you don't need a knife to make an atlatl. just snap off a forked stick and tie a cord between the fork and notch the dart. you can also use a socket instead of a spur, but the dart might make a clicking noise coming off the atlatl. both styles work as a bow for a bow drill. i'd add the straightening hole to the handle. the hybrid is awesome. that hand throw still equaled dinner.
very true! atlatl are very simple in make if you want them to be, and it makes them a really great emergency survival tool (though, id always advocate for making traps first, carried weapons later, in survival situations") also good idea with putting the hole on the handle" i had only thought up the atlatl at first so id have a handle to push on.. but its not like i cant grab the shaft to do that? the brain is weird sometimes XD
Your points are well made and I'm not trying to die on the hill of saying that one is better than another. But, these are both variants of a lever that gives a mechanical advantage to increase speed and power of a projectile. Yes, the woomera can carry water and berries. But if it is being used to carry water when a kangaroo pops up, you'll lose water and probably kangaroo while you're fiddling to get a spear fitted. While with the atlatl and a small gourd filled with water in a hide satchel that's also carrying your knife, fire making materials, and the berries you've found, you can have a spear ready loaded and don't have to drop anything to take prey or defend yourself.
very true! as with basically anything, packing in more features into one multi tool means its likely not going to perform those tasks as well as separate dedicated tools. If i have to carry stuff and cut things, a basket and a knife are far better options than the woomera. as you said not only is it not as good as any dedicated tool at any of its jobs, but you can only perform one of them at a time with it XD that being said though it seems many of the aboriginals liked to travel lightly, so having an all in one tool is useful. just speculating a little bit, but i also imagine they may have either used their kylie if a roo crossed their path while carrying water, or had one of their mates take a toss at it?
Just my 2 cents here. Although you make a valid point especially for the native people living in the northern hemisphere, I can only imagine that water especially in the central deserts of Australia is alot harder to come by than a roo or other prey. Yes food is always a top priority in a survival or in this case a hunter gatherer lifestyle, water in the particular environment the woomera was devised is always above food. In the australian Bush during the dry season, you may see a roo or other game the next day on your travels, water not so much. Plus from what I've read, the aboriginals never really had water tight containers like gourds to speak of any didnt really have bags or satchels so to speak to carry extra equipment or foraged goods but I could be wrong about that? ATB
Id love to see you do a comparison video, weighing up the pros and cons of the fletched dart spear opposed to the unfletched long spears typical of Australia. In my observation I find the darts to be strange as they are usually back heavy, aided in flight by the fletching, precise but not always hard hitting, while the long spears are forward heavy with a whip like tail that flys fast and has extreme velocity, I prefer the unfletched spears myself!
i just posted my first one on that subject! i plan on doing a better one for reasons youll see if you watch it, but i figured you might want to be made aware =)
You even have the sound of a “suburban didgeridoo” as a soundtrack- a plane! Yeah I know that’s bad. I do want to ask you also if you measure your woomera and if how do you size it and to what length?
very true XD i live by an airport so there is no escaping it unfortunately T_T . i usualy use about a forearm and a half to get the length if i must, but honestly i just kinda cut the still and go to work, and have found that i just naturally end up making them literally the same length whether i pay attention to it or not XD wooomera i usually make longer than atlatls, and these days my woomera are far better than the one in this video. if iwere to guess, id say the ones i make now are often roughly 30 inches or so in length
@@frogbear02 ok, so length isn’t really a problem, good to know. Your woomera are great, authentic. You can get grass tree resin (xanthorrea) but it’s expensive. I’m not really able to afford it at the moment. Maybe I’ll get some when I’m successful in breaking out some Leilira blades. Oh do you hard or soft wood? Im wanting to use some Sumac (rhus spp.) for a woomera. Super soft and light. If it needs hard wood I’ll use cedar or something else. Maybe some sugar bush (hackberry spp.)
@@MrRugercat45 yeah length can really be whatever you want! some throwsticks are only 10 inches long, others are nearly 40. as long as you match it to your spear, youll be fine. id say between 15 and 35 inches is the usual though. traditionally woomera are made from extremely hard and dense wood (mulga), which is so dense it sinks in water. that being said, i dont see why itd HAVE to be that heavy. cedar may be a bit weak though and also might want to split a lot; woomera are quite thin. cedar would make a good inuit norsaq though! realistically though, if your wood choice is over 35 lbs per cubic foot, youre prolly fine. as for the resin, yeah you can go authentic with the real stuff, but honestly if your wood choice isnt authentic, you can just go and use a substitute like pine or birch tar!
@@frogbear02 I’m hoping to see you make an Inuit norsaq, I love Inuit tools, and their tools and weapons are very intriguing. I’m going to do some thinking about the wood available for a woomera, I sincerely appreciate your advice and input. Thank you very much. Keep up the great work on the channel.
I have not really XD I did one time years ago but i have personally never noticed any benefit to them really. perhaps its because basically every atlatl of mine is roughly 25 inches+ so they are pretty back heavy as is?
