Papua New Guinea Spearthrower, made from 1 piece of wood.
Material:
Wood, 21 1/4" x 2 1/4" x 3/4"
Construction:
- Cut out the handle and peg ends as shows. It may be easier to do it in 2 steps for each end - for the handle end, 7" from the end cut down 1 1/2", then go straight out to the end. Cut 1 1/2" from the resulting block and taper it to the same place.
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- Cut the notch for the groove. Starting 1/2" from the peg end, cut down 1/4" and slant it up to the guide.
- Carve out the groove. Go at least 3/8" wide and 1/4" deep, slanting up to the edge of the guide.
- Make the handle round.
- Round off the bottom.
- Round off the peg end.
- Round off all edges and sand smooth.
There are two different ways to throw with a Papua New Guinea style. I've described the methods here.
Papua New Guinea Spearthrower, made from 1 piece of wood. This is based on actual measurements.
Material:
Wood, 30 1/2" x 3" x 3/4"
Construction:
- Cut out the handle end as shown.
- Cut out the peg end as shown.
- Carefully thin the board. 8" from the handle end, it should still be 3/4" wide; in the next 2", it should taper down to 1/2"; and then down to 3/8" thick in the middle. 7" from the peg end, it should still be 3/4"; in the next 2" it should taper down to 1/2"; then down to 3/8" thick in the middle.
- Carefully thin the dart guide. It should be about 1/16" thick at the top.
- Carve out the groove. Starting 3/4" from the peg end, go down 1/4", out to the edges of the board. Continue it to the start of the dart guide.
- Make the handle round.
- Round off the bottom.
- Round off the peg end and the handle end.
- Round off all edges and sand smooth.
There are two different ways to throw with a Papua New Guinea style. I've described the methods here.
Papua New Guinea Spearthrower, made from wood and bamboo. Used by the Sepik people.
Material:
Bamboo, 3/4" diameter by 20" long
Wood, 6 1/2" x 2" x 1/2"
Artificial Sinew
Construction:
- First, make a bamboo female atlatl.
- Carve the dart guide. The shape doesn't matter -- these are carved into a number of intricate patterns. But there must be 3 places for the sinew to wrap it onto the shaft. When finished, sand it smooth.
- Make a flat area on top of the shaft where the guide will go.
- Glue the guide onto the shaft and wrap it down with sinew.
There are two different ways to throw with a Papua New Guinea style. I've described the methods here.
Papua New Guinea Spearthrower, made from wood and bamboo. Used by the Sepik people.
Material:
Bamboo, 3/4" diameter by 20" long
Wood, 5" x 2" x 3/8"
Artificial Sinew
Construction:
- First, make a bamboo female atlatl. Instead of hollowing it out all the way to the middle node, though, curve it up to the top about 5" from the node. Then cut a 3/8" wide slit down the middle to the node.
- Carve the dart guide. The shape doesn't matter -- these are carved into a number of intricate patterns. But there must be 2 places for the sinew to wrap it onto the shaft. When finished, sand it smooth.
- Put the dart guide in the slit, glue it down, and wrap it down with sinew.
This is a simple one to make, if you have bamboo lying around.
It's called a "female" atlatl because there's no peg for the dart to rest on. Don't blame me - I didn't invent the terminology.
Material:
Bamboo, 5/8" - 3/4" diameter, 18" - 24" long, node on one end.
Construction:
- The end node is the female "peg". Split the bamboo from there down to the next node and clean it out, then smooth the edges.
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