My first Atlatl and Dart

[bjrogg]

I had a beautiful Red Osier Shoot over 5' long. I always wanted one of these. Piece of scrap Red Osier for Atlatl. I cut a small point off a white tail shed for the hook, glued it and wrapped it on with sinew. My Red Osier shoot for main shaft with whole turkey tail feathers for fletching sinew wrapped. Red Osier fore shaft with trade point I whipped up from a old saw blade. Bjrogg markings. Only cast it once in the shop without the trade point. I think it'll work but it's just to cold, windy and nasty to go outside and try it. Here's what I got, thanks for looking. Of course I will make a stone point after I play with this for a while.

[bjrogg]

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[Ed Brooks]

Nice set up, they can be fun to toss around. how does it fly? Ed

[bjrogg]

Not going to cast it in the shop with point on to nasty outside. I'll up date you as soon as I can. I'm sure it'll take a little getting use to.
Bjrogg

[selfbow joe]

Nice work

[bjrogg]

Thanks Joe,
Ed it's still pretty nasty out but I cast this one about 25 yards it will definitely work and better than I thought even. I think I'll get the hang of it. It's kind like casting a fishing pole, but different. We do need a Atlatl emowhateveryoucallthem these tech guys are slipping.
Bjrogg

[Patches]

Looks pretty good. Yep, it just takes practice to get accurate. Lots and lots of practice!!

Neal

[clewis]

Thats deadly, great job!

[chamookman]

I'd say it's ready for a Wooly Mammoth to Me ! Bob

[Aaron H]

Classic Bjrogg markings  .
You might want to end up putting on some finger loops on your thrower, helps to keep it securely in hand.

[DC]

Does anyone have a rough idea of the speed of these things? L know it depends on the arm throwing it but just a ballpark figure would be nice.

[bjrogg]

DC I'm sure it depends greatly on person casting it but I believe I've heard over 100mph. My dart weighs about 1635 grains. I'm sure someone could figure the foot lbs. but I'm thinking that would penetrate pretty good.
Thanks Aaron I almost didn't paint my Classic Bjrogg markings but I figured if I didn't it would stab in the ground and without sealer just end up with dirt embedded in it. I really just made this Atlatl to play around with and learn from. It's still extremely windy out and I haven't really got it out on a big lawn to try it but I did learn I needed to choke up on the handle a bit. It's a little longer than it should be.
Thanks Patches and Clewis
Bob my eyes are peeled for those woolly mammoths 🐘 Dang still no Atlatl emoji
Bjrogg

[clewis]

Being your first dart did you have any trouble drilling the slot for the forshaft and what method did you use? Ive tried power drills but its a good way to mess up fast and some success with stone drills but only on my larger shafts and they dont go very deep. What did work well though was a fine pair of scissors from my shaving kit and just roughed up the edges a bit. My go to method now is a piece mild steel.

[bjrogg]

Clewis like you said, I didn't go very deep and the pith was quite advantageous also. First thing I did was wrap sinew on both ends of main shaft. For fletching end I use awl on my multi-tool. For fore shaft I used electric drill for smaller diameter hole then I use the tang for handle on my rasp to finish it off. I believe I even touched up the tail end with file tang also. I like to wrap sinew first to keep it from splitting. The whole thing didn't take me as long as it would to make a tuned shoot arrow. Honestly in a survival situation it would  be way faster and easier to make and with less tools than a bow and arrows. Learning to use it we'll see.
Bjrogg

[Hawkdancer]

Looks very serviceable and well done!  The dart is real nice, could easily make meat.  Looks like it is about 2 1/2 times as long as the atlatl.  Might have to talk to you about some trade points like that.  The finger loops would be a real good idea.  You might try a thumb and forefinger grip on the dart when castling, or a dart rest.  There are a number of sites that talk about dart speed, but I think it averages about 30% of  what an arrow flies at.  Bob Berg at thunderbird atlatl.com may have some info on that, I've not had access to a chronograph to test with.  My friend, Ken Wee has a utube video, but I don't remember if it mentions speed of cast.  Accuracy can be a challenge, I can usually keep the darts in the 4 x7 foot butts, almost all the time, but I need more practice to get a group!
Good work, didn't think of making darts with the extra long shoots!
Hawkdancer