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Making a kylie/rabbit stick (Read 901 times)

IronGoober Interfector Viris Spurii Offline ...and now, No. 1, the larch... Posts: 1885 California Gender:	Making a kylie/rabbit stick Sep 28^th, 2025 at 9:21pm Guys... these are so fun. Put together a video about how simple it can be. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riEF1pVbOEw Edit: The third throw in this video is the stick made in the first video, but tuned. https://youtu.be/yUhmMfWPZK4
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Re: Making a kylie/rabbit stick
Reply #1 - Sep 29^th, 2025 at 3:14am

IronGoober wrote on Sep 28^th, 2025 at 9:21pm:

Guys... these are so fun.

Oooo, interesting video! Good job, especially considering it only took about two hours to make!
When I was a kid, I was interested in boomerangs and made something similar, but mostly out of plywood. I remember the blade's cross-section was supposed to resemble the shape of an airplane wing. And now I found this picture.
I believe that besides the shape/material of the "projectile," there's another important factor—throwing technique.
For example, the "Throwsticks Channel" has a couple of videos describing technique and factors that influence flight.

Airfoils.jpg (14 KB | 67 )

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RhonanTennenbrook

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Re: Making a kylie/rabbit stick
Reply #2 - Sep 29^th, 2025 at 8:11am

This is fantastic, Goob!

It's actually an exciting discovery to me. I have all of the tools and resources available, except for free time.
I'm definitely gonna try and make one of these at some point.

I'm wondering. Have you had any full failures while making your first throwsticks? I may not have the opportunity for a lot of trial-and-error.

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IronGoober

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Re: Making a kylie/rabbit stick
Reply #3 - Sep 29^th, 2025 at 10:44am

RhonanTennenbrook wrote on Sep 29^th, 2025 at 8:11am:

I'm wondering. Have you had any full failures while making your first throwsticks? I may not have the opportunity for a lot of trial-and-error.

I haven't had a single stick that didn't fly decently well after adjustment. The second stick I ever made had the problem of first having lift in the opposite direction (would have worked well as a left handed stick), but I just played around with removing material, the angles of attack of the underside mostly, and got it to then do the opposite and had too much lift in the correct direction (it would soar into the sky when thrown). So then I had to reduce the angles of attack. I did this by heat bending (with a heatgun). It flies nicely now. That was the closest to a failure that I've had. Still only took a few hours to figure out.

I will say, you won't find a better kylie than the ones from throwsticks.com. Ben is just a master of the craft. And they are just about indestructible.

Starting with the underside on a single plane is probably the best way to simplify the process.

John R.

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FloatingFlint Junior Member Offline Slinging Rocks! Posts: 66 Germany Gender:	Re: Making a kylie/rabbit stick Reply #4 - Sep 29^th, 2025 at 10:46am A year ago I have built a boomerang that worked and since then I wanted to make a rabbit stick too. After watching your video I ask myself why I didn´t build it yet .
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RhonanTennenbrook Descens Offline Slinging Rocks! Posts: 124	Re: Making a kylie/rabbit stick Reply #5 - Sep 30^th, 2025 at 7:48am As I understand it, starting off, the underside of the stick should be as straight as possible, bar future adjustments? I'm trying to pause the video to see how straight the undersides of your sticks are. Have you tried throwing the ones with too much lift at an angle, to see whether they'll return to you?
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IronGoober Interfector Viris Spurii Offline ...and now, No. 1, the larch... Posts: 1885 California Gender:	Re: Making a kylie/rabbit stick Reply #6 - Sep 30^th, 2025 at 10:59am Correct. Flat bottom to start. As close as you can eyeball it is sufficient. But it's good to pay attention to, because minor twists change the angle of attack of the wings affecting lift. The thought occurred to me, but I didn't try it. I do throw them vertically to see how much lift they have. It's a useful test.
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joe_meadmaker Slinging.org Administrator Offline Slinging Ice is Cool! Posts: 3732 PA, USA	Re: Making a kylie/rabbit stick Reply #7 - Sep 30^th, 2025 at 9:33pm Awesome video man!
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Re: Making a kylie/rabbit stick
Reply #8 - Dec 23^rd, 2025 at 12:46pm

I made my first rabbit sticks. The large one is 370 gramms, the smaller ones are 185 and 165 gramms.
I trimmed the large one to 550 g and tested it. The distance I got was about 65 m. Then I trimmed it down to 370 gramms and now I can get it to 70 meters. But the flightpath curves to the right now Sad

. I was more happy with it when it was heavier but flew straighter.
With the smallest one I got a little over 70 meters and with the middle one I got 80 meters.
So the one that I spent the least time on, flew the furtherst.

The branch that I used for the large one I cut in the middle lengthwise and gave the other half to a left handed friend and we agreed on a challenge. Whos rabbit stick will go further. But his is still in progress. We will see.

https://youtu.be/kXkC0BlrXaY

rabbitsticks_klein.jpg (310 KB | 9 )

... and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had ... (1.Samuel 17,40)

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CrazyBrave333 Descens Offline Slinging Rocks! Posts: 227 Australia Gender:	Re: Making a kylie/rabbit stick Reply #9 - Dec 23^rd, 2025 at 6:05pm They are beautiful!!! Well done!
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joe_meadmaker Slinging.org Administrator Offline Slinging Ice is Cool! Posts: 3732 PA, USA	Re: Making a kylie/rabbit stick Reply #10 - Dec 23^rd, 2025 at 11:10pm Nice! Those throws early in the 2 minute range looks great! I'm assuming that was the 550g weight. Good job! FloatingFlint wrote on Dec 23^rd, 2025 at 12:46pm: gave the other half to a left handed friend and we agreed on a challenge. Whos rabbit stick will go further. I can't wait to see the results of that.
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Kick past-moderator Offline Posts: 4481 Finland	Re: Making a kylie/rabbit stick Reply #11 - Dec 29^th, 2025 at 2:16pm I still love my "broomstick and some hex nuts" throwing sticks, but I should really make a proper kylie. https://youtu.be/1zqO9HjN14w
Back to top	You are a great guy Kick but also slightly scary at times. - Morphy "Nothing matters, but it’s perhaps more comfortable to keep calm and not interfere with other people." - H.P. Lovecraft, in a letter to Frank Belknap Long, 7 October, 1923 IP Logged

IronGoober

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Re: Making a kylie/rabbit stick
Reply #12 - Jan 18^th, 2026 at 11:14pm

@FloatingFlint Whoa!! I just saw this. Those are beautiful! I like the colors.

What wood are they?

I left a comment on the video. I'm also hoping to see your results on whose stick goes farther.

If you are having the stick go too far to the right, try bending the stick downward (tips toward the flat side), i.e. adding anhedral. I'm pretty sure that this helps combat the tendency to turn to the right as gyroscopic precession kicks in. Adding anhedral also seems to decrease lift, so you might have to twist the wingtips to add some angle of attack to balance it out.

In other news. Here is a video of me throwing my best 3 sticks, all coastal live oak (native to CA). The first two are about 360g and the last is the one that I made in the first video in this post (tuned up a bit) and it is 320g.
My best stick I've gotten to 150m and my second best, about 135m.

https://youtu.be/yUhmMfWPZK4

John R.

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RhonanTennenbrook Descens Offline Slinging Rocks! Posts: 124	Re: Making a kylie/rabbit stick Reply #13 - Jan 19^th, 2026 at 2:43am Ohhh... Whoa... Dude, It just keeps going.
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RhonanTennenbrook Descens Offline Slinging Rocks! Posts: 124	Re: Making a kylie/rabbit stick Reply #14 - Jan 19^th, 2026 at 6:33am I love the arc they make as they fly. Especially the second throw. It starts high and to the right, but you angled it such that it returned to the center. I can see them just stop spinning mid-air. Is this something that happens to the commercial Throwsticks? I have to make one of these for myself.
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