# Woods for slingshots? Wood questions.



## Vic R (Feb 18, 2019)

Hello! My grandparents have an apple tree in their backyard and it has some really nice forks. It’s crazy how many forks it has. One fork will be another one and they all combine. I found a thick good one, pretty parallel but I was wondering if the wood it has is strong enough for a slingshot. I can provide pictures if you’d like. I really couldn’t tell what type of wood it has and at the moment has barely any leaves because we just passed fall.


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## Grandpa Grumpy (Apr 21, 2013)

In the U.S. any tree that produces a fruit or a nut is usually okay for slingshots as long as there are no splits, decay or other defects.


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## jazz (May 15, 2012)

if it is an apple tree, as Grandpa Grumpy says above, go for it!


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## Vic R (Feb 18, 2019)

Would you like to see a picture of it? As far as decay all I know about it is that whenever apples grow in around fall a bug will eat them..


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## Ukprelude (Apr 17, 2016)

Yeah dude go for it, if it has some slight decay I wouldn't waste it you can easily stabilise with some super glue in any real fine holes or cracks and this will also kill any little bugs living in the fork then top up the holes/cracks with epoxy 

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk


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## Vic R (Feb 18, 2019)

My shoe size is a 9 in men so this fork is pretty big. Only bad thing is that the prongs are a little bent back and aren’t both exactly straight with each other but I got a lot of carving to do.


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## devils son in law (Sep 2, 2014)

It'll work, you'll also need to make sure it's completely dried.

The last thing you want is to spend a few hours making a nice frame and have it develop huge cracks once it starts drying out.


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## Vic R (Feb 18, 2019)

devils son in law said:


> It'll work, you'll also need to make sure it's completely dried.
> 
> The last thing you want is to spend a few hours making a nice frame and have it develop huge cracks once it starts drying out.


Leaving it in my house for two weeks until I make it the size I think fits my hand and remove the bark/carve it.


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## NaturalFork (Jan 21, 2010)

Apple tree wood is VERY strong. Do it.


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## Vic R (Feb 18, 2019)

It’s a green apple tree btw. It’s in LA, just pointing it out since I’ve seen a bunch of different apple trees.


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## Ibojoe (Mar 13, 2016)

Shoot yeah go for it. Apple is as strong as it is beautiful.


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## mattwalt (Jan 5, 2017)

2 weeks indoors isn't nearly long enough to dry out. Without some 'help' Guys will store then in a brown paper bad for 6+ months... There are some fast-track methods to dry out but leaving it as long as possible think gives the best results IMO.

Apple wood makes nice frames.


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## Vic R (Feb 18, 2019)

mattwalt said:


> 2 weeks indoors isn't nearly long enough to dry out. Without some 'help' Guys will store then in a brown paper bad for 6+ months... There are some fast-track methods to dry out but leaving it as long as possible think gives the best results IMO.
> 
> Apple wood makes nice frames.


Thank you, I'm for sure leaving it out in the open for 2 weeks as I'm not going to be home until then and I left it in my room. Should I pop it in the microwave when I'm back? And what do you think about the pictures I posted? Is it a fine fork? One of the prongs is leaning more than the other but I imagined since it's so big I could just carve it down. Thanks!


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## ol'school42 (Feb 13, 2016)

Somewhere on this forum is kind of a formula for microwaving. I believe it's like 1 minute at a time... about 60 years ago I would bake my forks in the oven at a real low heat for a few hours (when Mom wasn't home) I had so many pear, apple and mulberry trees forks were plentiful and if it developed a crack I'd cut another till on worked out. That was, however, prior to Super Glue being invented. And the fork you posted the picture on looks great. Have fun & don't sweat the small stuff.


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## Grandpa Pete (May 2, 2013)

I am a Grandpa with a wonderful apple tree in my yard. It has given me a bunch of fine forks over the last couple of years. I got interested in slingshots about five years ago when I ran across a video about Rufus Hussey on YouTube. Right after that I starting hunting for the perfect natural fork. Many came from that old apple tree right behind my house. Cut a few, seal the end grain with wax or something and just put them away and let them slowly dry out......they will be ready in six months or a year.

Have fun.

GP


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## Vic R (Feb 18, 2019)

Yeah my grandparents have a lot of trees. They have lemon trees, apple trees, grapefruit trees, orange trees. The area they lived in still has old orange orchards. Hope I don’t mess this up. I’m just trying to find out how to correctly dry it out. Not trying to wait a whole year. And with grandpa Pete a Rufus Hussey also sparked an interest into slingshots back into me. I used to shoot cans with slingshots I would buy in Mexico. They were all natural forks and I’m used to them.


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## Vic R (Feb 18, 2019)

Could you show me any of your forks Grandpa Pete? Specifically ones made out of apple trees. I would also like to see your tree. Thanks!


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## Vic R (Feb 18, 2019)

Also I can’t seem to get the right time zone. I’ll get an email notification I received a message at 6:17 but it’ll say here it’s 7:17 when the message was posted. When I was setting it up it said that on that time zone it was same time as where I’m at. I’m in California so it’s pacific time zone.


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## Vic R (Feb 18, 2019)

This is what it looks like so far. What do you guys think. Still need to sand it down and coat it with spar urethane


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