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Ever Wonder How Slingshots Were Made Before Rubber Bands? This Guy Shows You

Sep. 12, 2012 12:11am Liz Klimas

Before there were rubber bands for slingshots, primitive weapons utilized other materials.

Who better to walk us through what these were while also providing analysis of their performance than Joerg Sprave, creator of The Slingshot Channel on YouTube?

“But of course a slingshot is nothing without rubber,” Sprave says. “Rubber wasn’t even invented until the mid 1800s.”

More specifically, Sprave writes on his video’s description that vulcanization, a chemical process invented by Charles Goodyear in 1839 to make the material more durable, is what allowed rubber to store energy for weapons in the first place.

“However, what did the Dennis the Menace kids use before rubber was invented?” Sprave questions.

Watch and learn (Note: Stay tuned for the bonus footage a “GoPro arrow” that Sprave loads and shoots from his blunderbuss slingshot at the end):

Here are some of the different materials Sprave discusses in the video:

Hand-held sling (David’s sling): This basically consists of a string with a pouch in the middle. Holding both ends of the string, one swings and throws the projectile that was placed in the pouch. Sprave’s analysis: “Very powerful, but it takes a lot of practice to hit anything with it.”

The Slingshot Channels Joerg Sprave Discusses Rubber Less Slingshots

(Image: YouTube screenshot)

Sling on a stick: Similar to the hand-held sling but instead of looping one of the strings around one’s finger, the string is attacked to a stick and the other end is looped to a nail from which the string detaches when thrown and launches the projectile. Sprave’s analysis: “You can use it to throw very heavy projectiles with tremendous force.” This too he says takes a lot of practice to be accurate.

(Image: YouTube screenshot)

Twisted rope: Twisting the rope, Sprave found, works well for storing energy for use in weapons like catapults and primitive slingshots. He shows off a weapon that works “like a combination of a crossbow and a slingshot.” Sprave’s analysis: Thumbs up.

(Image: YouTube screenshot)

“So, I think I proved the theory that it is possible to make a slingshot-like weapon without any rubber at all. Is it good? Well, not really. It’s totally weak and very, very clumsy but I think it’s interesting,” he said.

He proudly holds out his rubber band-less slingshot and says, “This is probably my weirdest slingshot. I still like it even if it’s weak.”

(Image: YouTube screenshot)

(H/T: Gizmodo)

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Comments (32)

brickmoon
Posted on September 12, 2012 at 7:06pm
Regarding comments about the newsworthiness of the above article and others:

I appreciate some variety, and don’t care if every story on the Blaze isn’t about the most politically outrageous, gut-wrenching or earth-shattering event on the planet. There are always sites like The Drudge Report. This site’s “about” statement has always read, “Our goal is to post, report and analyze stories of interest on a wide range of topics from politics and culture to faith and family.”

I might offer compliments or criticism, but I’ve never commented on any article, suggesting that the story itself wasn’t worth reading. It would be an insult to the author that only makes the commenter appear petty. If you don’t pay money for something, you don’t have any reason to complain about it.

Have you ever listened to a recital by a musician who mastered an instrument and said, “Wow, he must have a lot of spare time on his hands”? Mr. Sprave’s accomplishments may not compare, but talent is manifest in many ways.

I view Mr. Sprave’s videos as a refreshing change of pace — something of an antithesis to the current dull, pretentious, non-innovative, dependency-promoting administration. And seriously, if you and your dog were stranded in the forest without food or weapons and you had a choice between Sprave and Obama, whom would you rather have as a companion?

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- muffythetuffy
  Posted on January 12, 2013 at 10:54am
  Only a German could think up new ways of making wonderful weapons.
  
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Southernsoul
Posted on September 12, 2012 at 6:20pm
A slingshot with a rubber band? How about a bow as in bow and arrow?

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Nisan 5702
Posted on September 12, 2012 at 5:39pm
He never was a boy in the woods with a ‘sling’.
Nor does he know the method or dynamics of the sling aiming method and how to use it properly.
It’s never over the shoulder…. it’s around the head …… Watch it again .. his physical dynamic theory is WRONG !!!
The best pro quarterbacks throw from the top of the shoulder above the head … like a sling .. SNAP of the wrist …. !!!
He’s just an inventer ….. geez !!!
==============================
David killed killed Goliath because he practiced and hunted.
Do you real think it was a ‘lucky’ shot that he hit Goliath “between” the eyes …… OH DAH !!!

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David in MA
Posted on September 12, 2012 at 4:56pm
another slow day at blaze?

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avgconservative
Posted on September 12, 2012 at 4:08pm
No, I never wondered, nor do I care. What junk!

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munacra
Posted on September 12, 2012 at 1:40pm
White capri’s? Really? This guy is great but get rid of the CAPRI’s brother!!!

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AuraStream
Posted on September 12, 2012 at 12:41pm
Can we have one of these for the white house, a bigger one to sling shot Obama out of office

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watashbuddyfriend
Posted on September 12, 2012 at 12:36pm
Can’t say that the new fancy slingshots are any better than what I made as a young boy. Shot rocks, marbles, other, with them.

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The_Cabrito_Goat
Posted on September 12, 2012 at 11:34am
Bows and slings are nice, but the best ancient weapon was the spear. Nobody gives javelin toss the respect it deserves anymore.

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budzy1911
Posted on September 12, 2012 at 9:57am
You can also use animal sinew and human **** like the Romans used.

The sling goes back a long time and the Romans used to write insults on the projectiles they throw at the enemy like the insults we write on our bombs. Some things never change.

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blackyb
Posted on September 12, 2012 at 9:43am
If Obama has his way, Americans will do good to have even slingshots to defend themselves with. Obama is here to disarm America and make her so weak as to be unable to defend herself. Obama is here to take your property and feed it to the government machine, starve you and put you in a position to where you are too weak to respond in kind to this war within our country.

If Obama has his way you will lose your guns and the ability to produce any.

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mdlwoods
Posted on September 12, 2012 at 8:20am
Did he watch Darrel Hannah in Clan of the Cave Bear? There was a whole section of that movie devoted to Ayla learning to use a rubber-less sling!!!!

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Komponist-ZAH
Posted on September 12, 2012 at 6:07am
“Ever Wonder How Slingshots Were Made Before Rubber Bands?”

No.

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- shakedowncrews
  Posted on September 12, 2012 at 12:09pm
  Wow, your lack of imagination and curiosity is so inspiring!
  
  Why would anyone publicly admit to not having curiosity?
  
  Report this comment
asybot12
Posted on September 12, 2012 at 4:27am
fun video but I wished Obama’s dad (whomever) would have used rubber.

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- PIGSWILLNEVERFLY
  Posted on September 12, 2012 at 6:43am
  good one!
  
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stratomaster
Posted on September 12, 2012 at 4:05am
Is he wearing capri pants?

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TIME_THE_AVENGER
Posted on September 12, 2012 at 3:20am
Golly gee, Dad. Look what I found inside Goliath’s head.

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- JACKTHETOAD
  Posted on September 12, 2012 at 4:29am
  Let’s make an ashtray out of it. A glow-in-the-dark-one.
  
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warhorse_03826
Posted on September 12, 2012 at 2:03am
“sling on a stick” is called a STAFF SLING, and it’s the little brother to the traction trebuchet.

http://members.iinet.net.au/~rmine/Greycos/trebfil5.html

I’m working on building one of these that uses a front fork from a bike as the pivot. they’re getting 100+M out of a juggling ball. I wonder how far I can throw a GI baseball grenade?

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- Will4Freedom
  Posted on September 12, 2012 at 7:57am
  Cool. Might be helpful if there’s ever an invasion on US soil of some hostile force… like, I don’t know… Communists or something. Especially if all of our real weapons are taken away “for our own good”.
  
  Keep up the good work.
  
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- confederacyofdunces
  Posted on September 12, 2012 at 12:47pm
  TRY USING A PINBALL AS A PROJECTILE,SORRY about the caps. You can get them on ebay.
  
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- warhorse_03826
  Posted on September 13, 2012 at 1:10pm
  I’m also planning on using it to throw a line across a river, to then drag across a rope bridge. it can be set up quickly and throw a line a lot further than I can.
  
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Slowman101
Posted on September 12, 2012 at 1:08am
Cool video.

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- cgnick
  Posted on September 12, 2012 at 1:56am
  It’s damn shame that it is illegal to produce your own hemp. Our fore fathers would not have stood for that.
  
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woodyee
Posted on September 12, 2012 at 12:44am
Great article!

I recently purchased a slingshot to help with a ground squirrel problem, and it DOES take a lot of practice to get proficient! Thanks for the website!

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- grayling646
  Posted on September 12, 2012 at 1:23am
  I watched Ellie May Clampett out shoot her entire family using a slingshot once. Here’s the kicker. Every one else had guns. She may be the best ever with a slingshot.
  
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banjarmon
Posted on September 12, 2012 at 12:34am
Joerg always has good ones!!!

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SUNTZU
Posted on September 12, 2012 at 12:31am
My Mossberg does’nt use rubber either

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- stumpy68
  Posted on September 12, 2012 at 12:31pm
  You can find rubber shot for it i dont know why you would want to though
  
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Psychosis
Posted on September 12, 2012 at 12:23am
bicycle tire inner tubes were the best made correctly, could shoot a marble comparable to a .22

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