Can You Please Recommend A knife

[AL...]

Cheers Chubbs Glad ye like em . Takes me a day to make one from start to finish .
Great wat to spend a rainy day and up here we have had more than a few of them lol

Cheers
AL

[Chubbs]

I'm spending an hour or so every now and then creating one in front of the fire.

Where do you the rest of the supplies from. Are there any woodwork/craft forums that you use.

Neil

[AL...]

No I dont go on any woodcraft fourms .. Might be a good idea to find one though lol
I also make bowls out of Elm Burls all done with hook knives and a surform to shape the outside of it.
Its a great way to relax and not have to think of much other than making sure ye dont lose a finger lol
Look forward to seeing your Catty when its done.

Cheers
AL

[Chubbs]

Being a complete newbie to catapult making/whittling etc etc, what sort of finish do you guys use on your finished work. Is there certain dyes for certain woods, do some just use varnish and is there any sort of rules you follow e.g. varnish and sanding back so many times before applying a topcoat.

Neil

[AL...]

I sand them down with 60 grit then move on to 100 grit and finish off with 150 grit sandpaper.
If I want to colour the wood I put it in a tub of water with 2 spoons of Instant coffee for 24 hours (gives it a bonnie dark brown colour) then let it dry for another day then light sanding again with the 150 grit then a couple of coats of Butchers block oil.
Hope thats a wee bit of a help for ye.

Cheers
AL

[Chubbs]

A wee bit of help Al, that is excellent, thanks mate.

For my first attempt I am just going with the flow, seeing what is evolving as I sand away. I have learnt one thing pretty quickly though. That is not to pick an oversize piece of birch before I start !!.

Cheers Neil

[AL...]

If ye do find a big fork of birch or any other wood for that matter you can always take off the wast with a surform or a rasp .. Thats what I use. and glad to be of help .. Look forward to seeing your work when its done.

Cheers
AL

[Chubbs]

I've seen the catapult bands on fleabay and noticed the different sizes and strengths. Which one should I be aiming for, considering its my first one.

It would have been completed ages ago but I can't stop adding detail to it. Nothing special, its just because I'm only using a knife and lots of hard work !!.

[AL...]

Go for a light to medum set of bands bud easier for praticing with The ammo you can just get some marbles for shooting at cans great for that but dont use them for hunting.
Hope thats a help

Cheers
AL

[Suba]

Hi Chubbs,

I finished my catties with fine sandpaper
and then soaked in linseed oil overnight for one of them.
The other had a few coats of polyurethane varnish.

As for the bands, a lot of people use Gold Theraband,
either single for target using marbles or 9.5mm steel balls
or doubled for hunting using 12mm lead balls for ammo.
You can calculate your bands with this here -
http://slingshotchannel.com/band_calc.html

There's lots of different sizes of bands though,
depending on draw length, and preferred shooting style,
such as Albatross! See this -
http://wn.com/1611torsten

The red bands you can see on mine are Asda fitness bands!

You can attach them like this -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRPTo...eature=related
or this -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bjSx...feature=relate
or this -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqICu...layer_embedded

Not sure about square bands or tubes though, never used them.

This is good for targets -
http://www.targetz.com/targets01.htm

A forum worth checking and joining -
http://theslingshotforum.forumotion.com/