Blowgun Techniques. Amante P. Marinas, Sr.
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Название: Blowgun Techniques
Автор: Amante P. Marinas, Sr.
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Спорт, фитнес
isbn: 9781462905546
isbn:
Commercial darts can have cone tails that are white, orange, green, blue, red, or yellow. The flange of the cone is constructed such that it collapses when pushed through the mouthpiece past the safety ring. As soon as the dart clears the mouthpiece into the barrel, the cone returns to its original shape. With this feature, the possibility of inhaling such a dart is unlikely.
The darts of .40 caliber blowguns have 4-inch steel shafts that have to be inserted into plastic cones or beads. The darts of .50 caliber blowguns have 3 1⁄8-inch shafts. The shafts of the .625 caliber darts are 4 inches long.
Modern blowguns can also be loaded with paintballs—thin nylon coated balls that break upon impact, releasing a water-soluble dye.
QUIVER
Most modern blowguns are provided with quivers that are attached to the barrel. The quivers can hold ten or eight darts (Figure 2-9).
FOAM GRIP
Most blowguns are provided with a foam grip for comfort and for protection against the cold of winter (Figure 2-9). The placement of the grip will depend on the length of the shooter’s arm.
chapter 3
MAKING YOUR OWN BLOWGUN
You can make your own blowgun from readily available materials. Whether it will cost more or less than a commercially sold blowgun will depend on the equipment you now have. It will definitely cost more than a commercial blowgun should you decide to buy the tools needed to make one.
A blowgun is essentially a barrel, a tube, or a pipe. Hence, pipes made of plastic or of metal such as copper, aluminum, or steel are, in a way, ready made blowguns. Wood, solid or hollow, can be fashioned into a blowgun.
WOOD
If you have access to the chonta tree like the Ecuadorians do, cut a sapling, split it along its length, then carve half cylinders in each. Smooth and then tie the split sections together with vine and give a final polish to the tube by passing sand and then clay through the bore repeatedly.
Yantok (rattan), also solid wood, has the desired circular cross section that decreases in diameter toward the top. Rattan comes relatively straight and is very flexible. Indeed, small diameter rattans can be straightened against the knee. It has continuous fibers and would normally fray instead of breaking clean. Straight short sections can be cut from long rattan poles.
To make the blowgun, the rattan pole is first cut in half lengthwise then semi-cylindrical grooves running through its length are cut out with a router (Figure 3-1). To complete the blowgun, the two halves are glued together then bound with twine. Excess glue is removed by running a small piece of sponge repeatedly through the bore.
Anahaw is a hard wood while rattan is very porous. Anahaw is difficult to work with (Figure 3-2). Normally rattan will not be but it will also be very difficult to fashion into a blowgun unless you have the necessary equipment and skill.
Wood will swell when it comes in contact with water. In the anahaw, this is barely noticeable because it is dark brown. The swelling of rattan fibers will be visible. For this reason, lacquer has to be applied to the half cylindrical grooves. To ensure the smooth travel of the dart, the bore will have to be sprayed with a lubricant.
Kawayan (bamboo) has a natural hollow. To make a blowgun from bamboo, use the straightest bamboo you can find and also one with the least taper. If the bamboo is slightly bent, use wet steam to soften it then straighten it against your knee. Apply gentle pressure. Otherwise, you will break the pole. Do not put a steamed bamboo against your bare skin!
Cut the desired blowgun length then split the bamboo down its length using a machete like a wedge to expose the barriers. Remove the barriers with a whittling knife then rough smooth with a round file. Use coarse then fine sandpaper to smooth the barrier.
Bamboo has a thin translucent film of paper-like material in its inside. Applying gentle pressure, remove the thin film with fine sandpaper.
One need not split river cane to make a blowgun. I made one by using a sharpened solid steel rod to break the barriers (Figure 3-4). I smoothed the barriers using a curtain rod that I beveled at its end. I am able to shoot the long plastic .51 caliber fukiya darts through it.
METAL
Aluminum, steel, brass, or even copper tubing can be used as the barrel of a blowgun. All you need to do is find the right bore and obtain the right length of material.
Sometimes, a blowgun barrel can come from an unlikely source.
I teach stick fighting in my backyard. In one training session, one of my students gave me two 4-foot long steel pipes one inside the other. It was a curtain rod that was lightly rusted at both ends as well as on the inside.
I cleaned the bore with steel wool then beveled both ends with a conical grindstone to ensure that the dart exits unimpeded. The tubes were not seamless but I smoothed them as best I could and then sprayed the bore with lubricant.
The inner tube happened to have a .40 caliber bore (Figure 3-5). I was able to borrow the mouthpiece and the muzzle cover from one of my shorter commercial blowguns and put them on the curtain rod. I was able to shoot the commercial .40 caliber darts and tails made from a 3⁄8-inch dowel through the rod.
The outer tube of the curtain rod has an inside diameter of about ½ -inch. I fitted it with a mouthpiece. I am able to shoot homemade darts with tails made from a ½-inch dowel through it.
PVC
A 5-foot long, schedule 40, ½-inch PVC pipe costs about $1.00. A funnel fashioned into a mouthpiece will cost about 50 cents. Hence for less than $2.00, you can make a high caliber blowgun. It will cost even less if you fashion the mouthpiece from a plastic soft drink bottle.
PVC pipes come with different wall thickness. For example: A schedule 40, ½-inch PVC pipe has a 1⁄8-inch wall thickness. Another PVC pipe I made into a blowgun has a ½-inch outside diameter and a thin wall.
A thin-walled PVC pipe will sag due to its own weight. However, a 5-foot long schedule 40 PVC pipe is rigid enough to shoot straight. To keep the PVC pipe straight, place it inside a bamboo tube from which the barriers were removed. In addition to keeping the pipe straight, the bamboo tube will camouflage it and even protect it during transport.
MOUTHPIECE
A mouthpiece is essentially a funnel, an inverted cone, with a hole at the small end leading into a tapering or СКАЧАТЬ