Wood

[Historyman]

Me again. At some point I am going to have a go and cutting some forks fro s tree and see how I get on. I've watched a lot of videos so have a reasonable idea. But I am happy to learn from my mistakes.

However, I also have some templates for slingshots made fro a plank of oak, ash or similar. What none of the templates say is how thick the plank needs to be - half inch, three-quarter inch or what. Help please.

 

[Squirrel_slayer]

A great and satisfying part of this hobby, feels great smashing targets with something you have made from scratch!

My advice would be don’t use planks of wood at all. They would generally be referred to as board cuts to most. People do it and have a lot of success but there is also a lot of horror stories, you really want to be using a forked branch larger than the size of your frame and taking that down to a flat board and then using your template. The reason for using a forked branch is that the grain runs from the base of the handle right up to the end of each fork so the stress is spread out whereas a board cut the grain is cut and strength is lost. There have been lots of injuries caused by these and many will tell you they weaken over time with use.
As I say there are loads out there that are strong and being used reguarly, if you know what you are using and do plenty of stress testing before banding it up you should be fine, as thick as possible I would say but again, my advice would be avoid doing it and if you do test properly and wear safety glasses, not worth losing an eye in my opinion.

Just to add, if you aren’t already, join the slingshot forum, you can find loads of free to use templates on there and can easily adjust them to the size you need.

 

[Historyman]

A great and satisfying part of this hobby, feels great smashing targets with something you have made from scratch!

My advice would be don’t use planks of wood at all. They would generally be referred to as board cuts to most. People do it and have a lot of success but there is also a lot of horror stories, you really want to be using a forked branch larger than the size of your frame and taking that down to a flat board and then using your template. The reason for using a forked branch is that the grain runs from the base of the handle right up to the end of each fork so the stress is spread out whereas a board cut the grain is cut and strength is lost. There have been lots of injuries caused by these and many will tell you they weaken over time with use.
As I say there are loads out there that are strong and being used reguarly, if you know what you are using and do plenty of stress testing before banding it up you should be fine, as thick as possible I would say but again, my advice would be avoid doing it and if you do test properly and wear safety glasses, not worth losing an eye in my opinion.

Just to add, if you aren’t already, join the slingshot forum, you can find loads of free to use templates on there and can easily adjust them to the size you need.

Thank you. I think my choice of the word “plank” was misleading. There is a place about a mile and a half from where I live that sells “planks” of oak, ash, elm etc. these are not boards but cut from the tree and sawn on site.