Hey, I have been making a LOT of slings lately and I want to try making a bola.  I make all my slings using natural fibers and materials so I don't really want to make a tennis ball bola, (though I think I will for teaching my little brother.)  I was wondering what types of bola I can make that would be authentic, I know how to braid and weave, and I thought about weaving the ends of the braided cords into little pouches for the stones but I think the warps will burst if they smack against a hard object, (like a sling pouch if you hit a rock with it loaded.)  I also thought you could make a leather pouch but I am not sure how you attach it to the cords?  The thought occurred to me of making the pouches out of rawhide, wetting the rawhide then lacing or sewing it to make a pouch and letting it dry around the stone...but then it occurred to me I would have to attach the bola cords to it somehow, the only method I can devise would be to punch a hole and thread the loose ends of the braided cords through the hole in the top of the pouch, but that would most likely result in the cords wearing through and breaking.  The third option is a netted pouch, but while I have made a netted sling pouch, (barely,) I am not sure how to make a net that would encompass a rock entirely and fasten it or make it from the end of the braided bola cord.  I also know of the monkey fist method but it is usually done with steel, lead or glass ans I wish to use a stone slightly smaller than a golfball, (so it's not too lethal,) and to secure a stone in a monkey fist it would have to be about the size of a small marble, which is too light, so I would have to use heavier cordage, but this I cannot do as I am using the heaviest stuff I have, (about the same width as paracord.)
  Any designs or suggestions are welcome.
   Any help would be great.

You could use large lead fishing weights, the large nuts used to bolt railroad tracks together, or you could peck and grind a groove in three rocks and use them.  Bill

where's paleoart's when you need him.... he made one, andi think you can pretty much figure out how he made it by looking at the picture here.

http://www.paleoarts.net/misc-weapons.html

Yes, I have steel nuts, how did you know? but I don't really want to go that route, I want to braid it and everything.  
I kind of make this stuff to use and have fun with as well as collect it.  It would be neat to have a nice collection of primitive weapons and I am interested particularly in ranged ones.  So I want to make a bola that is athentic.  I have done some research and I have found that the gauchos used leather bags filled with sand and wooden bolas, mainly for non-hunting purposes.  So rather than use up all my sling pouch leather, (take about 6 sling pouches worth to make 3 leather pouches for a bola,) I think I will make the weights out of hardwood in the shape of a sphere or teardrop.  The issue would be with them cracking and breaking.  I was thinking to just drill a hole through the wood ball then insert the cord and tie a not at the other end, but that will also make it prone to splitting.  So the only other option would be to go with a groove, which would only be slightly better anyway.  I could make a metal ring but I wouldn't want to use metal on it.  I still would like to make a rawhide one sometime but I will have to figure out how to attach the cords without them wearing.  I also can't find any rawhide (dollar store,) that will cut into thin strips and not break when wetted if I give it a hard pull and I don't have but really want sinew or gut, so I would have to sew it with thread or twine...
 Well, I will let you know how it goes.  I just have to scare up some hardwood, maybe some sugar maple or ash, I would use yellow birch as I have a lot of it around but it splits easy, really hard though.

a few years back i made a bola from those wooden balls you get at the craft store..i used the 2" ones.
i just drilled a hole through them ,ran a cord through it and knotted it so the ball couldnt move.

it worked pretty good and i still have that bola around somewhere

LukeWebb wrote on Aug 3^rd, 2010 at 1:01pm:


maybe a used leather braided belt from a second hand store ?
undo the belt braid and you have your thin strips

just thinking out loud here
what if you found 9 branch forks, tie 3 forks together, X 3 arms, for a natural grappling hook bola

i saw some 2" doweling at Canadian Tire, 36 inches, cut into 6 pieces,
3 pieces for a hole down the center and 3 pieces for a groove around

As far as wood goes I would suggest some type of hickory. It is relatively heavy and about as unbreakable as a wood can get.

  Yes, I made a tennis ball bola the other day and it is just like the sling.  I am really into slinging and make all my slings using natural fibers, so I really want an authentic bola.  I'm going to try and use wood, and if possible I will use root burls if I can find them, but it's not real likely.
  If I were to drill a hole through a wood ball for the weight, what would make it least likely to crack, drilling the whole WITH the grain or ACROSS the grain.