So, I was over at Michael's (a local craft store chain for those of you non-American types) and I was buying wool yarn for sling making when I came across these 7 foot tall reeds that were meant for home decor.  They were on sale for a dollar apiece, and I thought "What the heck, why not?" as they looked like they might make decent atlatl darts.  They're a bit experimental, as they are very light and a bit on the thin-walled side, and they're also the only 7 foot darts I've ever made, but I couldn't argue with the price.  So, while I was there I also picked up some cheap feathers for fletching, some super glue, a ball of 20 pound hemp, and some leather scrap.  This is the result:



Since the reed is thin-walled, I was careful to reinforce the nock with hemp whipping and then I covered the hemp with super glue.



The fletching is just the trailing edge of a couple of different right-wing feathers.  I secured it with deer leg sinew.  I was going to use hemp and super glue again just to make life easy, but it was too thick and ugly, so I went with the sinew.  I hate chewing sinew.  It makes my mouth feel gross.



For the tip, I decided to go with a design I've used before.  Instead of wasting time and money on stone tips that will break, bone tips that will break and wear down, or metal tips which look out of place, I fill the last node with sand, and then cover it with some thick leather, and use hemp and super glue to secure it tightly to the shaft.  This protects the shaft from breaking or splitting, and adds enough weight to make the dart behave properly, but now I don't have to worry about breaking or losing tips.  Of course you don't get as much of a satisfying stick into the target, but I do a lot of roving aiming at trees and bushes and other targets that don't stick anyway, so I don't mind.



And that's that.  It cost about 3 dollars in materials for the one dart, which isn't too bad.  I'm a little worried this reed is too thin-walled.  It's the same overall thickness as the reeds I collect from the roadsides around here, but the walls on my reeds are about twice as thick.  So, we'll see if it breaks the first time out.  If not, I think she'll be a pretty little flier as she's extremely light weight.

Apologies for the incredibly low-quality iPod photos.

Nice!
Added to the OPW Index  
Greetings,
Mauro.

EDIT: wait you chew sinew AND have an iPod? poseur  

It does not matter, both are fascinating on a person.
Greetings,
Mauro.

Chewing sinew is better than hammering it because your spittle makes it softer to handle (believe me); I didn't know about hide glue but hey, it has to improve one's spittle effect!
Thanks Dan,
Mauro.

EDIT: just to make an example, never tried to tie something with a wet rope? the knot will be harder once the rope dries. And sinew works in the same manner 

I had some time to kill so I made another of these using my thick-walled reed/bamboo that grows so abundantly on North Carolina's highways and biways.  It looks pretty much identical to the other except that it took a slight curve while it dried (I've not yet mastered the art of drying wood):



I also decided that since the leather scraps I had were thinner than my usual ones that I'd use two layers on the tip:



I had to chew the sinew again - thank god for mouthwash.  One thing that I do find interesting is that I harvested these reeds months ago, and they still have this green coloration to them.  Does that ever fade away?  I wonder if I used an outside source of heat like a heat gun if that would make any difference.  Either way, these things are remarkably stout for how narrow they are.  This one is a pretty hefty dart, as wide as my ring finger and about six feet long.  I think it'll be a fun roving toy.

Morphy wrote on Apr 18^th, 2012 at 11:28pm:


Actually, when I got them I was concerned by how thin-walled they were.  My first thought was "These probably aren't robust enough."  But then I decided to try them.  Now, having tried one, I think its failure came because it was significantly cracked in that node prior to the throws.  This was sort of evidenced by the fact that I threw it as a 4.5 foot dart, ricocheting it off pine trees several times with no damage.  I bet with one that doesn't have cracks at all, it will hold up even hitting solid objects.  They're not darts I would trust my life to, but as a cheap, easy source of dart shafts for roving and target practice, I think they'll work.  Tomorrow, I'm going to be making another one from the craft store reeds, and I'll make sure it's solid before I make it.  I'll put it through its paces and let you guys know if it holds up.

The reason I fell back on the craft store reeds (other than cheapness and ease of obtaining them) is because I'm teaching an atlatl class in a couple of weeks and I don't have enough primitive darts for a class, so I have to make a bunch of them.  The craft store reeds seemed like a good source for darts I wouldn't care about that students could chuck with reckless abandon.

I usually do just hold them in my hands, and it feels very cool and tribal to do it that way, but I wouldn't mind having a quiver that ended up settling on the hip more or less.  It would make removing darts easy, and it would keep my hands free for other things if I needed them to do something else while roving through the woods.

Bark quivers are great, and we have a lot of poplar here, and it's more or less the season for basketmaking I think.  However, getting a strip long enough for a dart quiver is not easy.  I think I'd be better off weaving it from vines.