- Joined
- Jan 18, 2007
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- 1,976
Years ago I had the opportunity to travel on Uncle Sam's dime. During that time I went to several tropical places where the indigenous people still hunt with primitive weapons. I prefer a bow and arrow, but I took a serious injury 22 months ago that left me stuck in the house. I just had to do some kind of shooting so I started playing with the Blowguns again.
The blowguns I handled from Brazil Was made by splitting a sapling, I believe was palm. Carving out a grove in it, then gluing the halves together with a black bees wax. the pipe was then wrapped with twine and a mouth piece was added. The inside was polished with a vine and sand. I had the opportunity to handle several from different tribes of the Amazon basin. All of the ones I looked at were constructed in similar fasion, With differences only in tube length, boar size and mouth piece shape. This was a long time ago so sadly I don't remember the names of the tribes that I visited. The length of the tubes were from 8 to 12 foot long and had 1/2 of an inch or larger boar size. On the other side of the world I looked at a collection of Blowguns that had been gathered from various places in the south Pacific. I noted that there was two types those that were made of hollowed out bamboo and the better ones made by splitting and grooving the wood.
So during my recovery period I wanted to have something I could shoot in the house and keep my self busy, so my interest in Blowguns was renewed.
After playing with the little. So I made a PVC pipe blowgun from 1/2" pipe. I stiffened the small pipe by putting it in side of a larger diameter PVC tube and filling the gap with Gorilla glue and string. 1/2" PVC actual is 5/8 inside diameter or .62 caliber. This was an OK shooter after I got the boar polished out, but I wanted something more rustic. I decided to make a wood Blowgun. Now I'll tell you right now I used every power tool I could because I have them, But it is possible to make this project with only primitive tools. I have seen it.
(on a side note, handling lumber and using power tools while on crutches is not recommended, but possible, and probably comical to watch)
Palm wood for Blowguns mite be a bit hard to come by here so I settled on some local red oak. A 1/4" deep 1/2", half round grove was routered in two pieces of 1"x 2"x 8' wood. Epoxy replaced the black bees wax. I polished the boar with sandpaper on a 1/2" dowel rod chucked in a drill.
Finished out to 6' 8" and .58 caliber. Along with the 5' PVC Blowgun which I painted green..
Finlay get to do some shooting. I do eat what I shoot so this morning I shot my breakfast. That Orange didn't have a chance.
Dart types The mop type darts are the most accurate but the cone darts are fast and don't drop at distance. If you were going to use a Blowgun to hunt small game there are only two options. The first is poison darts Which I don't recommend and the second is broadheads. A good friend has had great success at reducing the rat population in his barn with broadheads made from Exacto blades.
One more thing check your local laws befor you make or hunt with one.
http://www.geocities.com/blowgunhunter/
http://www.alcheminc.com/blowgunhist.html
The blowguns I handled from Brazil Was made by splitting a sapling, I believe was palm. Carving out a grove in it, then gluing the halves together with a black bees wax. the pipe was then wrapped with twine and a mouth piece was added. The inside was polished with a vine and sand. I had the opportunity to handle several from different tribes of the Amazon basin. All of the ones I looked at were constructed in similar fasion, With differences only in tube length, boar size and mouth piece shape. This was a long time ago so sadly I don't remember the names of the tribes that I visited. The length of the tubes were from 8 to 12 foot long and had 1/2 of an inch or larger boar size. On the other side of the world I looked at a collection of Blowguns that had been gathered from various places in the south Pacific. I noted that there was two types those that were made of hollowed out bamboo and the better ones made by splitting and grooving the wood.
So during my recovery period I wanted to have something I could shoot in the house and keep my self busy, so my interest in Blowguns was renewed.
After playing with the little. So I made a PVC pipe blowgun from 1/2" pipe. I stiffened the small pipe by putting it in side of a larger diameter PVC tube and filling the gap with Gorilla glue and string. 1/2" PVC actual is 5/8 inside diameter or .62 caliber. This was an OK shooter after I got the boar polished out, but I wanted something more rustic. I decided to make a wood Blowgun. Now I'll tell you right now I used every power tool I could because I have them, But it is possible to make this project with only primitive tools. I have seen it.
(on a side note, handling lumber and using power tools while on crutches is not recommended, but possible, and probably comical to watch)
Palm wood for Blowguns mite be a bit hard to come by here so I settled on some local red oak. A 1/4" deep 1/2", half round grove was routered in two pieces of 1"x 2"x 8' wood. Epoxy replaced the black bees wax. I polished the boar with sandpaper on a 1/2" dowel rod chucked in a drill.
Finished out to 6' 8" and .58 caliber. Along with the 5' PVC Blowgun which I painted green..
Finlay get to do some shooting. I do eat what I shoot so this morning I shot my breakfast. That Orange didn't have a chance.
Dart types The mop type darts are the most accurate but the cone darts are fast and don't drop at distance. If you were going to use a Blowgun to hunt small game there are only two options. The first is poison darts Which I don't recommend and the second is broadheads. A good friend has had great success at reducing the rat population in his barn with broadheads made from Exacto blades.
One more thing check your local laws befor you make or hunt with one.
http://www.geocities.com/blowgunhunter/
http://www.alcheminc.com/blowgunhist.html
