Do you olduns Remember catapult's

[deny essex]

My dad was a cobbler so always had something leather around old boots off cuts etc.

[oldypigeonpopper]

3 minutes ago, deny essex said:

My dad was a cobbler so always had something leather around old boots off cuts etc.

hello, thats what my dad did on board ship to make extra money to buy more rum,!!!!!!!!!! oh from those sailors who did not drink,

Edited July 13, 2019 by oldypigeonpopper

[marsh man]

47 minutes ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

hello, oh i remember those old navel shoes, god forbid i nicked the tongue out of my dads, they were his sunday best when he went to the local pub !!!!!!!! 

Going slightly off target ( excuse the pun ) , my dad was in the navy for a good many years , after wearing those ole naval shoes that were fairly pointed they made both his small toes curl up under the his fourth toe , when he came out of the R N in the mid fifties he put up with his bent toes for a few years but in the end he had to have them both cut off , if that was now he would had most likely got a few bob in compensation but in those days for the like of us it was unheard of .

[DUNKS]

Quote

Never had the money to buy one. Always homemade. Made lots as the local bobby used to confiscate them. We used quarter inch square elastic.

 

[oldypigeonpopper]

9 minutes ago, marsh man said:

Going slightly off target ( excuse the pun ) , my dad was in the navy for a good many years , after wearing those ole naval shoes that were fairly pointed they made both his small toes curl up under the his fourth toe , when he came out of the R N in the mid fifties he put up with his bent toes for a few years but in the end he had to have them both cut off , if that was now he would had most likely got a few bob in compensation but in those days for the like of us it was unheard of .

hello, i am sure my dad joined after leaving school until demob when i was about 8 , he was stationed in Portsmouth, so many vessels he  went on, i can remember the family parties we had on their arrival home,  seems such a long time ago, cheers

[getthegat]

I can remember taking my catapult that dad made me, to Chezil Beach near Portland Bill, on a seaside day out, and at the end of the day when just about everyone else had gone home, firing pebbles at seagulls. Health and safety was not so prevalent in those days 😂

[Cosmicblue]

Oh brings back memories - and a painful one of whacking my thumb with the stone that didn't go quite as far as it should have...🤬

[martinj]

On ‎12‎/‎07‎/‎2019 at 15:14, Bobba said:

Me too. Catapaults made as described by Denny. But like others we too called throwing arrows French arrows.

The most lethal piece of kit were two bolts screwed (just)  into either end of one nut (3/8th whitworth I think) with a chemical mix in between. Chuck them down the road and they went off like mini grenades. In those days (late 50's) bomb sites were our playground. You could buy chemicals for your chemistry set from model shops and chemists and experiment. In many ways, sadly I have forgotten the powder mix formula. Probably just as well!

When I was about six or eight I went to the Chemist asking for Sulphur, Potassium Nitrate and Charcoal - he was strangely reticent but ordered the ingredients for me if I would promise not to make gun powder.

Edited July 16, 2019 by martinj

[ditchman]

im rejuvinating my old catapult....made fro a piece of cherry...and i have cut the tougue out of an old shoe...(found it outside a mosque)  ...i will post a pic up when i have finished.....

[Walker570]

We never actually put the eleastic straight to the wood, we cut small leather pieces with a hole punched which the elastic went through and bound onto itself if that makes sense.

The leathers was then bound to the forkit. Always shot with these leathers over the top.  They where shaped so as not to pull out of the binding by a small T section at the end. Made them very secure and the eleastic had less of a tendency to break.  Some kids split the arms of the forkit and bound the elastic in the slits.... not as good as the leather fittings.

Always tried to find a forkit nicely even but not a lot of spread. An inch in between was about right.  It used to get really fancy with carved handles.

Edited July 16, 2019 by Walker570

[Bobba]

57 minutes ago, martinj said:

When I was about six or eight I went to the Chemist asking for Sulphur, Potassium Nitrate and Charcoal - he was strangely reticent but ordered the ingredients for me if I would promise not to make gun powder.

Now that sounds vaguely familiar !!!

[panoma1]

23 minutes ago, ditchman said:

im rejuvinating my old catapult....made fro a piece of cherry...and i have cut the tougue out of an old shoe...(found it outside a mosque)  ...i will post a pic up when i have finished.....

A picture of a gang of Muslims chasing you? 🤕

Edited July 16, 2019 by panoma1

[mrpip]

Still got my Milbro, given to me in 1973 by my uncle for fetching 2 stone of pigeon corn every Saturday morning from local store. He used it for scaring cats away from his lofts, elastic long gone been stuck in the tool box for years. Seen them fetch silly money on flea bay.

[owdnorthener]

We used to make our own, although some kids had a milbro. The elastic came from bicycle inner tubes. The leather, who knows ? Fired pebbles picked from the river.

Never heard of French arrows .... We made Chinese arrows from a piece of dowel, with anything sharp for a point. They were thrown by a length of string. I suppose the method is similar to how the  Aborigine spears are thrown.  Its a wonder we are still around after all the daft things we did as kids.

Anyone ever make pigeon pea guns ?

[ditchman]

1 hour ago, panoma1 said:

A picture of a gang of Muslims chasing you? 🤕

with no shoes on ?...............yeah like its never goin to happen..

[fatchap]

I'm making 4 at the moment just finished casting the ally cores three are 6mm one is 10mm thick. Just planning the laminates now.

[strimmer_13]

5 hours ago, owdnorthener said:

We used to make our own, although some kids had a milbro. The elastic came from bicycle inner tubes. The leather, who knows ? Fired pebbles picked from the river.

Never heard of French arrows .... We made Chinese arrows from a piece of dowel, with anything sharp for a point. They were thrown by a length of string. I suppose the method is similar to how the  Aborigine spears are thrown.  Its a wonder we are still around after all the daft things we did as kids.

Anyone ever make pigeon pea guns ?

Think French arrors are the same as your Chinese arrows. I used to use bamboo, i good 5ft length youd chuck well over 80 yards. I used turkey feathers for flights. 

Whats a pigeon pea gun? 

[ditchman]

4 hours ago, fatchap said:

I'm making 4 at the moment just finished casting the ally cores three are 6mm one is 10mm thick. Just planning the laminates now.

christ almighty .............whens the Royal Warrent coming thro ?

[clakk]

Sounds like Norfolkstan going to be well defended if them there French lot get lippy again 

[Blackpowder]

Elastic was often rubber sewing machine belts if I remember correctly.   Used to help run a catty range for our Assc. at a small local country fair.   Many would be punters claimed past skills in catty shooting but few lived up to it.  Personally could not hit a thing with them, as other have said the Milbro thumb piece was a learning curve.

 

Blackpowder

[derbyduck]

On 12/07/2019 at 11:44, B725 said:

I used to make my own and throwing arrows. 

do you reckon its a Derbyshire thing Thowing  Arrows ?  we used to wrap lead round the point LOL it's a wonder no one got killed !

[KFC]

When my pocket money wouldn't run to a Milbro, or 3/16" & 1/4" rubber from Freddy Friday's model shop in Newport Pagnell then old bicycle inner-tube rubber on a Hazel or Ash fork worked reasonably well.

Wax gardening string to join on the sling from an old leather shoe tongue.

And summer days that never seemed to end, they were the days.

[martinj]

15 hours ago, owdnorthener said:

Anyone ever make pigeon pea guns ?

What's a pigeon pea gun?

I made pea shooters from a couple of feet of steel tube - great fun with a bag of peas, later on maple peas from Fishing tackle shops.

Re Milbro cattys, they were difficult to use, maybe a bit too small across prongs and the thumb recess restricted their use. There was nothing as good as a decent home made one.

[B725]

7 minutes ago, derbyduck said:

do you reckon its a Derbyshire thing Thowing  Arrows ?  we used to wrap lead round the point LOL it's a wonder no one got killed !

So did we, I had one fit me between the thumb and finger 8 year's old and bled like a stuck pig. 

[Penelope]

15 hours ago, panoma1 said:

A picture of a gang of Muslims chasing you? 🤕

With one hobbling.

10 hours ago, strimmer_13 said:

Think French arrors are the same as your Chinese arrows. I used to use bamboo, i good 5ft length youd chuck well over 80 yards. I used turkey feathers for flights. 

Whats a pigeon pea gun? 

We knew them as dutch arrows.