Boomerangs

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craftsman

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So, I finally got to a football field to throw my Cold Steel non-returning boomerang. Went about 45 yards first throw. I was very happy. Need to practice with it, to get my accuracy honed in.

My returning boomer was hand made from black walnut, signed and dated, so I have opted NOT to play with that. However, I do want a returning 'rang. I found http://KendallDavis.us What a great site! I found directions to make a cardboard indoor returning quad arm 'rang I made from a file folder. So (you know me ... LOL), I went to the hardware store, found a 2 ft. x 2 ft. x 3/4 in. ply, clean on both sides. Locate center. Put the paper on that and traced it - then took a wide plastic ruler I have (2 in. x 18 in.) and extended each of the four arms. Sanded it down, and now it goes about 270 degrees of arc. Need to fine tune it.
I will post pictures once I get it where I want it.

Anyone else throwing?
 
I haven't tried my hand at a boomerang since 2003 in Tasmania. We had bought a few and went to a park to try them out. After a few non returning throws my buddy flings one and promptly hit a cop car. Needless to say the good Officer asked us Yanks to not be throwing them any more. He was nice enough though and offered up some advice on them. Sadly I have forgotten what was said, but there is an art to is that I just never got down.
 
I never understood the concept. Why not just throw a rock? Or use a slingshot? I'm not saying a boomerang is useless, just that it's use isn't readily apparent to me. I have neither the time nor the inclination to research and change that.
 
The thing I don't understand is, in the first place, how does a thrown object hit something with enough force to cause significant damage or death, and still have enough energy to return to the person who threw it? Second, how does the impact of the boomerang against a target not throw it off it's course back to me, anyway, even if it still had enough energy to make the trip back to me?

The science behind it is very interesting, at least. Someone should ask Destin from the SmarterEveryDay channel to make a video on boomerangs.
 
The way I understand it, throwing sticks for hunting do not return

Dan
 
how does a thrown object hit something with enough force to cause significant damage or death, and still have enough energy to return to the person who threw it
Click to expand...

They don't and not intended to. Ignore TV/Movie boomerang use. They're throwing sticks for taking small game and the particular type happens to be able to be thrown so the return, but you don't throw them to return when you're after game.
 
The most a boomerang can do for hunting would be to flush birds into a capture net. A Native American rabbit stick is for hunting. The design is for increased range, not returning. I have made about 50 or so of all shapes and sizes but can no longer throw them. The enjoyment of making and throwing boomerangs is addictive.
 
hso said:
They're throwing sticks for taking small game and the particular type happens to be able to be thrown so the return, but you don't throw them to return when you're after game.
Click to expand...

It depends. If throwing them at airbone targets (like delicious, nutritious giant bats) the Australian Aborigines seem to throw them to return (but not to catch). Probably saves a lot of walking.


Warning: Bats shuffling off their mortal coil.
 
I images of Egyptian’s hunting with throwing sticks indicate to me that the stick was not expected to return.

http://www.heritage-images.com/Preview/PreviewPage.aspx?id=1152475

Lots of images of Egyptian throwing sticks.

http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/life/explore/stick.html

http://web.prm.ox.ac.uk/weapons/index.php/tour-by-region/oceania/africa/arms-and-armour-africa-7/

http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/weapons.htm

I think the boomerang was more fun than anything else. I had one and when it came back, it was fun. When it did not, it was not so much fun.
 
For those interested, I have many patterns for boomerangs. The easiest and most fun to throw and catch is the one shaped like the Greek letter omega. I made mine with 3/16 " cabinet grade plywood. I can post pics once I learn how.
 
If throwing them at airbone targets (like delicious, nutritious giant bats) the Australian Aborigines seem to throw them to return (but not to catch). Probably saves a lot of walking.
Click to expand...

The aerodynamics of the flattened hunting boomerang thrown at the bats will by default cause them to follow a returning path once it reaches the top of the arc, but unlike "returning boomerangs" designed to come back to the thrower these simply return towards the thrower instead of to them. Australian aboriginal boomerangs were the most advanced throwing sticks (possibly because they never developed bows and arrows) and evolved to the curved top/flat bottom we see in modern wings that gives it lift, greater aloft time, greater range, greater sustained energy/momentum. Since that joined wing will follow a returning path if thrown upward at a particular angle it is pretty convenient, but the hunting boomerang isn't optimized for that unlike the lighter true returning boomerangs.
 
Last edited:
cyberdan said:
For those interested, I have many patterns for boomerangs. The easiest and most fun to throw and catch is the one shaped like the Greek letter omega. I made mine with 3/16 " cabinet grade plywood. I can post pics once I learn how.
Click to expand...
Here you go:
1. Save picture to desktop
2. Open THR thread
3. Reply by clicking "Go Advanced"
4. At the top of the message box, click the paperclip icon. A window will open labeled "Manage Attachments"
5. In the new window, click the "Choose File" button in the top left.
6. Navigate to where you saved your picture (desktop, in this case), and double-click it.
7. Click "Upload" to the right.
Click to expand...
 
Point of clarity - "boomerang" is a misprounciation of one Australian aboriginal tribe's name for a throwing stick.

There are two styles - the world reknown returning boomerang (used as a toy, and in competitions), which was developed to be thrown over a flock of birds on water, or on land. They see the shadow of it overhead, mistake it for a hawk or other raptor, and the flock takes to the air.

The other type (non-returning, AKA, Throwing stick, or Killing Boomerang), like the Cold Steel UHMW-PE Boomerang - is then thrown into the flock as it begins to take flight. This either directly kills birds, or cripples them so that the hunter can come over and dispatch them.

Non-returning boomerangs or hunting sticks (as others have mentioned) have been used for millenium, by knocking out, or breaking legs, ribs, necks, crushing skulls, etc. to take small and sometimes larger game.
 
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