[Lisa]

Hi,
I'm going to be making an appointment at Bell Forest products in Ishpeming pretty quick to get some exotic wood blanks. They are letting people in by appointment only, but at least i can go see the pieces for myself.
I was wondering what size blanks would be a decent size. They have some bowl turning blanks 4x4x2 on up. The also have a box of exotic wood pieces, fifteen pounds for $35, so I was planning on getting one of those and trying to learn now to laminate small pieces together.

So what is a good size of blank to start with for a standard sized slingshot?

Many of the templates don't have measurements, you just resize as you'd like and print out the page. I'm using an iPad mini and don't currently have a printer, so I'm eyeballing them.

I'm guessing most are 5" tall or less?

What is a decent thickness that would give me room to make a thicker palm swell if I want to?

I didn't find one, but I was wondering if there was a thread or chart that mentions wood that is superior to use for slingshots, or a Janka hardness or density number i should be looking for?

Thanks, Lisa

 

[Ibojoe]

Just ran into a wood store myself. For board cuts pick wood that is heavy and dense. I like 4”x5” the cut out between the forks makes a nice palm swell. Be sure to show us what you get.

 

[flipgun]

Any piece the size of your hand will do. Thick is good too.

 

[Tree Man]

In the past I've done a screen shot of the template I wanted on my iPad, and then zoomed in or out to the desired size . then i physically traced with a pencil and paper (gently) over the iPad screen. Crude, but effective when you don't have a printer.
Be sure to take lots of progress pics

 

[wombat]

You might want to take a look here if you're thinking of making a board cut. http://kookaburrakatties.blogspot.com/p/streng.html

 

[Lisa]

You might want to take a look here if you're thinking of making a board cut. http://kookaburrakatties.blogspot.com/p/streng.html

Thank you for that interesting info. The finished ss looks nice with the angled grain. As I was reading, I thought it was going to recommend laminating two or more thinner layers together, alternating vertical and horizontal grain. But as I've stated, I know nothing!

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[Pebble Shooter]

Let's do some number crunching (with a good cup of coffee, that is);

The best slingshot size really depends on the hand size involved, but a ballpark in terms of suitable dimensions for an average hand size is roughly:

- A total length of 11 to 12 cm (4.3 to 4.72 inches) for a "pinch grip" slingshot design. For a 11 cm long slingshot frame, this implies roughly a 1 inch fork height, 1 inch for the pinch grip grooves below this, and 2 to 2.5 inches for the lower grip section length.

- A total fork width of 10 cm (3.93 inches) with an inner fork width of 5 cm (1.96 inches) if it is a "pinch grip" slingshot. This is because a pinch grip width (index finger and thumb) just below the forks larger than 6 cm (2.36) tends to become uncomfortable (from my experience, standard hand size).

- A fist grip slingshot may have a larger inner fork gap, although this does usually not exceed 7 cm in most cases, including "Wrist-Rocket" designs.

- Lower placed forks are better than higher placed forks with regard to the holding hand in terms of wrist torsion effects (i.e. fatigue).

- Lower placed forks are structurally stronger (I prefer naturals with short forks for that very reason).

Chinese slingshots commonly have a total length of 11 cm (4-3 inches) and a total fork width of up to 9 cm (3.54 inches), with an inner fork gap of 4 cm (1.54 inches), and generally a fork tip width of 20 mm (0.78 inches). This is because most Chinese shooters prefer lighter band sets (0.40 to 0.50 mm thick flat band rubber) to shoot 6 to 8 mm steel ammo with straight trajectories and high accuracy in mind for competitive shooting at 10 yards (hunting is prohibited in the land of the dragon from what I have read).

Lighter draw weights also mean less shooter fatigue during extended shooting sessions - so their approach makes sense.

A maximum fork tip width up to 25 mm (0.98 inches, i.e. 1 inch) is usually sufficient, because the higher draw weights of flat bands with widths larger than that are simply not practical - unless of course the slingshot concerned has a wrist brace, or is a "starship" design with a wrist brace for "magnum" size ammo.

Bear in mind that stronger flat bands or tubes will need the appropriate structural strength in the fork area. On this note, Baltic birch plywood should not be less than 18 mm (0.70 inches) in thickness for safety reasons. Be careful with other hardwoods too from that perspective.

A metal core (stainless steel or aluminum) in a slingshot is an excellent way to solve the critical wood thickness issue - and it looks great too with its "sandwich" type layers: they take time to make, but it's worth it. Here is some inspiration from a maker based in Germany:

https://slingshot-germany.com/19-edelschleuder

In terms of wood board thicknesses (based on my numerous homemade slingshots since 2011), a wood thickness (hardwoods) of 20 (0.78 inches) to 25 mm (0.98 inches) is probably ideal for most pinch grip slingshots. Grip thickness for a fist grip slingshot seems to be best somewhere between 35 mm (1.37 inches) and 40 mm (1.57 inches): the dimensions measured when you connect the index finger and thump tips is a ballpark indication.

Well, I hope that was a large cup of coffee... . Hope this helps.

 

[Lisa]

I literally just poured myself a big mug of coffee that I just perked. Yes perked, in my old school coffee maker. Nothing better, except Swedish church coffee make with an egg, but I was too lazy to make that.

Anyhow, my next question regards hand size, which was mentioned.
What is average?
I happen to think I have big hands. Now I've never had a meet up and went plinking with friends, passing around slingshots, but I bet many of you have.
So the 5' 3" guy hands his SS to his 6' 3" buddy. Is there enough of a difference in hand sizes where the big guy and littler guy are going to not like each other's SS?
I do watch videos of what I perceive to be bigger guys shooting tiny pfs frames and they do okay. Some seem to shoot pfs almost exclusively. Do they get cramped hands faster than a big frame, or does the action of reloading give them enough of a break?
Am I right in assuming people just adapt their larger hands to different holds, or perhaps do add a wrap to bulk up a frame? Maybe simply not shoot a small frame as long?

I can palm a full twelve pack box of pop (soda to you people not from my area) I can pick one up and carry it dangling down from my fingers, not just hold it for two seconds, so I think I got big hands and a good grip. I don't have delicate baby hands like most women. I have lumberjack hands, huge meat hooks compared to any of my female friends. As a home care aide, I've actually had both men and women ask to hold their hand against mine and I always win the big hand contest with the women. Their fingertips usually hit just below my last finger joint and often men's hands have shorter fingers than mine, even if their palms are the same, so it is something I wonder if I need to adjust for.
Do I need to look for thicker working materials, be it deadwood or wood blanks, or if the differences between a large hand and small hand thinking a grip is comfy a few millimeters?
Lol, I'm over thinking this, right?
But I already typed all this so I may as well post it.
Lisa

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[Lisa]

Okay, the coffee is kicking in and I reread your post a couple times now.
The length following the contour of my right hand, from thumb tip down along the webbing and to my index fingertip is about 8" and when I touch my thumb and index tip together over a ruler, I can see 2" as an inner diameter. So the high end of your formula would probably work for me?

Thanks, Lisa
Edit for spelling
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[Tag]

Off the subject, but the first time I seen a Michigan train and how many axels it had, I wanted to start up a tire shop ‍♂ Did you ever drive one?

 

[Lisa]

Nope, buy they sure got a lot of tires. I believe the weight limit on those is 120,000 lbs? I pulled usually 48ft spread axle flatbed, a skateboard, or sometimes a 53ft drybox. I did a lot of oversize loads and had to have a police escort once to get some 62ft laminated beams through Gary Indiana on my way to Minneapolis. The beans were lashed to a steel beam for support since they hung way off The back. The highway was under construction and I realized I couldn't make the bend of the offramp I was supposed to take, as I had permits and was supposed to follow a certain route. I stopped before I scuffed them up. I had to wait a day up the road at a truck stop for new permits. I ended up being escorted through residential neighborhoods with cops blocking entire intersections. It was a cool! I felt like the President with their motorcade. People came out of their houses to see what was going on as I swung those beams using every inch of real estate I could use. That's my longest load story.
Heaviest load was live trees whose rootballs of dirt got saturated during a night rain storm along the way. I could tell by my gauges when I woke up, I was in trouble. I was now at 92,000 pounds, 12,000 lbs over limit. I had to run all kinds of county roads to avoid the state scales. That was the heaviest I accidently had to haul. I had a lot of very interesting things happen when I was trucking.
Lisa

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[Pebble Shooter]

A quick search on the web came up with this:

"The average hand length of an adult female is 6.8 inches, whereas the hand length of an adult male is 7.6 inches."

Gender

Hand Length (Average)

Hand Breadth (Width) (Average)

Circumference Of Hand (Average)

Female

6.8 inches

3.1 inches

7.0 inches

Male

7.6 inches

3.5 inches

8.6 inches

https://www.theaveragebody.com/average-hand-size/

An approach that I adopted when making board cut slingshots is to cut out the slingshot shape A-4 print glued on grey cardboard to see how that fits the hand. Although you do not have the wood thickness aspect, it generally gives you a pretty good idea as to whether your template will yield a comfortable slingshot frame or not.

Another approach is to use a piece of clay to get an idea of what you need to match your hand size.

Essentially, less grip width will require more grip thickness: thus, if a nice piece of wood board comes with a thickness of say 0.8 inches (common for Baltic birch plywood), you will most certainly have to optimize grip width to compensate for the lack of thickness - and vice versa if the wood board is thicker to start with to find a good ergonomic compromise. More thickness also means more structural strength = more safety against fork breakages, a factor that definitely needs to be considered with any slingshot made of wood.

I would also suggest scouting the web for different slingshot designs to see what others have done in terms of pinch grip and fist grip slingshots: I personally feel that the Chinese, for whom slingshot shooting really is a national sport, have a significant headway in this respect - have a look:

https://piaoyu.aliexpress.com/store/group/Metal-slingshot/2934060_511401723.html?spm=a2g0o.store_home.pcShopHead_7591491.1_0_2

It may be better to sacrifice some birch plywood board to know what dimensions work for you before using more expensive hardwoods.

By definition, it's a bit like a pair of shoes: if they're too small, they ain't gonna fit, right? (don't listen to Joe the salesman trying to convince you of the contrary). Big hands and small slingshot frames therefore generally do not match too well.

There is always some trial and error involved, which is part of the fun.

 

[Lisa]

Totally cool link! Using their picture as a guide, I'm 7 3/4" long, 3 1/2" wide and 8" circumference. So I do have grapplers, as my dad used to call my hands.
Lol, so when I'm foraging, I better go big or go home on the handle size, if I want some comfort. In just starting out, I'm sure I'll practice for a half hour or so to start.
Lisa

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[Lisa]

I was planning on ordering a cheap chinese one off of eBay with that curved pistol grip kind of style just to see if I like it, but if course we are talking a two month shipping wait. I got some cheapo wrist rocket which feels okay, but it's not very contoured, no curve, just a tube with some slight finger grooves.
Thanks again to everyone for all your great help, especially Pebble Shooter, I really appreciate it!
Lisa

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[Lisa]

My mom is 92, but she's got most of her wits about her. She's visiting with my brother and i just called to remind him to log in and play her church service for her after lunch. I told her i was fiddling with the wood she watched me forage during out walks down the driveway and discussing with internet friends about hand size in relation to slingshot size. We determined it seems like i have somewhat large hands for a woman. Without skipping a beat, she said, i always thought you had man hands by the time you were ten years old, but didn't want to say so and hurt your feelings when you were a girl. I'd tell your dad to quit saying stuff like, Lisa, use your grapplers to open this jar of pickles. But you got man hands, dear.
Lol. Thanks Mom.