hey guys, i just remembered something about blowguns and their darts.

anyways, i remember somewhere that a blowgun made out of wood or bamboo (it's a type of grass) works best with cotton or wool backing darts (like the one that David morningstar uses)

metal and plastic (man made) pipe types work best with conical backed dart

i remembered something about how you get less power from a metal /plastic pipe shooting a fiber backed dart rather then cone, but with a wooden pipe with a cone you have less accuracy from the dart.

and,

fiber backed darts have more accuracy while cone darts are easier to make

note: the source i got this from was written in bad English and isn't the top blowgunning site (found it on like the 13th page looking or something) and therefor if this is wrong then don't blame me for the bad source. but if this is right...

Hmmmmmmmmm . . . .

Good to know. Haven't started a blowgun yet, but I DO have some bamboo chopsticks from a local Thai Restaurant for just such a purpose.

K'Jev
8-)

Chopsticks are probably a bit hefty unless you split them down. I use skewers that are 1/8th inch round by 11 inches long and I wouldnt want to use anything heavier than that. I have used thinner darts and they worked fine as well.

These are about 8" long by 1/8" thick, and round. More like bamboo skewers. Which I also seem to recall having stashed away somewhere . . . .

K'Jev
8-)

This is a small blowgun from South America (Ecuador?) which I got quite a number of years ago. You can see that the darts are like the skewers David Morningstar mentioned, and backed with cotton.

I added the Opinel (no 8) for size comparison.

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Fundibularius wrote on Aug 21^st, 2009 at 6:59am:

This is a small blowgun from South America (Ecuador?)

Is it the photo or is that blowgun slightly flattened?

K'Jev
8-)

nice quiver for your darts

Yes, K'Jev, the blowgun is flattened (more than slightly).

The quiver and all other parts are made out of plant material, the cords are plant fibers. The little container for the cotton seems to be some squash. It was all complete when I got it, including the darts and the cotton.