Atlatl, an interesting alternative to bow.
Sometimes it's good to try something new, find a new
hobby, because it forces the mind to work and often allows us to see things
that we haven't noticed before. One of such unusual hobbies may be throwing
javelins using an atlatl, which I will tell you about.
But first, I will describe to you how my adventure
with atlatls began. I have long been interested in historical ranged weapons.
First, I made and threw boomerangs, but I had a problem with them, because
there are no large meadows and fields in my area, and the thrown boomerang,
because it twisted in flight, often hit trees and got destroyed. Then I
switched to bows. The bow is quite difficult to make, you have to choose the
right wood, dry it well, and planing the bow and adjusting the strength of its arms
takes many hours. However, after several failed attempts, I managed to make a
good bow, put a string on it, and then I discovered the problem. The bow shot
very well, but the arrows were a problem. Purchased arrows often flew
crookedly, and home-made ones damaged the surface of the bow or my hand. I read
about it and learned that in order to use the full potential of the bow, the
arrow must be matched to it very precisely. It must be very straight, have the
right flexibility and even the right arrangement of grain so that it does not
break when hitting the target. This was very troublesome for me, because I just
wanted to go out and shoot with a bow I made myself, and not spend a lot of
time constructing measuring devices and checking arrows.
Then I remembered reading about prehistoric weapons
that cavemen used to hunt mammoths. I read more about it and found that it was
called an atlatl. It is a name borrowed from the language of the Aztec Indians,
because they used it the longest, until the Spanish conquest of America. In
fact, the atlatl is a stick with a hook on one end to which a javelin is
hooked, and then the javelin is thrown using the atlatl as an extension of the
arm. This gives a very interesting effect, because the throwing force is much
greater and the energy is more concentrated, which gives greater range and
accuracy. If a javelin thrown with one hand alone would fly, for example, 10
meters, an atlatl thrown with the same force would fly 25 meters, while aiming
would be easier. Of course, I designed my atlatls in my own way and added
various decorations to them. However, the most important advantage of the
atlatl over the bow are the javelins used with it. Namely, an atlatl javelin
can be made of an ordinary stick, or it can be very crooked, because it is much
heavier than arrows and is not carried by the wind, and it does not have to
miss the bow during the shot, so it does not have to be flexible to match its
strength. In fact, regular sticks 1-1.5 m long are the perfect shape for atlatl
javelins because they are usually thinner on one side and thicker on the other,
which causes them to vibrate, which absorbs vector energy and the javelin flies
straight. It may sound complicated, but in practice it is very simple, the
javelin should simply fly with its thick end forward.
Therefore, if you would like to have an unusual hobby
or are looking for an alternative to a bow, I can highly recommend the atlatl,
because it is easy to learn how to throw it, you do not need to have any
special knowledge, anyone can use it, but learning to hit the target well
requires much more. training than with a bow, and javelins are much more
universal than arrows.
After many attempts, I managed to design and make an atlatl that is nice because it has the shape of a lily, and very good to use because the javelin has three attachment points, making it very stable. If you want to buy one, you can choose the type of handle and the color of the painted petals.
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