grit sand paper to try to round these after chiseling the "slope" toward the forks.... ><
> 
> -Bob


i know the feeling i am on my second one now, all by hand its fun but time consuming lus its hard on the hands. in the end you get the satisfaction of saying you did it all yourself. thats cool, but after a few of these i think i will buy a dremmel tool myself lol!


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## quarterinmynose

I think I too may have to try some palm swells soon. I find a good rasp(or set of rasps) makes all the difference. I did my first slingshot with just a 4 in 1 rasp. After that I went and bought a 3 piece rasp set with chisel tips. The set was $10 at harbor frieght, but after trying my buddies set he got for $20 at lowes, I was wishing that I wasn't such a cheap A##. The different sizes are nice at times but the 4 in 1 is still the most useful, the chisels tips rarely get used and they lack the less course sections of the 4 in1. I figure its best to get all the shaping done with the rasps since I don't have any type of power sander. So the sanding for me is just smoothing everything out, and getting any rasp marks out.


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## HungaJungaESQ

Knoll said:


> Dremel-type tool makes process go soooo much quicker. 'Course such a tool can make things go toooo quick too.


I saw this and immediately remembered that my wife had purchased one when we were making favours for our wedding. I had no idea where it was (we've moved since then) but decided to take a head first dive into the junk in the garage.

I. Found. The. Dremel.

Haven't worked on my palm swells with it yet, just tryin to get the hang of it. I had a very poor boardcut of a Patriot. It was all slanted due to the jigsaw blade bending and whatnot. I have since eliminated that problem, but I was left with a junk ugly boardcut. I decided to try to use the Dremel to fix it and boy did it do a lot of work. Made it the most ergonomic of all my slingshots too!

The back








Front with neat looking ergo grooves.








MAN-GRIP!








This took like 20 minutes. Another 20 with some finer sand paper and I think it'll be ready for a linseed bath. I can't believe I didn't look for the Dremel sooner. Of course, that much fine saw dust was a problem, but I put on my mask and a fan. It's really something. Now if only I knew how to make good band grooves ><

-Bob


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## Hrawk

A chainsaw file works great for making band grooves as they are straight, not tapered.

Clamp a straight piece of wood below where you want the fork grooves to be and use this as a guide for the file.

Hard to beat a router though. You can get a router attachment for your Dremel, just remember to use a guide, freehand routing it pretty tricky when you are trying to keep a straight line.


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## Knoll

Gotta get one of those chainsaw files .................


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## quarterinmynose

Clamping a board to use as a guide is a great idea....wish I would of thought of that, next time.


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## e~shot




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## Aras

e~shot said:


>


why do you keep posting this? -.-


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## e~shot

Aras said:


> why do you keep posting this? -.-


That is best palm swell video, I ever watched.


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## Knoll

Aras said:


> why do you keep posting this? -.-


eshot's doing his part to make your video "go viral"!









By the way, it IS very good vid.


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## MeatMechanic

Did this with a dremel , did not take long at all . MM


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## Rapier

OK Bob. If your laminating timber to timber I'd go for a two part epoxy. The slow curing type not the 5min stuff. Rough shape out your handle slabs leaving plenty of overhang. Make sure the parts to be mated are dead flat but not necessarily to smooth. A few sanding marks will help glue to 'key'. You can even drill a bunch of small holes into but not through the pieces your laminating. these will fill with glue (make sure there are no air bubles in the holes. I sometimes use a pin to poke them out) to create internal 'rivets' if you need extra strength. Prepare everything and the area your going to work at then mix the epoxy, glue and clamp. leave for a day or two and get to shaping. A word on the use of dremmel. The best dremmel tool for shaping is the carbide sculpting bit and the little drum sanders in two sizes and with two grades of paper. Rough shape with the carbide bit, final shape with the rough grade drum bit then go over with the smoother drum. A very light touch is whats called for when using a dremmel, especially at 30+ thou rpm. Let the tool do it's work rather than forcing it. you can burn the lil buggers out or damage your job otherwise. Like Hrawk said you can always take more off but putting it back aint easy! Practice on ply befor you try a nice piece of timber because you will learn how the tool behaves when carving or sanding at different angles etc.
Best of luck mate. Hope this helps and looking forward to seeing the results.


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## philly

Best investment I've made has been a small 1 1/2" drum sanding attachment for my drill press. You can cut your own paper in whatever grit you want, your work Is supported by both hands all the time so sculpting is easier. It can be used in an inexpensive hand drill also. I also bought at Harbor Freight a small Dremel type tool for $8 with a bunch of bits, the small sanding drums and the slow 16,000RPM speed it the cats A$$ for fine detail work.

Palm swells are easy, get a good glue joint and shape to the desired form.
Philly

A few I've made.


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## Jesus Freak

philly said:


> Best investment I've made has been a small 1 1/2" drum sanding attachment for my drill press. You can cut your own paper in whatever grit you want, your work Is supported by both hands all the time so sculpting is easier. It can be used in an inexpensive hand drill also. I also bought at Harbor Freight a small Dremel type tool for $8 with a bunch of bits, the small sanding drums and the slow 16,000RPM speed it the cats A$$ for fine detail work.
> 
> Palm swells are easy, get a good glue joint and shape to the desired form.
> Philly
> 
> A few I've made.


Thats how i would do it!


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## wombat

philly said:


> Best investment I've made has been a small 1 1/2" drum sanding attachment for my drill press. You can cut your own paper in whatever grit you want, your work Is supported by both hands all the time so sculpting is easier. It can be used in an inexpensive hand drill also. I also bought at Harbor Freight a small Dremel type tool for $8 with a bunch of bits, the small sanding drums and the slow 16,000RPM speed it the cats A$$ for fine detail work.
> 
> Palm swells are easy, get a good glue joint and shape to the desired form.
> Philly
> 
> A few I've made.


Yep. I would be lost without my drum sander, jig saw and drum sander and you're away.


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## Rapier

Wow! That is a cool arse catty wombat...


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## philly

wombat said:


> Best investment I've made has been a small 1 1/2" drum sanding attachment for my drill press. You can cut your own paper in whatever grit you want, your work Is supported by both hands all the time so sculpting is easier. It can be used in an inexpensive hand drill also. I also bought at Harbor Freight a small Dremel type tool for $8 with a bunch of bits, the small sanding drums and the slow 16,000RPM speed it the cats A$$ for fine detail work.
> 
> Palm swells are easy, get a good glue joint and shape to the desired form.
> Philly
> 
> A few I've made.


Yep. I would be lost without my drum sander, jig saw and drum sander and you're away.
[/quote]

Awesome Wombat, great combo of wood and form there. Well done Bud.
Philly


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## bosh

This set of posts answered so many questions I had, and the work shown here is truly amazing, just a post to say thank you as this has helped me a lt - beautiful work guys


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## johnny r

One tool I don't think I've seen mentioned is the Stanley Surform files. They come in flat , gentle curve blades and also a round tubular type blade about 1/2 to 5/8" in diameter. They work just like a cheese grater. Easy to use and you get exercise. You can be as delicate or as agressive as you like with them


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## newconvert

quarterinmynose said:


> I think I too may have to try some palm swells soon. I find a good rasp(or set of rasps) makes all the difference. I did my first slingshot with just a 4 in 1 rasp. After that I went and bought a 3 piece rasp set with chisel tips. The set was $10 at harbor frieght, but after trying my buddies set he got for $20 at lowes, I was wishing that I wasn't such a cheap A##. The different sizes are nice at times but the 4 in 1 is still the most useful, the chisels tips rarely get used and they lack the less course sections of the 4 in1. I figure its best to get all the shaping done with the rasps since I don't have any type of power sander. So the sanding for me is just smoothing everything out, and getting any rasp marks out.


i went and got the chisel tip rasp set, but not from harbor freight, s you said you getwhat you pay for. the rasps do work well plus i bought a dremel 4000. i love power tools.


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## zhop

I was wondering if someone knew about a good palm swell video or a picturial. Thanks all the help is apprecated


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## Hrawk

zhop said:


> I was wondering if someone knew about a good palm swell video or a picturial. Thanks all the help is apprecated


I have merged your thread with an identical thread created just a few days ago.

Please use the search function first before creating new threads. This helps keep relevant information in a single place and makes life for newcomers much easier.


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## newconvert

MeatMechanic said:


> Did this with a dremel , did not take long at all . MM


dremel or holesaw? looks like holesaw?


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## cheese

Hrawk said:


> Cut your basic frame out. Glue on a big block of whatever you want the palm swell made of. Start shaping.
> 
> Most people I assume would use a PVA wood glue or epoxy to glue it on.


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## newconvert

Knoll said:


> Dremel-type tool makes process go soooo much quicker. 'Course such a tool can make things go toooo quick too.


funny, you can by a complete dremel tool w/ maybe 50 attachments for $29 bucks @ costco


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## flipgun

HungaJungaESQ said:


> Christ this is hard to sand... I don't have any power tools that help with shaping, and the only files I have are kind of fine. Using 60 grit sand paper to try to round these after chiseling the "slope" toward the forks.... ><
> 
> -Bob


Yeah! Sanding is a ****. Rasping not so much. But rasps tend to make flat surfaces which have to be sanded out. :sigh:
So, here is your poor mans solution: Newspaper. Roll it into any size or density you want and tape it together. Then you wrap any grade of sand paper around it and you have all of these different kinds of rasps. Soft roll on 60 grit and lower will peel bark off a natural. A tight roll with 220 and up will buff just about anything. Experiment with different sizes and densities of rolls and you can make a lot of sawdust in a hurry.


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## Berkshire bred

as has been said with a board cut do basic shaping then glue on the material that you want your palm swell to be made of and then finish shaping. for a palm swell in a natural just include it in the shaping.


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## inkspot

When I carve palm swells for my shootes after I've gluded the blocks up to the frame I use a round or semiround rasp to square the swell up to the shape of the frame, than I use a flat rasp to rough in the round shapes that I want, using semi light strokes with the rasps,once I'm happy with the rough shape and size of the swell I use my semi course files (round for flat,flate for round ) to refine the shape,than I repeat the process with my fine files for the final shaping and tweeking plus removing all the previous file marks.I always use semi light strokes or ligtht strokes with a firm hold on the rasps and files letting the tools do the work,also I always keep the peice I'm working on clamped in the vise so I can use both hands on the file or rasp one on the front of the tool and one on the back for pushing.This gives me maximin control over the tool and makes cutting where I want very easy.Working this way I find I can get alot done in a short time and is very relaxing, it also really cuts down on the time that I have to spend sanding.Hopes this helps.


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## Imperial

inkspot said:


> When I carve palm swells for my shootes after I've gluded the blocks up to the frame I use a round or semiround rasp to square the swell up to the shape of the frame, than I use a flat rasp to rough in the round shapes that I want, using semi light strokes with the rasps,once I'm happy with the rough shape and size of the swell I use my semi course files (round for flat,flate for round ) to refine the shape,than I repeat the process with my fine files for the final shaping and tweeking plus removing all the previous file marks.I always use semi light strokes or ligtht strokes with a firm hold on the rasps and files letting the tools do the work,also I always keep the peice I'm working on clamped in the vise so I can use both hands on the file or rasp one on the front of the tool and one on the back for pushing.This gives me maximin control over the tool and makes cutting where I want very easy.Working this way I find I can get alot done in a short time and is very relaxing, it also really cuts down on the time that I have to spend sanding.Hopes this helps.


.
seems like we do it the same way. im currently working on two slingshots. i wonder if i should take a couple of pics and post them on here . they are glued and rough cut, just waiting for me to take rasp to them for the shaping .


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## f00by

I am also about to do palmswells (probably more like handle scales on this one) I'll take a bunch of pics and add to my WIP album.


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## Imperial

f00by said:


> I am also about to do palmswells (probably more like handle scales on this one) I'll take a bunch of pics and add to my WIP album.


sounds like a plan. guess ill take pics and add them to my gallery . who knows, it may help someone .


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