round fork head shooter, steel wire frame

An interesting idea from a purely theoretical perspective.

The problem with wood balls mounted on steel fork prongs is that they will eventually rotate around the prongs (any glue will not last long), and possibly break at the (invisible) point of weakness inside the wood grain, with pieces of broken wood potentially flying back towards you.

The forces being applied to the wood balls by fully drawn out flat bands would concentrate on their core section - hence, aluminum would be a safer material for the balls.

However, because of the height of the fork prongs relative to the grip section, the already potentially high amount of wrist torque (fist-grip slingshot) would be accentuated by the relative weight of the wood balls due to leverage effects. A lower fork prong height would reduce wrist torque only to some extent.

Moreover, aiming via the fork prong mounted balls would not be straightforward either. Just my personal assessments with regard to your project.

I came up with a method (video link below) of attaching flat bands to cold bent stainless steel slingshots, which I deem very safe after having made various slingshots with this concept using both 6 mm and 8 mm stainless steel rod, which was cold bent into shape using a proper rod bender - have a look here:


The rod bender I used was purchased online from the US (BAC Industries):


Well worth having.

thanks for all the nice and helpful comments!
notice to myself: plastic balls are a good idea. maybe 3d printed ABS, only I don't have a printer but I know somebody who could do it for me maybe...

My drawing skills aren't that great to show how I would build it, it's just a basic sketch... but I imagine this would work well, at least for instinctive shooting in what i'm not into yet, as aiming over the bands would be hardier. the slingshot will be build ergonomically,
As I have several different commercial frames of course the slingshot will be as ergonomic and build with basic knowledge about good shooters... (lowest fork height possible, what grip will be used etc.)

btw: Rods can be bent easily with homemade DIY stuff. but yes, a bender would be the better option to make some more of them...
however safety issues are noticed and if I would commercially sell them, strong plastic should be fine as for safety.
PS: I think for the most bands the wooden (beech) balls will be sufficient. we are only talking about maybe up to 6kg per side as a maximum, and using epoxy glue should stabilzie the wood a bit at the spots with the highest tension...

here an iteration, It need a welder.


for other grip designs I could add wood on the forks.

Don't underestimate bending 8 mm steel rod.

It's actually hard work, particularly when ensuring precise bending angles. Stainless steel is "springy" (chrome content), which makes things a bit more challenging too to get things just right. Get the right tool for the job, play safe.

Been there, done that...

The reward is something sturdy that will last a slingshot shooter's lifetime, with a "magnum" capability included (16 mm ammo no problem with the right band set).

okay i had to look around for this one for a while,but it was one of those head massager things and i thought it would be a good sling amd it was except bands would eventually move side to side,lol

now it lives in a shoebox with other "experiments" that didnt quite work out,lol