I've been collecting odd implements of destruction for a while. One that you hear about but don't often see is the old sailor's weapon known as a slungshot or slung shot. It consists of a length of rope about as long as the user's forearm with a loop at one end and a monkey's fist knot at the other with a small lead cannonball inside the knot. Slungshots were never part of a ship's official armament. They were improvised for defense while ashore or made by criminals as "life preservers".
Since I was at the hardware store anyway I picked up a little of this and that and put one together this evening.
Materials
- 3/8" three strand Sisal rope
- Jute twine
- 16 oz. "cannonball" lead sinker
- Paraffin wax
Procedure
- Made a three-strand eye splice in one end of the rope.
- Made a monkey fist knot at the other end.
- Before tightening up the monkey fist, put the lead ball inside.
- Tightened the monkey fist knot.
- Whipped the rope around the splice to protect splice and to hide messy job
- Continued whipping (West Country Whip) around the loop with waxed jute twine
- Gave the who thing another waxing.
Time elapsed for everything but the whipping: about ten minutes
Whipping: about twenty minutes.
Time to learn the knotwork: about fifteen minutes.
It's ugly, improvised and will bring the ones that don't usually come. Next time I'll use hemp rope and twine and add a couple extra loops in strategic places on the monkey's fist so the ball is completely concealed.
Note to self: It might be legal to carry this openly in Oregon. Just because it's legal doesn't mean it's a good idea. It will certainly make you fail the Police Attitude Test.
No comments:
Post a Comment