the sound it produces can be altered with a fair amount of control - narrower gives a higher tone, wider gives a deeper tone. longer will increase the volume (and to some extent how well it carries) scallops on the edges will give something more akin to a whistle, while a more pronounced ovid will give a longer duration "buzz" a longer cord can also allow for louder noise IF the bullrorarer has enough weight; it does require a fair amount of speed so it will start spinning under the air resistance and twist of the cord.
@@pattheplanter probably because it's the kind of thing that avant-garde musicians wouldn't have played with as a kid; it tends to be a "poor kid" type of toy since it's so simply constructed..
Brings back childhood memories! 😊 My grandmother was the babysitter for the lot of her grandkids. She gave us bits and pieces of things and showed us how to make bull roared, buzz buttons, string hand games, sling shots, vibration propellers and lots of other fun ,busy games! Kept us occupied, outside and out of her hair and her clean house ! 😅😅Of course she also taught all of us how to cook, and bake all kinds of foods and pastries ! My brother is still the king of pie crust and bakes a mean pecan pie ! 😅😅 Thanks for reminding me how fortunate I am to have had that great childhood and a willing grandmother!!
If you're in North America, tulip poplar is neat for this because you can find downed branches that are big enough to both provide the wood part and the inner bark is also strong enough to make the cord. (Stripping the bark takes some wetting for a day or so, but it's easy enough to get good long strips to peel out and separate the inner fibers.) Thus the whole thing can be made with natural materials using bushcraft or primitive methods.
These are great for scaring a bunch of Cub Scouts out camping in the woods. Get a couple of bullroarers going at once and you could work up a fine panic. 😄
Mean and insensitive. Kids have too much crap to work through. You’re associating fear with the outdoors for them, when they should be learning the peacefulness of it to help them through the fear.
@@boa1793 Good, the outdoors should be treated with fear and respect. Especially the mountains and the forest. There's a reason we tell kids scary stories about monsters in the woods. There's bears, wolves, Coyotes, deer, moose, ticks, etc. that can easily kill a child. Not to mention the possibility of starvation, dehydration or breaking a leg. Sure, walking through a national park is not going to be a big deal, but if you live near a real forest, that's a real threat.
I made one in 1977, when I was 15. I still have it and get it out occasionally. The directions I used said to taper one edge more than the other to more easily enable the spin. I made mine out of an old piece of barn siding, and just worked on it with my pocket knife until I got it right.
Airfoil shape? Not really necessary. A more or less flat shape will always have a center of pressure at roughly 1/4 of the width from the leading edge, while the center of mass, and thus the line of the string, is at 1/2. Just like a strip of paper when dropped will always spin, a narrow strip of wood tied to a string always will. It's more pleasing to make a nice shape, though.
they've been used in a lot of aboriginal societies. In some they were communication over long distances, in others they were more of a religious tool, to summon the attention of the spirits...
My eldest nephew asked what I was whittling one time. I told him " Bullroarer.". He looked at me and asked " What's it do?". I responded, " It's an aboriginal device that summons people and spirits, so, think of it like the original cell phone only it works for multiple planes of existance.". He just nodded and said, " Cool." Then watched me make it.
That era? There's no reason anyone should go out of the house without proper clothing and footwear for likely inclement weather, a bit of cordage, a flashlight (it's bright enough when it has recoil), a lighter, a tool for cutting, basic equipment and supplies to deal with major traumatic injury and a paper map of the area.
@@matthewellisor5835This is exactly me when I actually remember to pack in advance. I’m always wearing a jacket, and I never wear a jacket with less than 5 pockets.
Wall of text, only tangentially on topic. @@firstletterofthealphabet7308 And if carrying a jacket is a bit too much trouble for where I'm going, I should be packing a good bit more. Even 5-8lbs (~2250g-3650g) in a small backpack, messenger bag or something like it can save your life or the life of someone else, be they injured themselves (I've been the first on-scene at more than a few motor vehicle wrecks with injuries) or just keeping people from putting themselves at risk to try to find or help you. It would likely shock most people to learn how many in search & rescue are injured or lose life looking for someone who was "just out for an afternoon stroll" on a marked trail in a park or forest (I don't even mean hiking up a mountain) but managed to get mixed-up as to direction and hadn't been prepared enough to avoid the need or at least make it no hurry to rescuers because they were warm and dry and would be fine if the hour or two stroll turned into unscheduled overnight camping. For those who take responsibility for keeping safe and bothered reading my ramblings this far, thank you! Any who haven't considered it before, I hope this gives you something to think on and that it is read as the encouragement I intended.
As a kid we would take a broken handle from some tool or broom, tie bale twine on it and make that "helicopter" noise. Accidently got hit full force with it and had to go to school with a black, green yellow purple mark on my forehead for a month. Was funny then and a lesson learned.
I read about these in a book in the early ‘70s when I was a kid, so I carved one out of an old board I found. The cord tended to get really twisted,so I made a short leader line attached to a deep-sea fishing swivel to prevent the line twisting.
Aw dang, this takes me back to when I saw crocodile dundee as a kid and became fixated on his bullroarer phone call. I made tons of lame versions out of nylon cord and rotting wood, but even that low droning sound was the coolest thing ever. It was like I discovered alien technology. Maybe I should try making another one.
I first heard of this in the 80's in the X-Men comic. There was an aborigine character named Gateway, who would swing it and teleport people far away. And since that was pre-internet, I didn't even hear one for years. Cool video.
We used to do something similar to that with a large button and a long piece of string fed thru two holes,tied in a loop,with each end held by the index finger.Spin it up till the string is twisted,then begin pulling it as it winds one direction ,then another.Makes a noticeable humming noise.
thickness of the wood and spin are the main contributors to actually making sound so putting a few turns in the string with wood around 1/8" or 6mm makes a lot difference. Some of the loudest I have neard are south american and look like a long leaf shaped rotor on a longer string on the end of a fishing rod (their's was some sort of springy wood about 15feet long)...those really get some speed going.
Put a large catfishing swivel in your line on attaching it to to roaring toy it works better and keeps line from knotting up .different length of boards make deeper sounds played with these when I was a kid dad made for us ! I'm 54 now and he just turned 88 so yeah childhood memories thanks for the remind ! Kids today have no idea but I have made them for my kids and grandkids. Along with squash horns,hickory branch whistles,corn Cobb feather toys .oh and button yo,yo's !
My folks and ancestors made what they called a bullroarer, but it wasn't anything like that. They'd take a lard can and punch a hole in the middle of the bottom, and thread a piece of thick string through with a length coming out the backside, and put fiddle rosin on the string and you'd pinch the string and pull on it. It makes a sound like a panther in the woods, which were still fairly abundant back then. I'm sure they got in trouble over as well.
I have heard of something similar made with a section of hollow log with a piece of rawhide stretched over one end. Would be used at chivarees, or just to drive someone crazy.
I learned how to make one from a hunter. He claimed to use it to call Moose. I recommend a nylon boot lace for ease of use and performance. Bigger the can the better.
Mine was an old wood-handled jump rope. Kept smacking myself with it and got fed up after a while. It was fun while it lasted, I imagine that the adults could hear the sound so they didn't ask about all my weird bruises..
Great fun. When we were kids our bullroarer or furkalka was a disk with two holes centered on a loop of string. You wind the disc up then keep it going by pulling and slackening the string. They go really fast (dangerously?). We spent hours playing with designs to get the best noise. Thanks for the memories.
Woah this is very cool, as a child i made one by accident by tying a wooden spatula to some cord. I don’t remember why i did it originally but the sound was very satisfying. Me and some kids of the neighborhood would swing it like there was no tomorrow to get the best sound out of it. Thanks for not only showing me how this is called but also for unlocking this random memory.
If you are still experimenting try a long loop so the cord goes through the paddle hole once and ties together where your hand is. The cord will look doubled up. While spinning this allows the paddle to twist the cord, then once it’s tight the force of the twist makes the paddle rotation flip and spin the other way and loosen the twist till it tightens that way and it does this over and over. This is how you can really get them to hum.
I've been kind of fascinated with these ever since Crocodile Dundee. I've made lots of versions, basically every time I find anything that is roughly the right shape (dog tags, plastic tags, bits of wood, etc.). I've found that keeping them small and light makes them much easier to manage and the thinner the string, the longer the sound will last before switching modes. In the video, you can see an interesting phenomenon where the bullroarer oscillates between different positions depending on how it's rotating (you can see it going high and low when swung horizontally). Interestingly, you can do something similar without string by throwing anything relatively rectangular with a little bit of backspin. If you get it right, the Magnus effect will cause the object to fly around in the air and make the same kind of bullroarer noise.
If you spin the blade so it twists the cord before you spin it it will make the sound quicker. I made one in the 70s in scouts, then later for fun, about time to make more.
Remember the one from Crocodile Dundee 2, didn't know they had a name. Glad to know, there's a hiking spot near a huge valley that would be great for one of these.
Made these 50 years ago. Been wanting to make one lately to take hiking. Maybe a first defense for predators. Scare them off with noise, and if that don't work...then resort to physical means.
About the handle: I can attest to the fact that adding a handle is a good ide; you wouldnt believe the amount of painful blisters that will result if you dont use one.
Algorithm is rather spooky at times. Having watched Crocodile Dundee a few weeks back and only thought about how I might make one of those here this gets recommended. Nicely done sir. Think I'll have to source some wood and give this a try.
Hello, I used to make a form of bullroarer out of a partially unwound golf ball. Not as loud as the wood models but did make an extraordinary sound. Good waiting for supper fun.
Cool I just dug mine out spinned had a neighbor or two wondering WTF I have stunt kite string (Kevlar Or something LOL) on mine 8-10 ft. I think it make some noise as well. keepin it alive good job! All The Best from Northern NV
I always have trouble thinking of gifts for my brother. He's not into much. I know that he likes unique weapons and replicas of ancient ones. He did like an ocarina a few years ago, but can't play it where he lives. I'm pretty sure he falls in the agoraphobic category and barely leaves his apartment. I think this would be fun for him, and unique because I'll make it by hand! Thank for this idea!
I fully understand that one of their purposes was long range communication, and those have been made for literally millennia, but they sound like engines... so have we always liked the sounds of engines even before they existed? Wierd thoughts that I think I should share.
Watching you swing that,i couldnt help but think of how it looks like you’re doing some primitive form of waving. Perhaps they are related. Very interesting.
Could you make and show a few more examples of the british ones, the jagged edges, maybe one with triangular ridges, one with drilled holes half filled through for concave ridges, and a castle fort style? I wonder how each one makes different tones. I was watching croc dundee the other week and wondered what the names of these were so thanks for popping up with that. Also, do you have a friend who can measure how away these can be heard by taking a log walk ?
There have been many comments asking about specific shapes - I may have to make a video that is just comparing tons of different designs and variables. It would be cool to measure loudness as well.
1:40 "They have been used around the entire world for communication [...]" Two men stand on opposite mountains with a vast distance between them. One swings his bullroarer over his head. (Dude! Check out this sick piece of wood I found!)
I'd be curious to hear what difference (if any) the cord material makes. This might just be my imagination, but I feel like I can almost hear the paracord in those 2.
That's an interesting idea. I'll have to try with leather or artificial sinew. It's fascinating how seemingly tiny factors affect the sound, considering it's just a piece of wood
This could be interesting. If the cordage was already twisted in one direction, swinging it in the direction that would exacerbate that twist would definitely make it make it rotate, and thereby make sound, more quickly. I don't know what the effect in the overall sound would be if it was spun for a longer period of time, but it would make it spin up faster and probably make the sound more consistent, or at least make the frequency of the louder sound faster. Paracord if fairly neutral by design, so it might not be that big of a difference once it's spun up, but it's worth a comparison at least
@@landingbirdwoodworking my thoughts are this would make higher pitch sounds of the edges are narrower. Would love to see a saw edged one and a wasp waisted one. Probably the deepest sound would be a lightly rounded edges on a circle.
My question is this: How were they made BEFORE the invention of Scroll Saws, Sand Paper, and the other fancy tools shown? Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy the video. I am just interested in primitive woodworking techniques.
A big knife or small hatchet to carve it, and the drill is made similar to an primitive arrow (sharp pointy rock on the end), and hole drilled using the same hand-drill method used to start fires.
Hey man, this is cool! Any science to the depth or volume? I'm thinking whether it could be useful against the likes of bears :s :o I'm UK, don't expect me to be familiar with bear common knowledge lol :) :)
If you recall the movie "Crocodile Dundee" from 1988 there is a scene where Mick makes a (outback) "phone call" using a bullroarer. This link shows a low quality version of that scene - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-QPAYNPUs5rI.html
how loud is this? you cant get a good tell due to volume mixing and speakers. but on the ground. in person. how loud is it? does the sound carry further than you expect?
They can get pretty loud and carry a long ways. Size, shape, cord length, and swinging technique all affect the sound and volume. The ones in the video are maybe around the same level as an average shout.
I haven't made any with notches yet, but it must affect the sound in some way. Just tapering the edges versus leaving them square makes a noticeable difference, so notches would probably have an effect too.
