So when I am not here my other hobby is boomerangs. To answer the quick questions first, yes they do come back to you, and yes there are competitions and all that. I throw, make and compete with both boomerangs and throwsticks (hunting boomerangs). well Jacob asked me to make him one so here are the photos of the creation.

Ok step one. I took my sheet of 3.2mm black paper phonelic (according to the god of boomerangs this stuff is one of the best materials ever made for stiffness tunability and density) and outlined the shape. I am making a standard v shape called the solstice.



Then using a jigsaw and bandsaw I cut out the shape





With the rough shape cut out it's time to sand it down to the exact shape.



Now I add the airfoils. A boomerang is made such that as both wings spin they are shaped like plane wings so they create lift as they propagate and rotate. It is thrown such that the force generated by the lift is in balance with gravity and turns the circle.



Now just some wet sanding to get the final shape and then the flight test





So it's crazy windy here today and on my second throw it ripped over my head and landed 50m behind me! I don't know how good it is until the wind dies down but it may just need paint and you will have it Jacob!

Right now it looks like this:



I will let you know how the flight test goes as soon as the wind dies down.

Sweet....... i knpw what im doing in woodshop lol. How much does that wood cost? I just about have the other stuff.

All I am is a carpenter in learning from my dad I know how to make rustic outdoor furniture and wood art with a scroll saw

Also I am a artist won twice back to back each year in the Houston rodeo I will post a pic of my trophy later first year I won gold medal then best of show

I'm also a graffiti artist

Btw awesome boomerang didnt know you competed in that

Cool! How bad does the phenolic smell when shaping?

Kestrel wrote: Sweet....... i knpw what im doing in woodshop lol. How much does that wood cost? I just about have the other stuff.

It's not wood it's phonelic. It's formaldehyde resin soaked paper (or linen) layered and pressed into sheets. Usually a 3' x 4' is say $60 and you can make say 30 boomerangs. If you want to make them out of wood you need aircraft or marine grade plywood that is say 1/4" 10 ply or better. You can make them out of hardwoods you lap joint together but that is more for art then throwing. If you feel like going all out in wood you can do what is called strip lamination. You take a bunch of strips of wood say 2" by 24" and thickness can vary, and steam them to make them bendable. You conform them to a shape and clamp them until cool. You then glue them and make a cross section slice and make a boomerang from that. They made a "how it's made" show with that method you can see on you tube. Here are some of my fav strip laminates.

Trone187 wrote: All I am is a carpenter in learning from my dad I know how to make rustic outdoor furniture and wood art with a scroll saw

Also I am a artist won twice back to back each year in the Houston rodeo I will post a pic of my trophy later first year I won gold medal then best of show

I'm also a graffiti artist

Btw awesome boomerang didnt know you competed in that

That's cool Trone...well if you want to make your own they have thousands of plans at:

www.kutek.net/boomplans/plans.php

they have plans for almost every letter in the alphabet. Like a boomerang shaped like an A B C....and they always return or it's not a boomerang. I can help you tweak it once you made it if it doesn't fly right but it's not as hard as you think.

Jacob10000 wrote: Cool! How bad does the phenolic smell when shaping?

Bad it's Carcinogenic!! I use a full respirator and tight full goggles so I don't really know it's scent. And I work outside if I can to help with the dust. Carbon Fibre is the real danger, I wear a hazmat suit...my neighbours already know i'm weird and if they don't try greeting them in a respirator and hazmat suit covered in black dust with Slayer hammering away in the garage behind me!

Lmbo. Man having a neighbor like u sure would make life interesting lol.id love to have unusual neighbors than to have these snotty city people i have to deal wish. U cant even wave without tgem thinking ur crazy and give u the cold shoulder. Its annoying. O and whats that star like boomerang u showed me a few post ago? Never seen one like that.

You mean the lower one in this?





It's a triblade. Almost all competition booms are triblade since you can genreate more lift with 3 wings over 2 and you need that for competitions. For example we have an event fast catch where you have to throw a boom at least 20 meters standing inside a 2m circle and catch it 5 times. The boom travels at over 140mph and the world record is 14s. The top guys throw in a tilted circle throwing the boomerang over vertical. What I mean is usually fast catch booms are thrown standing straight up so 12 o'clock but these guys throw at say 11 o'clock and high so the boomerang goes up and loops down to the ground, almost touches and they catch it. You smash a lot of knuckles and fingernails in that event That boom you asked about is made from veneers and I thought it looked cool. I didn't make it, my buddy did.

Check it out!!

Yeah I've seen that before here is the world record

You can see the boom go round in this one...I'm more like this guy Oh I have an ice runner

So whip is this your past time now?

Whip. Whats the most unusual boomerang u have ever made or seen?

Every time I throw a bomarang it just goes straight

brandonproulx@ymail.com wrote: So whip is this your past time now?

Has been for a while man...well before dogfight. Boomerangs are a part of my soul.

Kestrel wrote: Whip. Whats the most unusual boomerang u have ever made or seen?

Depends on what you mean...I have seen boomerangs that have a 6' wing span, some that are only 1" wide that you can launch off your knuckle or between your teeth I have seen long distance booms go like 180m with a full return. I have seen ones that look like spiderman and huge battle axes, I have seen a circle and a triangle. But probably the strangest is the Bee-Bak shown below.



When thrown it goes straight out, inverts and then hovers back to you...very weird.

OK Jacob it returns and works well, no tweaks req'd

I'm gonna paint it, nothing fancy since I for some reason never get a good paint job if it's difficult. I find it quite odd that I can make a boomerang but the paint job is tricky.

SnidleyWhiplash wrote:

Kestrel wrote: Whip. Whats the most unusual boomerang u have ever made or seen?

Depends on what you mean...I have seen boomerangs that have a 6' wing span, some that are only 1" wide that you can launch off your knuckle or between your teeth I have seen long distance booms go like 180m with a full return. I have seen ones that look like spiderman and huge battle axes, I have seen a circle and a triangle. But probably the strangest is the Bee-Bak shown below.

When thrown it goes straight out, inverts and then hovers back to you...very weird.

Sweet. I know which one im goin to buy. Or make,whichever is cheaper lol. What i ment was like shap whats the must bazaar shaped boomerangoout there. I think i found it though. Its called a sky dancer i think. Looks very weird. Someone must have been really bord to make things like this and they actually comeback to u. XD
sorry bout the blurry pic

That and this @ sign one lol

Kestrel wrote:

SnidleyWhiplash wrote:

Kestrel wrote: Whip. Whats the most unusual boomerang u have ever made or seen?

Depends on what you mean...I have seen boomerangs that have a 6' wing span, some that are only 1" wide that you can launch off your knuckle or between your teeth I have seen long distance booms go like 180m with a full return. I have seen ones that look like spiderman and huge battle axes, I have seen a circle and a triangle. But probably the strangest is the Bee-Bak shown below.

When thrown it goes straight out, inverts and then hovers back to you...very weird.

Sweet. I know which one im goin to buy. Or make,whichever is cheaper lol. What i ment was like shap whats the must bazaar shaped boomerangoout there. I think i found it though. Its called a sky dancer i think. Looks very weird. Someone must have been really bord to make things like this and they actually comeback to u. XD
sorry bout the blurry pic

That and this @ sign one lol

I suggest you make a simple v or hook first then work on harder shapes after...have any questions let me know. We have an engineer who designed the "wash-out" design for landing the 747 (I don't really know what that is but something like the ability to throw away a lot of lift when landing) who did extensive research on airfoil design and 2 things he said may help you whne you make boomerangs. First imagine you are standing at home plate, a properly flying boomerang goes straight out to first base then starts the turn. It peaks over second base and then lays down flat at third and then hovers home. Also the airfoils do not have to be like plane wings and all smooth. You can just make a blocky wedge and it works great! Not to mention the blocky design breaks the laminar flow and the turbulence actually evens out the flight kinda like dimples on the golf ball.

brandonproulx@ymail.com wrote: Every time I throw a bomarang it just goes straight

Sure it's a boomerang? It may say it is but I have seen a lot while I am at the park of moms and the like coming up to me saying the boom they bought somewhere doesn't work. Usually it's made out of plastic and is all warped or way too light. If you show me a picture I can probably tell you if it will fly.

Sorry Jacob, I had a lot going on but your boom will be painted this week...

Its to hot and humid outside to do anything fun anyways. Lol a boomerang might help kill some of the bugs though.

Hey man i made a boomerang yesterday, used my paint sprayer to do the colors, howzit look?

who wants to make me an awesome boomerang!?! lol

Nachoo wrote: who wants to make me an awesome boomerang!?! lol

I will if you want...

Kestrel wrote:

Hey man i made a boomerang yesterday, used my paint sprayer to do the colors, howzit look?

That looks pretty good Kestral! Does it return?

Well it should. At the moment. It goes upward turns alittle but lands about 30-40 yards away. I dont know if im throwing it wrong buti feel accomplished, it does turn somewhat in mid air lol.