# Question for you gents of wood work



## lunasling (Apr 5, 2015)

What is the best hard wood to use for SS if i shop at a store such as

home depot or lowes i did see birch ply there but prefer solid, figure i do some brain scratchin

on those in the know .

thanks !


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## Viper010 (Apr 21, 2012)

For safety I would seriously recommend the birch ply. If you don't like the looks, sandwich 1/4" birch ply between two nice looking 1/4" solid wood planks of your choice.

Oak, maple, purpleheart, yellowheart, cocobolo.... The choices are endless but for nice exotic hard woods, ask or order online some free samples from a hardwood floor store. Cheaper and more choice than Lowe's or Home Depot.

Hope this helps


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## Sherman (Oct 2, 2012)

yep - i'd be real careful with a hardwood boardcut slingshot with no reinforcement. personally, i wouldn't shoot one.


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## lunasling (Apr 5, 2015)

Viper !

kinda figured that would be the answer lol mayhaps I'll

check out some flooring stores and see if i can get hold

of some samples

thanks

joe


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## lunasling (Apr 5, 2015)

Sherman said:


> yep - i'd be real careful with a hardwood boardcut slingshot with no reinforcement. personally, i wouldn't shoot one.
> 
> Ok then i'll go with birch ply home depot has it in 3 sizes 1/4 1/2 and 3/4 I'll probably just use the 1/4 and 1/2 " ply i like small slings
> 
> thanks Sherman !


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## flipgun (Nov 14, 2012)

I make board cuts from flooring samples, mostly Acacia and Bamboo as I have had some other types fail on a fork hit. I recommend finger braced styles though.


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## treefork (Feb 1, 2010)

I've bought 3/4 " hickory and had good results as far as grain and appearance . Proceed with caution using solid wood for board cuts . Results will vary due to individual cut of board and the particular design employed . A weakness and failure should always be considered . Let good common sense be your guide .

You can always use say 1/4 " scales of any wood on a 1/4 " Baltic birch ply board for a stronger more reliable construction . Remember it's still wood and not steel , aluminum or g10 .


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## bigdh2000 (Feb 9, 2015)

Use 1/4" oak. Cut it and laminate it in three layers with the middle layer grain going vertical with the slingshot. Outside two layers are horizontal.

Basically, make your own oak plywood.


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## Piney Creek (Jun 18, 2015)

One wood often overlooked is Sycamore. 1. It has an attractive grain structure. 2. Is cheap compared to other woods. 3. Most important, it is almost indestructable. Used alot for stakes to drive into the ground and pallets because it won't split. I tried to split a 24" section of a log one time and burried 3 wedges in it and never did get them out. 4. Does tend to get fuzzy on end grain sanding. Piney Creek


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## Teach (Jul 5, 2014)

If you wanted to come at things from a different angle.......not knowing what you have for tools, you could always buy an inexpensive laminated 3/4 inch Bamboo kitchen cutting board. I picked up one here at the local Wall Mart for about $7.60 cents. Extremely strong and most of the work is already done for you. I'm considering taking hardwood scales and laminating them on top of the bamboo on one side only just to be different for a 1 inch thickness. I will get 6 medium size frames from that one cutting board so that's just over a buck a piece. I can live with that. So far I've only made a Forkeye from it but it turned out to be a very attractive Bamboo frame. I really like Bamboo and think it is a beautiful wood.

Guys are warning you to be careful, I second that advice. Not too long ago I made my first board cut from Mahogany in a Tyton frame. The intent was for shooting smaller ammo of 1/4 inch and below so it was never intended to have anything wider than say 1/2 inch TBG. Point being there wasn't much stress on it and I shoot with a supported grip. Even so I am starting to notice hairline cracks showing at the surface of the wood from continued drying. Not real comforting so this will become a BB shooter only from here on in.

Good luck in your choices.


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## lunasling (Apr 5, 2015)

Teach 
Yes I was at wally world today looking at cutting boards picked a regular hard wood one to use as a mini router table for my Palm router,also looked at the bamboo cutting boards they had 2 types one regular and one that said it was made out of pressed bamboo,I was thinking of fabricating only PFS out of board cuts due to the design of pickle forks I think this board cuts are safe enough what do you think ? 
Joe.


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## Resigned User (Jul 4, 2015)

In my inexperience (but proof on field) I can say that a simple birch ply wood (no add of laminating or frame inside) is good enough if the fork is not too high (like in PFS or Lizard (the two that I make with plywood) ) but become dangerous with higher fork

Anyway a "good" fork hit can damaged it of course if the thick is too small

Like mine where I sand a little too much much


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## Resigned User (Jul 4, 2015)




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## lunasling (Apr 5, 2015)

Vinny 
That is my intention just pickle forks using Birch ply low forks less chance of a fork hit
I'm liking pickle forks more n more lol 
Joe .


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## Slingshot Silas (Apr 4, 2013)

Hey lunasling,

Everything these guys have said. I haven't used any of it yet, but Build Direct is a good place to get *free samples* of hardwood, laminate, bamboo, decking material and flooring. Look in the descriptions for solid, preferably not with the expansion joint cut outs on the bottom. Squeek control, I think. Looks like the thinner ones can be glued bottom to bottom giving the face side out on the blank. Of course the edges will show, but I don't know that would be much of a problem. I have sent off to them a few times, and even though I am in their system, they still keep sending the samples. I have quite a little wood pile going here. LOL. I even got a call, (in person, not a canned message) from a guy there wanting to help me with my "order". It was on the house answering machine, and if he calls back and I catch the call, I might just tell him the truth about what I wanted the samples for in the first place. What's the worst that could happen? :angrymod: He!!, he might just send a whole truck load next time.

They are super fast on delivery too. Something like two days. Worth a look. They have a monster size selection too. :wave:

www.*builddirect*.com/‎

I agree about the board cuts too. Be extremely careful with those muthas! You already know this, but a natural fork transitions from one incredibly strong branch into two incredibly strong branches, NATURALLY!

Anyway, check out Build Direct, Free can not be beat with a *stick!* I crack me up! :rofl: :rolling: I think some of this stuff is bullet proof. Mine came FedEx express. Quick!

SSS

:woot: :woot:


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## lunasling (Apr 5, 2015)

Silas
I'll check em out unless you want to unload some
Of what you have gathering dust lol.any way
I plan on just fabricating pickle forks due to the low forks issues with damage should be 
Much less than with a standard size fork , I'm starting to like pickle forks a lot now dandy shirt pocket shooters in fact I got one coming from Perry a swamp oak midget PFS, any way trial and error as the saying goes ! 
Ciao .


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## Slingshot Silas (Apr 4, 2013)

I am already being accused of being a Hoarder, of EVERYTHING, luna! LOL. :rofl:

I'm sure it is OK to make a pickle out of board. Especially a BB slinger. I agree that there should be minimal stress on the low forks. I want to make one myself. I have a bamboo back scratcher that should work. I too like the pocketability afforded by the design. I think you will be plenty safe. Besides, I want my Friend to have both eyes to see the crazy stuff I post! :screwy:

And so I can maybe have some backup when somebody goes sideways with an ignorant statement! ROF! :rolling:







Ain't I a Stinker?!

Keep-a-slingin',

SSS

:woot: :woot:


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## lunasling (Apr 5, 2015)

Silas
Lol no worries Brudda I got ur back I'm my kitchen there's a bamboo spoon with a hole in it placed in just the right spot for a pickle fork
Just gotta shorten the handle and cut a slot where the hole is and a Lil sanding, flash instant pickle fork shooter lol !


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## Slingshot Silas (Apr 4, 2013)

Urethra! Eureka!

Violin! :violin: Viola! Voila'!

Suckcess! Success!

Oh He!!, GOOD JOB!

SPORK OR FOON--ONLY YOU CAN DECIDE!

































:rofl: :rolling:

sss

:woot: :woot:


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## quarterinmynose (Jan 21, 2012)

the woods you are most likely to find at lowe's or home depot are gonna be red oak and poplar. I would avoid the poplar altogether, it's pretty soft for a 'hardwood'. The oak can be good to go as long as you take the right design and consider the grain direction/violation issues that come with board cut slingshots.

Ultimately if you want to use this stuff, your best bet is to stop by micheal's craft store while your out and pick up a cheap and conveniently sized piece of 1/4" baltic birch to use as a core.

Bamboo is amazingly strong when pulling perpendicular to the grain, but not nearly as much in the other direction. This is very very true with the cheap cutting boards that are laminated lengthwise into stripes. I would strongly recommend against those.

Once again you can't really go wrong with a nice strong core.

Also if you have a ROSS in your area check there for more exotic cutting boards. I have gotten some really sweet thick bamboo and olive wood ones there in the past for rather reasonable prices.

*bad bamboo*










*These ones can be great if you find them kinda thick, like 5/8"~3/4"*










*If you're lucky you might find a nice thick olive wood one occasionally*


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## lunasling (Apr 5, 2015)

Q
The 2nd one that is posted looks similar to the one I saw but it said it was pressed bamboo is this the same as what you speak of ?


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## quarterinmynose (Jan 21, 2012)

All these cutting boards are pressed or crushed in one way or another. that's how they get from this....










to this...










The laminations that are done to stripe the cutting boards is what hurts them the most, although force applied along the grain to any wood is going to be more risky than force applied perpendicular to the grain direction. Board cuts(and many slingshots in general) come with certain risks, mitigating them and accepting (or shelving) what risk remains is up the creator/user.


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## Teach (Jul 5, 2014)

lunasling said:


> Teach
> Yes I was at wally world today looking at cutting boards picked a regular hard wood one to use as a mini router table for my Palm router,also looked at the bamboo cutting boards they had 2 types one regular and one that said it was made out of pressed bamboo,I was thinking of fabricating only PFS out of board cuts due to the design of pickle forks I think this board cuts are safe enough what do you think ?
> Joe.


If you remember a while back maybe 6 months ago or so Charles posted a thread call his "Boo Shooters" that were made from Bamboo spoons. The frames were small to medium in size. I made 7 of them to give to friends as gifts etc. We all know how important form is when shooting, one day I came up with a quick shot in my back yard with no thought given to form and SMACK went the fork tip of my little Boo Shooter. That was from a larger than normal piece of ammo than normal too but it showed me how susceptible those little shooters were to fork hits. They were not that far away from a PFS in design size so I'd not recommend something that thin for a PFS. I have not shot PFS's much, I have made two of them and they got given away to the first person who saw them but I did have a chance to play with them and I think fork hits are a much more common occurrence with PFS's than any other SS design at least until the shooter has mastered the technique of shooting them. Because of that I would not recommend any solid wood for a PFS or for a PFS core, especially if the shooter is still in the learning phases of shooting PFS's.

If it were me? For the first while at least, I'd stick with something solid and indestructible like HDPE that won't break with a fork hit. The two PFS's I made I cut from 1/2 inch white HDPE cutting boards. Once the edges were rounded over they felt great in the hand and when and if you get a fork hit it can easily be sanded or filed out. Micarta would also make a nice material for this purpose from what I've read here but I have no personal experience with micarta.

Quarterinmynose, I used a Bamboo cutting board just like the upper most one in your post to make my latest frame - a Forkeye. When I brought it home I placed it on top of two 2x4's parallel to the grain on edge and stomped on it with my foot with all my weight (210 lbs) and thought I had landed on concrete. It was rock solid. What is your reason for saying it is Bad Bamboo? The bamboo is neither crushed nor pressed until the gluing process. The strips are cut, glued up, then hot pressed to cure the glue for only a short period of time - not unlike a regular lamination - nothing that would damage the fibres of the bamboo such as crushing it. And the glue is actually stronger than the material being glued once it has cured. Please explain your rational here.........you have me quite concerned about this. Thanks


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## quarterinmynose (Jan 21, 2012)

Teach said:


> If you remember a while back maybe 6 months ago or so Charles posted a thread call his "Boo Shooters" that were made from Bamboo spoons. The frames were small to medium in size. I made 7 of them to give to friends as gifts etc. We all know how important form is when shooting, one day I came up with a quick shot in my back yard with no thought given to form and SMACK went the fork tip of my little Boo Shooter. That was from a larger than normal piece of ammo than normal too but it showed me how susceptible those little shooters were to fork hits. They were not that far away from a PFS in design size so I'd not recommend something that thin for a PFS. I have not shot PFS's much, I have made two of them and they got given away to the first person who saw them but I did have a chance to play with them and I think fork hits are a much more common occurrence with PFS's than any other SS design at least until the shooter has mastered the technique of shooting them. Because of that I would not recommend any solid wood for a PFS or for a PFS core, especially if the shooter is still in the learning phases of shooting PFS's.
> 
> Teach
> Yes I was at wally world today looking at cutting boards picked a regular hard wood one to use as a mini router table for my Palm router,also looked at the bamboo cutting boards they had 2 types one regular and one that said it was made out of pressed bamboo,I was thinking of fabricating only PFS out of board cuts due to the design of pickle forks I think this board cuts are safe enough what do you think ?
> ...


A very good point on the PFS's. Just because they are small with low forks does not make them any easier to shoot, and I think many people are more likely to get forks hits on them while learning.

About the striped bamboo, I have had some that seemed fine enough, but I have also had a few that were put together so poorly that the laminations simply fell apart in places while cutting a frame out. Nowadays, I won't make a slingshot out of any material laminated edge on if it does not have a substantial core or other structural insurance. It just doesn't make sense to trust my well being(or anyone elses) to a glue joint being stressed in all the wrong ways. What direction were the laminations going in relation to the 2x4s? Perpendicular to the laminations I can absolutely believe it.....parallel seems rather doubtful.


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## lunasling (Apr 5, 2015)

Q 
So far I have not had any fork hits shooting my
Present PFS a had slap or two yes but fork hits 
Not yet I follow directions of Dgui turning the pouch and tweeking up , but ya know the ol sayin 
Never say never lol .


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## quarterinmynose (Jan 21, 2012)

lunasling said:


> Q
> So far I have not had any fork hits shooting my
> Present PFS a had slap or two yes but fork hits
> Not yet I follow directions of Dgui turning the pouch and tweeking up , but ya know the ol sayin
> Never say never lol .


Some people just take to it(not me). I myself have never had a fork hit with PFS, but I have taken an RTS to my lower back from shooting PFS full butterfly. And, I very rarely actually hit my target with a PFS, I think I'm concentrating to hard on not shooting myself.


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## Teach (Jul 5, 2014)

quarterinmynose said:


> Teach said:
> 
> 
> > If you remember a while back maybe 6 months ago or so Charles posted a thread call his "Boo Shooters" that were made from Bamboo spoons. The frames were small to medium in size. I made 7 of them to give to friends as gifts etc. We all know how important form is when shooting, one day I came up with a quick shot in my back yard with no thought given to form and SMACK went the fork tip of my little Boo Shooter. That was from a larger than normal piece of ammo than normal too but it showed me how susceptible those little shooters were to fork hits. They were not that far away from a PFS in design size so I'd not recommend something that thin for a PFS. I have not shot PFS's much, I have made two of them and they got given away to the first person who saw them but I did have a chance to play with them and I think fork hits are a much more common occurrence with PFS's than any other SS design at least until the shooter has mastered the technique of shooting them. Because of that I would not recommend any solid wood for a PFS or for a PFS core, especially if the shooter is still in the learning phases of shooting PFS's.
> ...


The 2x4's were in-line with the grain (parallel as I said) and they were placed on the outer edges of the cutting board. It was "rock solid"!. Now in all fairness that doesn't mean that all these boards are that way. Quality control from China as we all know is not always as it should be. It may be a hit and miss scenario.


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## lunasling (Apr 5, 2015)

quarterinmynose said:


> lunasling said:
> 
> 
> > Q
> ...


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## Chuck Daehler (Mar 17, 2015)

Loads of great advice and resources here! Cutting boards are basically pieces of wood glued together with no tongue and groove fitting so they can come apart. They were not intended for slingshots. I would laminate with a cutting board but not rely on it by itself no more than board cuts from a solid board for high fork slings. A pickle fork is essentially a stubby double banded stick shot and doesn't make much diff what you use. The pouch and ball fly over the forks, not through them (obviously). If the pickle fork is thick enough it doesn't make much diff what you use.

With respect to a fork hit, that's another matter. Plywood might bruise and disintegrate making it a "has been" for future use, but until them it'd be fine. I made recently a Pine Plywood Plinker which I posted. I've yet to get a fork hit to see what damage would be done since it's wide and high forks aren't in the way. I suspect that if I get a fork hit on the tip it would render the thing useless.

PFS are for those who want an additional learning curve with respect to the wrist flip needed to not shoot your hand or the PFS. I am not willing to fool with it so I've never made nor never will make nor shoot a PFS. PFS are inherrantly not as accurate as a regular fork sayeth the experts such as Bill Hays, due to the variables in flipping the wrist downward right at the correct milisecond of release. Consistency is hard to achieve. I think I would make a pure fool of myself if I even tried one. I tried to shoot a stick shot I made, a miserable failure, I simply could not master the wrist flip, shots went everywhere including my hand, and to solve the problem..hehe, the handle turned into a slingshot handle with a regular sized iron fork.


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## lunasling (Apr 5, 2015)

Chuck !

how ya doin with respect to Bill Hayes "Dgui" does not seam to

have issues with accuracy neither does "Perry" and the others that shoot PFS

i guess its the learning curve that falls into matter here .


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## Bob E (Mar 23, 2015)

I can't believe nobody has mentioned Maple. That would be my top choice for a box store board cut, better than some sweatshop cutting board of unknown quality... imho.

Construction grade plywood will also work. You just have to work around the voids and I wouldn't recommend making it thinner than 3/4" in any dimension, but I do have a couple pfs's made from 3/8" and 1/2" pine ply that I have never had any problems with.

I gave up on shooting the pfs though. I couldn't hit anything but my hand. A longer butterfly draw did help prevent that, but it made aiming more difficult for me.


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## lunasling (Apr 5, 2015)

Bob E said:


> I can't believe nobody has mentioned Maple. That would be my top choice for a box store board cut, better than some sweatshop cutting board of unknown quality... imho.
> 
> Construction grade plywood will also work. You just have to work around the voids and I wouldn't recommend making it thinner than 3/4" in any dimension, but I do have a couple pfs's made from 3/8" and 1/2" pine ply that I have never had any problems with.
> 
> ...


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## bigdh2000 (Feb 9, 2015)

lunasling said:


> Bob E said:
> 
> 
> > I can't believe nobody has mentioned Maple. That would be my top choice for a box store board cut, better than some sweatshop cutting board of unknown quality... imho.
> ...


Surprisingly, you can only find Maple in the floor sample section of Home Depot. You have to go to Lowe's if you want to find it in the board section and even then it is not always available.


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## Bob E (Mar 23, 2015)

My local home depot has maple 1x. from 2" up to 6 I think.

It's kind of funny the first time somebody told me they had maple, and I went there looking for it, one of the associates jumped right in my face as soon as I walked through the door asking if I needed help finding anything. So I told him I was looking for some maple. He paused for a second and said "Maple?"

"Yeah, you know, hard wood lumber."

"Oh, we don't have any of that."

"Thanks, I'll just look around"

I walked back to the aisle that has the red oak and poplar. Sure enough there it was. It's easy to miss, there are only 4 or 5 rows of it nestled between a wall of poplar on one side and cedar on the other. I looked for the guy when I came back to the cash register area. I just wanted to walk by him with a stack of maple boards and smile, but he was no where to be found then. I suspect he may not have been able to understand why I was smiling about anyway


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## bigdh2000 (Feb 9, 2015)

Bob E said:


> My local home depot has maple 1x. from 2" up to 6 I think.
> It's kind of funny the first time somebody told me they had maple, and I went there looking for it, one of the associates jumped right in my face as soon as I walked through the door asking if I needed help finding anything. So I told him I was looking for some maple. He paused for a second and said "Maple?"
> "Yeah, you know, hard wood lumber."
> "Oh, we don't have any of that."
> ...


Every so often they have this pallet of "hobby boards" that contains some maple but I have never found their regular stock at mine.


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## brucered (Dec 30, 2015)

quarterinmynose said:


> *If you're lucky you might find a nice thick olive wood one occasionally*


I've seen those thicker Olive Wood boards on occasion, usually small boards like the one above and under $10.

Are they acceptable to make a frame from, no core or scales. I always shy away from them but they look awesome.

I have yet to make a board cut and always make from natural forks. I'll be doing a Birxh Ply core with some scales on it soon though.


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## Jolly Roger (Aug 14, 2017)

Flat plate steel or aluminum eliminates the worry about breakage and strength.


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## kevmar (Aug 5, 2017)

15471 said:


> quarterinmynose said:
> 
> 
> > *If you're lucky you might find a nice thick olive wood one occasionally*
> ...


Would the grain make the frame weak? i.e dangerous.


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## kevmar (Aug 5, 2017)

<---<<<< My Concerned face .


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## KawKan (May 11, 2013)

@Kevmar: Tons of good slingshots, including commercial ones (Whammo and its clones, e.g.) have been made from single hardwood boards. I've made a dozen or so myself. It is wise to choose boards with good tight vertical grain. And realize that some templates are better suited to this material that others. Tex's Classic is a prime example of a design with plenty of material in the bottom of the fork area and takes advantage of vertical grain. I think Tex intended that design as an improvement on the Whammo Sportsman - gaining ergonomics without sacrificing strength.

Virtually any slingshot without a metal core needs a thorough examination after a fork hit.

The shooter is the most important safety feature affecting slingshots.


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## KawKan (May 11, 2013)

kevmar said:


> <---<<<< My Concerned face .


Don't replicate that design - especially don't make one in pine.

It is surprising it broke down the center of the handle. There is no much wood to the left or right of the handle and I would have bet it would have broken there. Guess I would have lost that bet!


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## jazz (May 15, 2012)

I put 2mm aluminum plate in the middle and then any type of board, of any wood, on both sides, usually up to 8-10 mm each plus palm swells occasionally.

cheers,

jazz


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## kevmar (Aug 5, 2017)

Thanks KawKan ,I cut that frame with a hacksaw after advice here that the grain could split and send

a sharp piece of wood in an eyeward direction.

Since then the frames I make are made with plywood.

However I'm certainly going to use a ply and hardwood x 2 board.

Thanks again.


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## kevmar (Aug 5, 2017)

I think



KawKan said:


> kevmar said:
> 
> 
> > <---<<<< My Concerned face .
> ...


 you would have won the bet i'm sure.


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