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score one for the sling (Read 4235 times)

dork

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score one for the sling
Mar 10^th, 2006 at 2:32pm

I was at work the other day when another employee came up to me and was telling me about some project his kid was doing in school. He had to make a spear and they would test for flight design. The man told his son about the slings he sees me make during break. So they decided to cut a notch in the end of the spear and hook it on an eighteen inch folded rope. He didnt release it like a sling but used it for a spear chucker. He said he gained about thirty yards over all the other kids. I was surprised concidering the cords are flexable, that they would be able to push the spear forward. Was this perhaps a second use for the sling in the days of old?

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CanDo Interfector Viris Spurii Past Moderator Offline Posts: 1652 New England, USA Gender:	Re: score one for the sling Reply #1 - Mar 10^th, 2006 at 5:40pm sounds cool. kind of like an at 'latl. i wish that i had taken a class where we made spears.
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Pikoro

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Re: score one for the sling
Reply #2 - Mar 10^th, 2006 at 6:06pm

The romans used something similar called the amentum, but technically it's not a sling. This type of device is related to the atlatl. The one the romans used had the cord permanently attached to the shaft and they would release the cord along with the spear. However, other cultures did use a method that is more similar to what you described. In this design the cord would detach from the spear when it was launched.

I've been thinking of eventually making one and trying it. But right now the sling is more than enough to keep me busy.

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CanDo Interfector Viris Spurii Past Moderator Offline Posts: 1652 New England, USA Gender:	Re: score one for the sling Reply #3 - Mar 10^th, 2006 at 6:17pm Idea: how about an at'latl design that uses a piece of wood with a cord at the end. kind of like a staff sling. more leverage, more power, less control.
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Chaotic Rage Senior Member Offline Vous etes saoul! Posts: 465 Gender:	Re: score one for the sling Reply #4 - Mar 10^th, 2006 at 6:32pm That's awesome, beating the other kids. 30 yards is a big difference.
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chaosmage Senior Member Offline I love Slinging.org! Posts: 322	Re: score one for the sling Reply #5 - Mar 10^th, 2006 at 11:55pm According to some stuff I read, using a string as an atlatl actually predates the atlatl itself by tens of thousands of years, to the best of our recolection.
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solobo Senior Member Offline Posts: 382 Reno, NV, USA Gender:	Re: score one for the sling Reply #6 - Mar 11^th, 2006 at 10:36am That is surprising, I wouldn't have thought a string would be able to work on a spear the way an atlatl would. I wonder how difficult it is to control?
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Pikoro Tiro Offline C'est la vie Posts: 41 Tennessee Gender:	Re: score one for the sling Reply #7 - Mar 11^th, 2006 at 2:48pm kkriegg where did you find that info? The few things I've read on it only refer to more recent versions like the amentum. Was it in an article or a book?
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Taiki

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Re: score one for the sling
Reply #8 - Mar 13^th, 2006 at 6:57am

well i was tinkering with something like that myself but i have a nack of thinking up things and then finding out someone already made it a few centuries before i did Embarrassed

but still here goes Tongue

you take a string an knot one end into a loop (this goes in a notch in the spear) then you take a small wooden dowel and tie it to the other end for a handle this makes it easyer to handle Grin

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slingbadger

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Re: score one for the sling
Reply #9 - Mar 13^th, 2006 at 12:12pm

John Warry has an excellent book out on Ancient weapons and armor, including, the amentum
A lot of the control on the amentum was covered by wrapping the cord around the shaft of the javelin. As it was released, the javelin spun, and basically flew in a straight line.
Leonardo Da Vinci had a similar design in his notebooks, but his had a wooden handle that you used to help launch.

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Mordechaj Funditor Offline I love Slinging.org! Posts: 576 zagreb, croatia (europe) Gender:	Re: score one for the sling Reply #10 - Mar 13^th, 2006 at 5:17pm and the spin of the javelin would improve it's penetrating power too. /caesar made the neck of the heavy roman javelins from softer iron, so it woud bend on the impact, because it would weight opponent's shield down, and he couldn't throw it back at you/
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Lathron Ex Member	Re: score one for the sling Reply #11 - Mar 13^th, 2006 at 6:16pm the spin would stabilize it the way feathers stabilize an arrow and the leverage would increase penetration. i played with it and i can throw light javelin about 1 meter long 50 meters with aproximately 45° angle
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chaosmage Senior Member Offline I love Slinging.org! Posts: 322	Re: score one for the sling Reply #12 - Mar 13^th, 2006 at 7:53pm Quote: kkriegg where did you find that info? The few things I've read on it only refer to more recent versions like the amentum. Was it in an article or a book? It was one of the bowmaker's bibles.
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Wrenn

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Re: score one for the sling
Reply #13 - Mar 14^th, 2006 at 2:46am

Quote:

According to some stuff I read, using a string as an atlatl actually predates the atlatl itself by tens of thousands of years, to the best of our recolection.

I havent seen anything official but the australian aboriginal version of the atlatl, the woomera, was supposed to have been invented around 40,000 to 50,000 years ago.

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person3 Senior Member Offline Posts: 276 maryland Gender:	Re: score one for the sling Reply #14 - Mar 18^th, 2006 at 5:56pm Ive tried using string as an atlatl and it worked beter than any atlatl i'v made though, i'v never goten an atlatl to work
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