lobohunter my dart is 9 1/2 inches from nock to the insert (yeah i put the old insert in it). It is a 2315 arrow with a 125 grain head. It is a little short but it works good for a lawn dart. How much would you estamate that the lead you poured in there weights? I know my dart is short but i am trying to make a cestrophendon/sling combo so i can shoot both stone and dart from the same sling. Would be cool to for bow season when those pesky squirrels come close. I could just grab a dart a sling it at them.

Ours in Arkansas runs from september 1 to Feburay 15.

Well i don't think you in-laws will like the price. A 3 day nonresident liscense is $100, 5 day is $125. If your in the Mtn. Home area around then and we don't have three foot of ice, tell me.

I see I'm returning to this forum just in time to bring this thread back on topic.

I've completed braiding my Kestros sling based on a preliminary design that I thought was effective as well as fulfilling the ancient descriptions and I made a number of Kestros during the last year to try. I had every intention of trying them out over the weekend and reporting to you all, but alas, life got in the way once again.

Rest assured, I'll have photos and a report very, very soon. I just wanted everyone to know that I've not evaporated. yours, Dan

Here's a preliminary report. I don't have a photograph of the sling, my stepson borrowed my camera before I remembered I needed to take the picture. I didn't go to the soccer field to try some ranging. I just did some easy throws in the front yard to get a feel for the rig. The top one was easy to toss, probably because of its weight. The bottom one always acted a little odd. The middle one performed the best overall, which I find encouraging since I made a series of kestros with various weights and lengths. But, further testing is needed.



The kestros (and sling) are made from my interpretation of the Livius description with the help of history of technology professor Vern Foley. The points were turned on a lathe from steel with the intent that they are reasonable renditions of forged points of the era.

Overall:
Top = 37.8 cm, 116 g
Middle = 37.8 cm, 65 g
Bottom = 31.9 cm, 43 g

Points:
Top = 14.8 cm
Middle = 12.8 cm
Bottom = 7.2 cm

Once I get some more photos, tests and data like their center of gravity, I'll make a permanent webpage.  Dan

Good cestros, Dan!! It´s a very fine work. I like these iron points, one half point and the other half tube as Livius said. Also the total lenght is right, and the wooden fins, more or less at the middle of the shaft (I suppose that this "middle" of Livius means not near the end to place the end into the loop of the sling) . Only, if you  allow me the comment, the lenght of the iron is shorter than the one described in the texts, that would be about 15 cm (two palms) and the shaft would be about 22,5 cm.
But acordding to my experiences and designes, your design also works better than the one describe by Livius.

I got my camera back, so maybe tomorrow I can get a sling photo up.

Johnny, I have a shop downstairs with a metal lathe to cut the points...

...and a mill to cut the slots for the fletches, Mithras. Glue does the rest.

Hondero, Yes, making sense of poor description and the ancient units of measurement is quite a task. The worst is the 'palm' which can be 3" to 7" depending on where and when the speaker is.  I also figure that the idea of precision measurement was not something ancient people thought much about. So, I add the word 'approximately' in front of every measurement.  I could write a short paper on translating the Livius article. I'm sure you could too.

More soon, Dan

Why the wooden fins? Is it a traditional thing, or is it just they look nice? I would think that the wood fins would break very easily during the wear and tear that the darts take.