Bush Boomerang

[Aussie123]

We selected a dry log with a suitable bend and used the chainsaw to rough it out


... its a bit cheaty, but we had limited time ...


Using a small hatchet we quickly shaped the wings. It was still quite rough, but the basic, aerodynamic, shape was there:


Then a mighty throw in a cleared area. The boomerang sped gracefully through the air ....


.... and I must say that it flew beautifully, in a perfectly straight line :_risata:

Oh well, perhaps next time ?

I guess I'd better re-title the thread as "Bush Stick" ? :non sono stato io:

 

[Flash]

I wreckon you oughtta go back, pick it up and do a little more refined carving when you get a chance :emozionato:

I suppose you know that most boomerangs were not designed to return, so it could still be called a boomerang :_risata:

 

[Mozzie]

What do you call a boomerang that doesn't come back? ..... a stick

or my answer....

call him anything you want, he aint coming back!

i know, i know.....lol.


good axe work Aussie :sorrriso:

 

[Jacko]

I think this is a great project ! I'd love to know if refining the profile would turn it from a souped up throwing stick into a returning Boomerang, I suspect the curve is too shallow and it's too thick. I reckon a belt around the back of a Game Animals head with your Boomerang Aussie123 would certainly put Meat on the Table. Really must put making, practice with and finally Hunting with a Boomerang on my next things to do list

regards Jacko

 

[Aussie123]

I think you're right Jacko. We really only had a very short amount of time between when we found the log and when we had to go. It certainly would have been a very effective throwing stick against small game and would have stunned or injured a large creature; but I really did want it to curve (at least a bit).

Often you need to do these things a few times so you can work out what to look for and how to approach the task; so the effort will be rewarded the next time I try.

 

[21st century pict]

Hi Aussie 123
I was just looking through youtube for boomerangs,traditional construction and hunting techniques and stuff and found a video by Muskrat Jim and he mentions a bloke called DrShakalu619 with a boomerang in his walkabout kit, I cant find him anywhere, have you ever heard of the dude? The Walkabout kit sounds interesting.
Good luck with your next boomerang Bro.

 

[Howling Dingo]

Nice..good work!

 

[21st century pict]

Some stunningly beautiful boomerangs on this vid on youtube. " Boomerang making (english version) " by F. Bianchi well worth a watch.
I wana boomerang....

 

[Aussie123]

Hi Aussie 123
I was just looking through youtube for boomerangs,traditional construction and hunting techniques and stuff and found a video by Muskrat Jim and he mentions a bloke called DrShakalu619 with a boomerang in his walkabout kit, I cant find him anywhere, have you ever heard of the dude? The Walkabout kit sounds interesting.
Good luck with your next boomerang Bro.

I can't say I've heard of him, but I'll have a look later and see what turns up

Some stunningly beautiful boomerangs on this vid on youtube. " Boomerang making (english version) " by F. Bianchi well worth a watch.
I wana boomerang....

Thanks

 

[Aussie RND]

Hello Aussie 123

I really like you Hunting stick or Kharli or Kylie as my America friends seem to call them.
I have made several Hunting Sticks and i have found you can put a lot of work into one and have it fly poorly. So to make one that flies dead straight is really good.
I have made one by using a hand axe and Stone chiesels and it took a long time and the longer it took the drier the wood got and the harder it was to shape.
The only footage of a tradtional hunting stick being made, that i have seen, showed 6 men building it together each with their own job.

Most competition Boomerang throwers refer to the word Boomerang meaning returning stick.
Most traditonal Boomerangs that i have seen are to light for hunting purpose in the way of hitting a target. But some believe they could have been use to scare flocks of birds towards nets.

For hunting Kangaroos and Emus hunting sticks were the go. they were closer to 300 400 grams. They were airfoiled in a way to create a little lift to aid the distance of the throw. too much lift and the Hunting stick would gain height and turn left or right. The Competition record for Hunting sticks is 50 metres but you could easily throw one further. Though if you were hunitng for survival you would want to get a lot closer to make it a sure thing.

Any one who wants a good returning Boomerang can Pm and i can direct them to a couple of good australian makers sites. One makes really good flyers out marine plywood
the other makes tradtional returning boomerangs but they are more expensive.

 

[Aussie123]

Hello Aussie 123

I really like you Hunting stick or Kharli or Kylie as my America friends seem to call them.
I have made several Hunting Sticks and i have found you can put a lot of work into one and have it fly poorly. So to make one that flies dead straight is really good.
I have made one by using a hand axe and Stone chiesels and it took a long time and the longer it took the drier the wood got and the harder it was to shape.
The only footage of a tradtional hunting stick being made, that i have seen, showed 6 men building it together each with their own job.

Most competition Boomerang throwers refer to the word Boomerang meaning returning stick.
Most traditonal Boomerangs that i have seen are to light for hunting purpose in the way of hitting a target. But some believe they could have been use to scare flocks of birds towards nets.

For hunting Kangaroos and Emus hunting sticks were the go. they were closer to 300 400 grams. They were airfoiled in a way to create a little lift to aid the distance of the throw. too much lift and the Hunting stick would gain height and turn left or right. The Competition record for Hunting sticks is 50 metres but you could easily throw one further. Though if you were hunitng for survival you would want to get a lot closer to make it a sure thing.

Any one who wants a good returning Boomerang can Pm and i can direct them to a couple of good australian makers sites. One makes really good flyers out marine plywood
the other makes tradtional returning boomerangs but they are more expensive.

Thanks. I'll certainly have another go when chance presents itself

 

[21st century pict]

Found another couple o videos on YouTube that’s well worth a watch,
" Making Boomerangs the Mudburra-Jingili Way "
And this bloke knows his boomerang history “NoBSSurvival” and his vids on YouTube are also well worth a watch,
Traditional Boomerang Making. First Attempt .Part 1 2 and 3...


This is my first and still a long way off finished attempt at making a small stick out o a big stick.

The branch is an Oak windfall and perhaps a poor choice considering all the rot I had to cut away, I still don’t know if it will up a hunting or returning boomerang, just waiting to see what the wood lends its self to best. But still u got to start somewhere and it’s all part of the learning curve.

I Wana Kurrabadi Boomerang::

 

[Wentworth]

Great piece of timber to choose pict, looking forward to seeing the finished result

 

[Aussie123]

Looking forward to seeing the results.

Oak should be a good substitute for a (hardwood) eucalytpus.

 

[21st century pict]

Found this very interesting, a 30,000 year old throwing stick from the Oblazowa cave in Poland, @ around 71cm long and about 800g in weight and made from a mammoth tusk.
The Oblazowa cave boomerang.

It looks big enough to hunt Cave bear and I’m guessing with a point like that if it hit the target end on it would probably go straight through, mind you if it missed the bear and flew in to the cave where it was found I probably wouldn’t want to go in there and get it back either...

On a more personal note, I’m still waiting to borrow a rasp from my mate to start shaping the stick in my last post above into an aerofoil, so in the meantime I'm having a wee “ and I mean wee” play with some Birch.

 

[Jacko]

I was not aware of the Oblazowa cave boomerang. I was aware of a Boomerang found in Florida - I am always fascinated at how wide spread various technology was in prehistoric times. It is emerging just how various cultures migrated and how they stole, traded, shared or copied each others technology all around the world

regards Jacko

 

[21st century pict]

I am always fascinated at how wide spread various technology was in prehistoric times. It is emerging just how various cultures migrated and how they stole, traded, shared or copied each others technology all around the worlde

Hi there Jacko

I don’t know which technologies were traded and or which evolved simultaneously globally, but I know what you mean, here in Scotland we have a thing called a Thunder Spell I bleave you call them Bullroarers’.

Cheers for the Florida reference Bro I’m going to have a look round for some Native American boomerangs now, cool.
Perhaps you already know of this one but in 1922 Howard Carter found a collection of boomerangs in Tutankhamen’s tomb.
Collection of Egyptians boomerangs.

I also found this reference in Wikipedia under Throwing sticks where “The Egyptians described it as "-returning to the feet of the thrower and be ready at hand for the next flight of ducks."

Which brings me conveniently on to another point, in all the reference material I have found so far there is a clear distinction between hunting and returning boomerangs suggesting that returning boomerangs were just for sport is it me or is this a common urban myth, Check out this Vid on YouTube aborigine hunt huge bats with boomerangs where one bloke is clearly using “and for the want of a better word “curved returning boomerang to hunt. I don’t speak Italian so I have no idea about the commentary.

Just finished shaping the aerofoil on my new fly hunter and sealed it wee a couple o coats of lacquer, COUGH girlfriends hair spray ::shhh, and almost ready to thin it down to about 3 or 4mm, and given that the laws of physics don’t change with scale I fully intend to let it fly.

Crash and burn more likely,,,,,, less Kylie...


PS Jacko, here in Scotland we used the Thunder Spell’s to scare off lightning in a thunder storm and stop the house burning doon. Just as well we used wood and no a old sword or dirk blade that could have had quite the opposite effect :ngazzat:
CHEERS BRO.

 

[Hairyman]

I just cant let mention of a bullroarer go without bringing up this little ad/vid again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Kf_RYVt2XQ

 

[Tas]

Funny stuff hairyman kids were in fits

 

[21st century pict]

I was out for a walk in the woods yesterday to collect some sweet chestnuts for Xmas “ 5 quid a pop for 500g in the shops”, so coming home with an saving of 25 quid in my pocket I wiz already quite chuffed wee myself when I found this and defiantly my next project and no mistake, and what an ugly gnarly twisted stick it is, but hopefully there is a lovely bit of Beach in there, it looks a bit like a cross between one of those old bronze statues of the Norse pagan god Freyr and the skull o the big bug in the Alien movie.
It’s already quite flat end on and the deepest part in the pic is probably about 8-9 inches thick..

I’m going to cut it in the next day or two then leave it in the shed for about a year to season, and with a bit of luck it will end up a Throwing stick...