This section is a compilation of articles and discussions with some of the top experts in the field of boomerangs and throwing sticks. Thanks goes to Ray Rieser, Benjamin Ruhe, and Bob Foresi for contributions to our better understanding of Throwing Sticks.
Another reason for calling both the return and non-return weapons 'boomerangs' is that by judiciously heating and twisting the wings it is in many cases possible to convert a return boomerang to a non-returner, and vice versa.
Some authors confuse the 'non-return boomerang' with the simple ballistic throwstick/club.
"Any weapon that is thrown by hand, such as a rock, spear or club, has a limited range. To maximize this range one must aim high or throw very hard. For a hunter using such a weapon, this means that he must either get very close to his prey or sacrifice accuracy by aiming high and throwing with a lot of force. On semi-arid plains with little cover the problem of getting close to an animal target is acute. The boomerang, although it appears simple in form, is actually a sophisticated aerodynamic device designed to cope with this problem facing hunters.
The non-returning boomerang is generally larger and heavier than the returning variety and is only moderately curved. It is used for hunting and war, and designed to fly in a fairly straight line parallel with the ground. It is a formidable weapon ideally suited to use on the open plains. It leaves the hunter's hand at a speed of 60 miles per hour and rotating ten time per second, and will kill or injure anything in a path approximately one meter wide and 200 meters long." Rieser
What then, apart from the flight, is the difference between a return boomerang and a straight-flying boomerang?
Return boomerangs develop an overturning moment as well as lift, and it is this moment which makes the boomerang turn and so return. If one wants a boomerang to fly straight, one must obtain lift but eliminate the overturning moment. This is usually achieved by twisting each wing so that the inner part provides the usual positive lift, but the outer part provides negative lift.
The plane of rotation at launch is normally about 20 degrees above the horizontal (70 degrees to the right of the vertical) so that there is some lateral movement to the left of the thrower as the boomerang flies away.
With its near linear flight, the straight-flying boomerang . can be aimed more accurately than the return boomerang and so is preferred for general hunting purposes.
Although boomerangs are one of Man's oldest weapons, a quantitative analysis of their flight presents many difficulties; and the only way one can at present determine the precise trajectory of a boomerang is by throwing it.
Most of the bibliography was sent in by Ben Ruhe and Ray Rieser, two notables in the field of stick throwing. For more information on boomerangs, both returning and non-retuming, contact; Ray Rieser,2900 Edgecliff Rd„ Lower Burrell, PA 15068. 412-335-5216; Ben "Guru" Ruhe, 1882 Columbia Rd. N.W., Washington, D. C. 20009. 202-234-9208 ; or Bob Foresi, Springfield, MA 413-733-7403. Bibliography
Anderson, Christopher and Philip Jones. Boomerang - booklet produced for the exhibitionof the same name at the South Australian Museum. Feb 27-July 19, 1992.
Borkensha, Peter. The Pitjantjatjara and Their Crafts- book Foresi, Robert. In Support of Non-Returners. Unpublished paper. Foresi, Robert. Some Modem Ideas On The Construction of Non-Returning ThrowSticks. Unpublished paper. Hess, Felix 1975. Boomerangs, Aerodynamics and Motion. Doctoral Thesis, Germany. July 7, 1975. Musgrove, Peter. Many Happy Returns - magazine article. Rieser, Ray 1985. Using Natural Wood Elbows. Many Happy Returns, Spring -p15-18.
Rieser, Ray 1987. Boomerangs. Carnegie Magazine. May/June, p34-39.
Most boomerangs are not decorated, but some are painted and others have patterns carved on their surfaces. Some Aborigines put small gouges on the top surface of the weapon; this is done, some say, for more than decoration. Like the dimples on a golf ball, these fluted areas may extend its flight range. Central Australian Non-Returning sticks from the Ben Ruhe Collection.
How To Make A Throwing Stick
The Non-Returning Boomerang
By Errett Callahan, PhD.
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Excerpts from The Non-Returning Boomerang: Evolution and Experiment. Virginia Commonwealth University, March 15, 1975.
BACKGROUND
The non-returning boomerang, or rabbitstick, is one of the most efficient hunting implements ever devised by primitive man for sparsely vegetated to semi-desert conditions. It is capable of being hand-propelled in a near straight line-trajectory for over 200 yards with little deviation to left or right and with little change in elevation until the very end of its journey.
"Ballistically", if we may use that term, it's flight resembles that of modern firearms more than does any other primitive missile, arrow included. Few aboriginal bows could be made to propel a hunting arrow beyond 200 yards. Of those that were capable of this in Pope's tests (war bows) the pull was so strong as to be quite unreasonable for most types of hunting.
Despite the rapid forward velocity, the real damage of the non-returning boomerang is caused by the spinning limbs which revolve so rapidly as to greatly increase the punch upon impact with the objective. A solid 12 oz non-returning boomerang is easily capable of snapping the foreleg of a deer or comparable-sized animal at great distances.
The non-returning boomerang has been called a variety of names - besides those given it on the spot by its intended (or unintended) victims. In New South Wales, Australia, the Botony Bay Aborigines refer to the returning boomerang as "bumarin", from which we get the word "boomerang". Elsewhere, it is referred to as "wongium", "wunkun", and "wangal". The non-returning boomerang is called the "tootgundy wunkun" or "straight-on" boomerang, the "killer stick", the "war" boomerang, the "hunting" boomerang, the "kylie" and of course, the "non-returning" boomerang. The Hopi refer to their version as the "rabbitstick".
In the New World, the Hopi rabbitstick of the Southwest is the American counterpart of the non-returning boomerang. Rabbitsticks have been documented in a wider area of the Southwest than that which the Hopi occupied. The Indians of Baja California have been observed using a version of the rabbitstick. I have speculated that the rabbitstick or non-returning boomerang may have been previously used by a substantial portion of the Southwest Desert Archaic Culture. This culture system seems to have been in operation by 10,000 years BP and existed well into contact times virtually unchanged., The Baja California Indians and the Paiutes of Nevada today seem to be directly related culturally and technologically to this desert/semi-desert way of life.
The non-returning boomerang requires open or semi-desert terrain for it's successful operation. An open country without an abundance of thick trees, tall bushes, or even high grass is essential; for undergrowth, naturally, impedes the flight. For such open country the non-returning boomerang is indeed well-adapted.
The non-returning boomerang was an adaptation of a simple throwing stick. Possibly man's earliest missile, at least in wooded areas and brush country, was a simple stick. In time the sticks chosen for missiles would have become more specialized. Certain lengths, weights, diameters, materials, balances, and hardnesses would have been found more effective than others. In some culture areas the sticks would have eventually been modified over their found condition. These modified sticks would have still been basically straight and round. Such specialized "throwing sticks" have been reported from all over the world and are particularly abundant in Australia.
PREPARATION
Wood
In order to make a non-returning boomerang (NRB), one needs certain materials and tools. I will [discuss] three optional methods so that one may make his either with modern power tools, modern hand tools, or primitive stone tools.
Plywood may be used for making the NRB. But do not, if possible, use standard soft plywood. Marine plywood or aircraft plywood 5/16 to 1/2" thick is ideal as it is dense and hard. The more weight one can pack into a given diameter up to 12 oz, the farther one can throw the implement. This does not necessarily ho
ld true for the returning boomerang, however, as lighter woods are usually sought.
Curved limbs, roots, or crotches are needed for making non-returning boomerangs the old way. It takes a lot of looking around to find a suitable curve and even more to find one of a hard, dense wood. You can get into the habit of looking for suitable boomerang limbs and saplings wherever you go so beware; it can become an obsession. One soon notices that certain tree species tend to curve more than others. Sourwood, hackberry, and buckeye are especially noted for this.
Avoid using limbs with a branch or knot at the curve or angle as this will cause a weakness. I have yet to have a boomerang made of such a limb last any time at all. Maximum strength is needed at the mid-point. Try to select a section which will give you limbs at least 2" wide, while 2 1/2 - 3" is preferable.
PLANS FOR "IDEAL/OPTIMUM" STICKS
Some of the more suitable tree species in the US include apple, barberry, beech, birch, buckeye, cherry, crabapple, dogwood, elm, hackberry, hickory, holly, hop hornbeam, ironwood, locust, manzanita, maple, mesquite, oak, osage, persimmon, plum, redbud, serviceberry, sourwood, and sycamore. In Australia, mulgawood (an acacia), lancewood or sudburu (also an acacia), and blue gum (a euclyptus) are all used for making the "tootgundy wunkun". In India, non-returners are sometimes made of ivory.
In Arizona, the Hopi made their rabbitsticks of scrub oak. The bright yellow wood of Arizona barberry (Berbieris fremontii) is also suitable for making rabbitsticks. Non-returners that are too light cease rotating and "come untied", flipping face-over-face instead of cutting a horizontal slice thru space.
Suitability of material is based to a large extent on density of the wood, the denser, heavier, and harder, the better. Hardness may be increased, at least on the surface, by fire hardening. This is accomplished by gently toasting the completed or nearly completed piece on a bed of coals, avoiding flames, till the surface turns a golden brown. Keep it rotating back and forth during heating and watch out for scorching. Fire hardening may be accomplished in conjunction with skewing of limbs in orderto modify flight patterns as below.
Weight may be temporarily increased slightly be soaking in water.
It is best to cut the wood during the winter when the sap is down. This reduces incidence of cracking during drying. Rough out the blank while the wood is green if using stone tools. Otherwise wait till the wood is seasoned, if feasible. Be careful to season it very slowly (in a dry place outdoors) so as to avoid splitting and warpage. (Warpage after seasoning can be corrected somewhat by heating the limbs over coals and bending in the desired direction).
Submerging the piece under water is a way of quick-seasoning green woods. The sap is removed without dehydrating the pores.
PROCESS
Power Tools - Use the sabre saw or band saw for cutting out plywood blanks. The disk or drum sander is used for grinding down the contours and getting the correct cross-section. Modern tools and materials allow you to start out with a known formula to attain predictable results.
Hand Tools - Aborigines in Australia today use a small axe, metal adze, and a piece of glass for making non-returning boomerangs. With but little experience, one can cut down a limb with a saw and split it with a maul and wedges. One can also rough out a 2 1/2" thick limb or sapling using a sharp machete in 10-15 minutes. The Surform rasp can be used to shape up the same blank into a 1/2" thin lenticular cross-section within another 20 minutes. After test flying, further adjustments may be made, but one needn't spend more than an hour total using such tools.
Stone Tools - Natural tools and materials call for judgement. No recipes. Use the hafted axe, celt, or either kind of large adze for cutting down suitable limbs, trunks, or roots and for roughing out the general shape. The hafted flake adze is used to good advantage in leveling the surface and in trimming the blank to near its final proportions. The flake adze is hafted so that the unifacially retouched flake is aligned with the handle. Such an adze is used by placing one foot on the objective piece, grabbing the handle as one would grasp a dagger, and chopping down and into the blank, working toward the foot. The handle is held at quite a low or flat angle to the wood.One of the most efficient stone tools I have used is a snapped biface (knife-like implement). Such a tool is easy to grasp, has two very strong 90 degree edges at the point of fracture and makes for as effective a wood plane as I've ever used, metal or stone. Hold the flat part of the tool at a low angle to the wood and push this 90 degree edge along the surface of the objective piece.
After test flying, stone-tool-made boomerangs may be finished off either by continued scraping with sharp-edged flakes or scraper/flakes, by rubbing with fine dry sand held in a leather pad, or by rubbing with a piece of dry sandstone.
Give the finished implement several good rubdowns with oil, tallow, or wax (or varnish) to seal out moisture. Refinish as needed after bumps and knocks dent the surface, in order to maintain the same aerodynamic behavior.
FLYING AND TUNING
After roughing out the non-returning boomerang to a flattened shape with a lenticular cross-section, take your implement outside for some test flying.
Hold the NRB by either end if symmetrical, with the hook pointing forward as one would hold a sickle. Throw it with a side-arm throw with the plane of the axis parallel to the ground. Give it plenty of wrist snap as you let it go. Wrist snap more than forward motion is the key to throwing any kind of boomerang successfully (Ruhe 1972, a:4). Throw it gently at first then increase velocity until you have a fairly good picture of the flight pattern. You may find that it curves to left (rarely) or right (more often) consistently. If it curves to the right, try tilting the hand up so that the distal limb is no longer parallel to the ground. Usually, on symmetrically constructed implements, a favorite end will evolve.
An aerodynamically optimum non-returning boomerang will fly in a straight line when thrown horizontally to near-horizontally.
It's a good idea to take your rasp or biface plane along with you when test flying your NRB so you can make adjustments as needed on the spot.
Remove material from the top or bottom sides - or both - of each limb till you get the flight pattern you wish. Rasping at the bottom corner of the leading edge will increase lift. Approximating a convex-piano section will reduce lift. If too thick, plane down each face evenly. I prefer to test my NRB when it is about 1/2" thick and thin it down to 3/8" or so during the test session.
A method the Aborigines often used, is to shape the limbs into a piano- convex cross-section with flat side down. This is the way returning boomerangs are usually made. One may have different cross-sections in different areas of each limb.
Aborigine returning boomerangs are often made by planning down the limbs to a flat cross-section with too little thickness to afford effective lift. The limb tips are gently heated and simultaneously twisted upward in two direction. The tip itself (the last 6" or so) is given positive dihedral by being pulled upwards, much as is the tip of a bird's wing on the downward stroke and the leading edge, the lineal edge which cuts into the wind during revolution, is skewed or twisted upward several degrees. Sometimes this was done only to one limb. This now would apply to tuning non-returning boomerangs, lift may be reduced by reversing the process: bending the tip down (producing negative dihedral) and/or skewing the leading edge downward. Careful rasping of unheated limbs may accomplish a similar feature.
If one wishes to alter the flight pattern without replanning the wood and reducing the weight, heating is the technique to use. Heat the limb over the coals, not the flames, to avoid scorching. Holding the limb 3 to 4" above the coals, one to two minutes should suffice to warm the limb enough for bending. It should be a little too warm to touch with an ungloved or unpadded hand. Twist the limb in the desired direction and hold till cool.
One thus has 3 options for modifying flight patterns:
1. Replanning surfaces to make them
a. more lenticular
b. more plano-convex
c. thinn
er
2. Bending the limb tips up or down by using heat, increasing or decreasing dihedral
3. Twisting the leading edge of the limbs up or down by using heat
I would suggest starting out with a lenticular cross-section with no positive or negative dihedral, skew, or twist and work from there. This should give you a serviceable non-returning boomerang with satisfactory flight patterns. You can then tinker around with "fine tuning" all you want depending on your preferences, aspiratons, and patience. Suggested optimum non-returning boomerangs, one with bend, and one with continuous curvature, are given.
Note: If any readers achieve flights of over 200 yds (on windless days) I would be interested in hearing so that I may keep my record list updated.
From the results of the study done in this paper, Errett produced a western-style non-returning throwing stick that flew a sustained 300+ yards at approximately 3 feet above the ground.
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Using Natural Wood Elbows
by Ray Rieser
* * *
While on a recent trip to Washington, DC, Ben Ruhe was kind enough to show me a film of an aborigine constructing a boomerang. The aborigine sought out a tree with a root coming out of trunk at the "proper" angle. He made several cuts in the tree trunk and severed the root about 18 inches from the tree. He then pulled this boomerang shaped piece of wood from the living tree, sliced it longitudinally into two parts and shaped them into boomerangs (Figure #1).
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