I finally finished my bird bolos (I can't even remember when I started them. They'be been floating around in the bottom of my braiding bag for a long time)



They are made from a small steel ring in the center. The lines are each made from 8 strands of mason line split into 2 groups of 4 (each line is a 4-strand braid).



The weights are made from wire rings "moused" with mason line connect the weights to the lines. The weights themselves are .68 caliber lead rifle balls, covered with monkey fist knots made from flat paracord.



I finished the lines just above the weights by wrapping them with flat waxed nylon thread I use instead of artificial sinew. Then I toasted them with a lighter to melt the wax together.

I haven't thrown them yet. First, all the birds gone south. There's too much snow. Second, it's usually been around 0 here. Too darn cold. I can honestly say after tying 6 successful monkey fist knots and I have no idea how many failures, I can thoroughly detest having to tie it. Maybe it's easier if there is no weight inside, or if you are making a larger knot, but it was kind of a royal pain in the...place where politicians keep their heads.

Looks nice!

If you don't like the monkey fist you could try "turks head" balls. I have tied several small ones as toys out of scrap thread and I personally consider them way easier to make. However I have no idea how they behave with a weight inside...

Topic added to the Index.
Nice bolas!
Greetings,
Mauro.

I like the way it looks with practice yiu should be able to take game with it i hace taken turkeys with mine it took me a lot of throwing to take one and mine are a bout 8 feet end to end can get hung up easy in brush

It took me many trys to do so and had every thing work out same with the first deer i took with a atlatl more luck than skill but when you do it it make you want to do it more so try harder
And the skills will come with the bolo most people give up because the dont know how to throw them they hold the center and throw but you need to hold a weight and the center and throw the weight makes the other open up

The work is beautiful. There are a lot of rabbits nearby. I've been itching to use my new hunting/throwing stick. Should probably throw in a bolo or two as well. Using lead weights is a good idea. Nice work.

squirrelslinger wrote on Jan 25^th, 2013 at 11:12am:


You're not looking hard enough... 

Once again, very impressive work, Kjev!