I started out by finding a stick with a "hook" thinking that its natural shape would be fit for making an atlatl with nothing else. Then I sharpened the hook so that it would hold spears. The next two days I painted my atlatl with rape seed and olive oil. It received about 15-20 something layers. Paracord was wrapped around the one end both to keep it from splitting and to make a handle. Now it was ready.


Aaaaand it didn't work very well.
The sticks I attempted to launch slid right out of the hook. In hindsight it might have been more of a question of my throwing technique but I end up first beating a nail into the stick and sawing the rest of the hook off. To add I very tightly wrapped more paracord around the other end to keep it from splitting and for the nail not to slide back out. 

Now this worked really well. After throwing small sticks I  found a long, slender "spear" and that really showed the atlatl's power.
With my extremely limited experience with the atlatl vs my extremely limited experience with throwing javelins the atlatl enabled me to easily throw the spear longer and with more power than by hand. I also managed to get a couple of pretty stable throws though most tumbled through the air. 

All in all using an atlatl is a really awesome feeling and I can definitely see that it can compete with the bow in some aspects. Using negligible effort, resources and time (in total: a few tips from here, a stick, paracord, a nail and 3 hours time over 3 days) I made a weapon that with a little more effort could hunt down a mammoth and I will definitely work more with this.


Now the nail got bent a bit so I may tie some more rope around it to not bent it further (that will work, right?).

Now, any tips for how one would go about making a better atlatl?
My atlatl was a little under 45 cm long but should an atlatl be longer?

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Woah! Amazing! Did you video it?

No, not yet at least.

Straight stick craved to shape is what I've done. I'm no expert Bill is the man you want to talk to on this one.

I've since making this post realized that the weight of the spear bends the nail. It probably wont hold but I tied another piece of paracord around the nail so it wont bend no more.


Morphy wrote on Nov 18^th, 2020 at 6:21am:

I'm no expert Bill is the man you want to talk to on this one.

Bill Skinner I'll wager?

Yep the man himself. He knows a lot about these types of things. And he grows old corn. You can't beat that kind of knowledge.

Go to Paleoplanet, all the way at the bottom of the sub forum section is a section dedicated to Atlatls. 

There are several How to's on there.

They will range from simple to pretty complex.

Also, they have articles about making darts, which is actually the hard part. 

Here is a website with A TON of information

http://www.thudscave.com/npaa/index.htm

Thanks for the links!
Gonna read through them both.

  Because they're so easy to make the atlatl is one of the most viable survival weapons.  I'm also no expert but I've messed with them a little. 

Its simplicity and power is definitely its greatest qualities.
I haven’t used it much since but I hope to get throwing some mammoth caliber spears soon.

That being said, since making this thread and for the first time since beginning slinging I have been using a bow for the time time. Aaaaand I can definitely also see why someone would prefer the bow to both. Aiming with the eye really makes a pleasant difference.

Then again, bows can’t hunt mammoths.





Also, look at this very informative picture.

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