;D I made a staff sling, a rather small one, only about a 4 foot pole, and the rock holder is as big as a small normal sling, but it still works great!!.  I went into my backyard and hurled away.  I showed one of my friends and he thought it was really neat too.  Anyone else staff sling?  Actually, I think staff slinging has a 90% less chance of killing yourself, because you can't wack yourself with anything swinging. ;) So any staff-slingers?

No, but it sounds cool! Maybe someday soon I will experiment ;D

Got any pictures??  They would be fun to see.   Something I curious about - Staff slings have the pockets attached closely to the pole, with no long cords.  

Trebuchets, which seem to be big mechanical staff slings, have long ropes connecting the pocket to the pole.   This seems to give them huge mechanical advantage.  Why the difference I wonder?   Maybe just too hard to control the pocket if a staff sling had long cords.     mgreenfield

I'll try to post a picture, don't i have to upload it or something?  WEll anyways, my cords are pretty long on mine, maybe a foot.

mgreenfield,

The launching position of a trebuchet allows it to have a really long cord, which arcs over head faster than the trebuchet arm itself, for a nice ~45 degree release.  It's hard to describe.  This picture should give you an idea.  

http://www.ripcord.ws/RipcordTBT.jpg

On a staff sling, the sling will hang straight down no matter how you hold the staff.  But the trebuchet lays it flat on the ground.  This different orientation allows it to be much longer because it basically gets another 90 degrees of wind up.  

Movie of my trebuchet:

http://www.bestweb.net/~hesham/slinging/trebuchet.mpg

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Alan,

The easiest way to post pictures in the forum is to email them to me.  You can get my address by going to the members link above.  I will reply with instructions on how to embed the images in your posts.

Chris

I've got a staff-sling, but it don't work!  My rocks keep bouncing off the ground about 15 feet in front of me.  I'm gonna make the angle of my hook a bit gentler (it's about 45 degrees now) and see if that allows it to release any sooner.  It seems easier and safer than the sling, but you have less control, too -- like the difference between driving a stick and an automatic.

I have two staff slings, different lengths.  They do work well.  I don't even have a hook.  Just a flat extended piece.  And it releases at around 90 degrees or so.  It depends on the stone used.

Mines basically a sling tied to a stick!  ;D
No fancy stuff, No hooks, none of that.. it's just a stick with a sling.   It works great though.

There was an early trebuchet, consisted of an upright post, with a T bar pivoted to the top. The top of the T had ropes that were held by men; the bottom of the T had the sling and the load. When the men pulled the ropes in unison, the load went flying.

What was the name of this early trebuchet? Can I have one too?

I've only built one so far. It's lines are adout 23" long and the staff about 44". Tennis balls land about 15' infront of me but things like dry avacadio pits and stones etc. are impressive. The first avacadio pit went  some 500' much faster and flatter than I expected, cleared a chain link fence( where I lost sight of it), and went into a stand of trees(thus getting my friends neighbor's dogs barking). I've got enough to build another one the same size and a couple twice it's size.
All in all it's a great toy/weapon. It's comming with me to the medieval fair and prehaps a 6' one (if I stop typing and start carving). I'm pretty sure I'll get tired of answering questions after this ordeal, but  still might sell off some simple slings. (beer money is always a good thing :) )
Take care,
j. cooper

jcooper,
I will see you tommorow, my last day off, what length of sling do you like? I will bring you one to try. Will there be a place to throw there?
Oscar

I think I will try to build one of those [glb]staff sling catapults.[/glb]  (sorry, i'm trying out the features on this.  (The one where you pull a rope.)  I think a trebuchet would take a while to build, and pretty expensive.  And sometimes, wouldn't people pulling be more powerful than using weight?  Who knowS!  

Depends on the size of the trebuchet/catapult.  I read where some tossed 600lb rock balls, and were counterweighted with 10tons of sand.  Now THAT'S! a sling!   Also read they work better if mounted on rollers that permit some fore & aft movement when working.  Also, if the weight is hung under the beam and can swing fore & aft it helps.   These are interesting devices.  mgreenfield

I think the treb Douglas is talking about is usually called a "traction trebuchet"... We built one up at the local skihill when I was growing up and had fun throwing snowman heads around until we broke it and got tired at about the same time. 4-6 guys could plant an 18" snowball about halfway up a decent size conifer! Nowhere near the power of the big siege-engine types, but cheap and easy to move around.

SNOWBALL SLINGS!!!!!!
(why am I getting excited I don't live by snow!)
But that'd be cool :-)

Snow is great (sometimes) we don't get much at sea-level but the mountains get hammered. It makes for fun trebutchet play if it's wet enough to pack. You can obviously make great sling ammo too! No sling-snowball fights allowed though... it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye... err head?

I've had a sling snow ball fight.  As long as the snow isn't really hard (aka ice balls) it's great fun.  On impact, they just turn into a puff of white dust.  The problem is, it takes an awfully long time to make one and load it.  You need about 10 people to make it fun.

Chris

Southern England never, ever gets snow.  We get maybe an inch of watery, icy stuff once in February usually, lasting for about half a day.  And it isn't really hot in summer (except last summer, which was really great.)  It rains all the time too.  So I have never tried snow slinging.  I used to live in New York, so I know what heavy snowfall is like, but I have never been slinging with it.

Here's how I made my old staff sling:

Take one 4 or 5 foot staff, like a broom handle. Take a sling with one string being 3 feet, and the other 3 feet + about half the length of the shaft. The end of the short string is tethered to the end of the stick. Also, at that end, screw in a little metal hook. Take the long string, thread it through the metal hole, and then lay it across the rest of the shaft. Then, load the pocket. Hold the long string on the shaft, and throw like you would a lacrosse stick. Then at the end, release the long string.
Try it!