Bring on the Megafona!

Back in Nov. I decided it would be fun to try and make an atlatl, and posted this desire. Now several months later I have three atlatls completed. They are fairly crude experimental models that relied on the three bears approach to design. I made one too big, one too small and one just right, maybe. Claire and Harris worked on this project with me. Now we each have a new toy.

We made the darts and throwers out of dowels. We are having some issues with warping. The fletching feathers were glued on one at a time using thread to lash them in place until the glue set up. The kids found the turkey feathers which adds to the cool factor for them.

We learned that atlatl darts, like arrows, need to be spined properly for accurate flight. If you click on the black and white image at the bottom of the page, you'll see how the spine of the dart works.

The two smaller throwers have a hole that the dart fits into. The larger thrower has a pin that fits a hole in the back of the dart. I see ancient people used both techniques.