Birth of an Atlatl

A

August West

Joined
Nov 1, 2009
Messages
795
Hopefully it will turn in to something, anyone have any experience with atlatls. I found this piece of cedar and thought it looked perfect and yes that is my kitchen and yes my wife is at work. :cool: Chris

IMG_1479.jpg
 
Hey AW, good to see you're home again. How did the bird trapping go, over there?

I've played around with atlatls a bit - nothing too serious - herniated disc prevents serious practice but if that wasn't the case, atlatls would be it!!!

A couple pictures of kgd playing with mine:

Kenthrowingdart.jpg


dazedPierre.jpg


Doc
 
Good stuff doc, there is for sure an atlatl in that piece of cedar, now it is up to me to let it out. Yeah, I'm always working on my traps and your net drop traps are the bees knees. Right now there are a bunch of squirrels tearing up my birdfeeders that are going to find out what a snare pole is and end up in my stew pot. LOL Chris
 
only ever made a spear and woomera , similar to your set up but different

I think the key to it is the flex in the spear , a rigid one wont work , well no where near like it should .

I have a crushed vertabrae between my shoulder blades .. it slows me down doing messing with my bows and throwing toys .

Get your set up right , give it a steel tip , and youll be punching holes into 44 gallon drums for target practice .. at closeish range anyway , they do actually pack that much punch .
 
Myal,
I have been looking at a lot of different types and your aussie woomera is fantastic, love the looks of them. Chris
 
Thanks for the inspiration buddy, I attempted my first one today after reading this post.
Keep us updated on your progress !
 
I will Pit, right now my hands are super sore from carving too much so I am giving it a rest for tonight. If you go over to the atlatl forums at Paleo Planet there are some real artists. Chris
 
I Look forward to seeing what you get made up and how it works for you.

Kgd, is quite the rat hunter:D:thumbup:.

Bryan
 
I've made a few. they can be as easy or as complicated as you want. the length of the thrower or atlatl once it gets past 24-26 inches doesn't seem to matter.
i tried them all the way up to 3 foot, didn't throw any farther than the 18 to 20 inch ones.
the other posters are right about the flex of the dart, if it don't flex well it won't work right. river cane is what i use, works great. a few guys i know use giant rag weed shafts, look odd but they do work. on the cane if you slide a for-shaft into the end after you wrap the bottom with sinew or cord that's been glued it will last a lot more throws.
there is actually a world atlatl association, they get together every year. they've been to flintridge in Ohio a few times and to marshal Michigan a few years ago too.
here's a few pics of mine.
IMGP3444.jpg
[/IMG]
IMGP3438.jpg

IMGP3441.jpg

IMGP3449.jpg

IMGP3453.jpg
 
Great stuff, mine is really starting to take shape guess my hand wasn't that sore after all. I have decided on 22", it seems a good middle of the road length. I am really starting to work on bringing out the natural curve of this cedar, really great piece of wood. Chris


IMG_1480.jpg
 
Last edited:
so hows the atlatl coming?

I just finished another one with 3 darts.

ceder atlatl, used a piece of Osage for the hook.
river cane shafts, turkey fletches, sinew wrapped nock and point, used dogbane for tying the fletches.
point inserts are grey stemmed dogwood, flint points, held on with sinew and pine pitch.
now all i got to do is find a wayward mastodon and I'm set.

IMGP3462.jpg
[/IMG]
IMGP3467.jpg
[/IMG]
IMGP3466.jpg
[/IMG]
 
Pretty good but I have too many projects going. I put the atlatl to the side to finish a slingshot that I had laminated and rough cut out but not finished but it is all done so I am going back to the atlatl.

BTW Yours looks great and those darts and points are works of art :thumbup: did you knap them yourself? Chris
 
August West said:
Pretty good but I have too many projects going. I put the atlatl to the side to finish a slingshot that I had laminated and rough cut out but not finished but it is all done so I am going back to the atlatl.

BTW Yours looks great and those darts and points are works of art :thumbup: did you knap them yourself? Chris
Click to expand...

thanks, i knapped 2 of them i got a little lazy and put an arrow head on that a buddy of mine made for me (160 grain point), mostly because i didn't want to go outside in the cold and knapp any myself. felt like i should so i broke down and knapped 2 of them in my basement. i'm paying for it now sinuses are all jacked up from it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top