# The Pocket Predator



## Bill Hays (Aug 9, 2010)

Okay, so for the last few days I've been trying to come up with a design that's super accurate, super comfortable, small enough to slip into a pocket... and looks really cool.
After a LOT of experimentation cutting out a bunch of different designs and testing different bandsets and ammo... I think I've found one that works perfect on all counts.

This design, the "Pocket Predator", is the most accurate stylized fork I've shot with. The idea was that, anything and everything added or taken away from the basic "Y" either contributes to accurracy, or it doesn't. This design brings the fingers and thumb very close to the bands for added stability, fingers are groove positioned so that the grip is repeatable and consistent. The handle is positioned so that the wrist is in a more comfortable position when side shooting... and the slingshot's size is only 5" long X 4 1/4" wide X 1" thick. Distance between the forks is 2.5".
The frame is made from Dymondwood and I put 5 rivets in to signify each of my kids.

So without further ado, here it is, the Pocket Predator:


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## USASlingshot (Feb 25, 2010)

That's neat!


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## Mtnfolk Mike (Aug 23, 2010)

very cool.. interesting design...


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## ZDP-189 (Mar 14, 2010)

That is soooooo cool.


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## Frodo (Dec 19, 2009)

Neat design & awesome carving!


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## huey224 (Apr 12, 2010)

Some great wood working skills there!


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## Dayhiker (Mar 13, 2010)

Wow that slingshot has every innovation I've seen here but a palm swell. At 1" thick, though, who needs it? Top notch craftsmanship, too, Bill.








I don't know dymondwood. Is it necessary to put a protective finish on it, or does it take a polish on it's own?


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## Tex-Shooter (Dec 17, 2009)

Another great design Bill. -- Tex


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

Thats what i like one offs, spot on love it, jeff


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## smitty (Dec 17, 2009)

COOL shooter Bill ! Make some up and offer them for sell or trade !


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## ZDP-189 (Mar 14, 2010)

Dayhiker said:


> Wow that slingshot has every innovation I've seen here but a palm swell. At 1" thick, though, who needs it? Top notch craftsmanship, too, Bill.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Dymondwood sheds water and will take a nice polish on its own. It's fairly hard too. Perhaps it's stabilised. I've made knife handles from it and some people have made all-in-one letter openers from it.

I don't think it needs a palm swell. It stretches the palm open and then it's self supporting.


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## Dayhiker (Mar 13, 2010)

I agree.


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## Hedgewolf (Aug 12, 2010)

Very, very tasty


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## Bill Hays (Aug 9, 2010)

Thanks for the kind words guys!

About the Dymondwood... all I could find locally was from a knifemaker's supply and it was advertised as 3/8" thick... this stuff is expensive so I only bought enough to make three slabs, one to mess up on and two to encase a 1/4" core material. Well as it turned out, the dymondwood they sent me is actually 1/2" thick, so there was no room for the metal core material... as my experiments have shown that a 3/4" - 1" thick slingshot is optimal for most of my board cut based design patterns.
Anyway for this design, since it is compact, to me it seems as though it needed the extra heft and stability of being 1" thick and no more, so that's what I did.

The Dymondwood itself is a stabilized cross laminated multiply wood... extremely strong for a wood product... that seems to just beg to be carved to bring out all the interesting grain striping, so I had to be careful not to over-do it.
Polishing, according to the directions I got with the Dymondwood, is done by simply using progressively finer grades of sandpaper until it takes on a shine... as it so happens, I thought I had some in the grades needed to put on a real nice shine, but apparently either I or one of my kids moved it so the finest grade I had to use is 150 grit... which used carefully actually did bring out a bit of a luster in places... but tis not fine enough for my taste, so I'll go to town soon and buy a bunch of paper in progressively finer and finer grits later on.

About selling and all that stuff... My Wife is actually putting pressure on me to "think" about selling some of my designs instead of just giving them away... I told her "a man needs a hobby, that he can just have fun with" and she said "that's fine if your name is Rockefeller, but your's isn't".
If I did, I'll have to buy a sponsor-ship for this forum, get a website, set up payment solutions, make and or procur product to offer... and lastly find time to do it all... Wow, that sounds like a lot of Work, so the slingshots I'd offer wouldn't necessarily be cheap.

So, off the top of my head... $25 for boardcut shooters seems like it'd be fair.... and I don't know how much for G10 or Dymondwood custom elites... but with about 4 times the work and 10 times the cost of material involved in making one, 90-$100 doesn't seem to far off the mark. 
But then theres the option of castings... like if this design were in aluminum... I don't know what the charge is for all of that, but it might be less than me actually making them myself... We'll just have to see.

I'll tell you what, if you guys think there'd be some interest in this, or other designs I've made... let me know and I'll look into it further.
Thanks again!


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## Bill Hays (Aug 9, 2010)

Oh I forgot to mention... IF I were to sell this in Dymondwood... I'd just order the planks in 1" thick sheets, so there won't be any rivets.
The rivets are on this one because the material is two 1/2" slabs and they're there for support reasons... with 1" thick material there won't be any need for support rivets.


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## A+ Slingshots (Jan 22, 2010)

Very Nice Bill!!! You are quite the craftsman and your roots in bow-making are defiantly showing!!!


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## Performance Catapults (Feb 3, 2010)

sharp


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## jmplsnt (Jan 1, 2010)

Super work Bill. It manages to be angry, predatory, ergonomic, all the while still fitting in a pocket. I like this one!


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## jephroux (Dec 21, 2009)

SIGN ME UP BILL
for sure would wont one
sweetlook n


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## Wingshooter (Dec 24, 2009)

Really nice


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## Bill Hays (Aug 9, 2010)

FYI, below is a video I made the other day of me trying out and shooting the Pocket Predator boardcut shooter.
Using 3/8" steel ammo, 25 shots from 66' away, shooting at a 12 ounce beer can (somebody threw it on my driveway), 14 real good hits 2 nicks... for a hit percentage of 64%. Not to bad for a newly made and christened shooter... which is why I went on ahead and made the fancy version out of the DymondWood!


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## Bill Hays (Aug 9, 2010)

I'm going to go to town today and see if I can source some wood and stuff to maybe make some more of these slingshots.

Below is a short shooting session done yesterday evening with the Pocket Predator Dymondwood slingshot.
Shooting .50 cal ammo at a beer can 66' away, the first 4 shots tore it in half... after that 4 out of 11 shots hit the approx. 2" end before it too was destroyed.


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## Paul (Jun 15, 2010)

Bill,

Very nice shooter. I'm liking it a lot.

Paul


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## Flatband (Dec 18, 2009)

Pretty Cool Bud! You know me and Ergos! Love it! Flatband


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## Bill Hays (Aug 9, 2010)

I'm glad ya'll like it... it's a pretty nice design I think!


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## Martin (Jan 17, 2010)

That is just amazing, form function and beautiful craftsmanship.
Martin.


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## Sam (Jul 5, 2010)

I really like the name!


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