Hello,

I made my first two atlatls today. So far I only have one dart, though, and it is short, stiff, and bent. In the near future I hope to make more (and better) darts.

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I got some 4' by 3/8" dowels at the hardware store the other day, and with simple duct-tape fletching they made great practice darts. Sadly there were no 6' by 1/2" dowels, so I am splicing some 4' and 2' sections together.

I used this site for reference: http://www.thudscave.com/npaa/darts/index.htm.

Here's a picture of the 4' darts.

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6' darts.

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Looks good!  There's some guys here who have worked with atlatls before.  I'm not one of them.  I've wanted to for a while but never found the time.

I recently made my first carved atlatl from a piece of vine maple.

Joe - I definitely recommend trying out an atlatl. If you use milled wood dowels for your darts and duct tape for your fletching, it is quite easy (and pretty cheap). For the atlatl, I started with this design (http://www.thudscave.com/npaa/designs/highplains.htm), which was quite simple and easy to make.

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A larger carved atlatl for 6' darts.

I really like the vine maple for carved atlatls, as it has a soft center that makes it really easy to carve the loading groove.

Soon, I will try making some 5' darts. I have 4' dowels, on which I will put 1' foreshafts.

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24" oak atlatl based on the basketmaker design. I'm contemplating if I'm going to add finger straps / loops or not.

Since the spur wasn't tall enough, I glued and whipped a piece of carved scrap wood on to make it taller.

I purposely got a piece of wood with a curve to it, but it felt a bit wrong searching the hardware store for the most warped and curved piece of wood...

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We used to have a regular here that was quite skilled with atlatls. Paleoarts I believe. They are great weapons. Hits very hard and much easier to be accurate with than a sling.

I love atlatls for the same reason I like slings.  They can easily be made with minimal tools and can be deadly.  I am trying to improve my accuracy but don't have the best place to practice so its kind of hard to get out and practice but I love Basketmaker styles and really prefer willow darts.  I have never made a dowel dart with a scarf joint but I think that will be my next attempt. Love the pics Eino.

Same. I got into slinging and atlatl due to its simplicity.


mountainman wrote on Nov 7^th, 2023 at 1:14pm:

I love Basketmaker styles and really prefer willow darts

Do you have any pictures of your atlatls?

Scarf joint dowel darts work well, although make sure that you get good dowels. I've had two darts break so far due to bad grain patterns in the wood.


mountainman wrote on Nov 7^th, 2023 at 1:14pm:

Love the pics Eino

;D

Eino wrote on Oct 2^nd, 2023 at 9:55am:

Joe - I definitely recommend trying out an atlatl.

I will at some point.  I just need to pick one of these summers and make it a priority.  I really want to try out a bolas too.  That's another one I love seeing videos on, but have never done it.

Those vine maple atlatls are beautiful. :thumb:

Thank you! ;D

I also need to try bolas. They seem like they'd be pretty fun.

My latest atlatl, made of a strip of oak, cotton string, and wood glue. This one was basically free, as it is was scrapwood.

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