[Carbon]

I'm getting my new 4ft cold steel blowgun on Saturday. I want to have lots of darts to use and don't know what kind to make! Bamboo darts don't have the hitting power or resilience of nail darts, but my nail darts don't last more than 5-6 shots before I Robin Hood them or the glue comes undone.

So basically, a hunting dart that flies straight, hits hard, and can take a hit. Oh yeah, and I can make for cheap at home.

Go!

-C

 

[superman365]

ugh....all darts will robin hood....use hot glue too

 

[Turtle]

Hi Carbon,

I've been using your nail dart idea with duct cones and as of yet haven't had one come loose on me. Don't know what I've done

differently other than using Gorilla Super glue. Just thought I'd drop that.

Cheers,

Turtle.

 

[M_J]

Hi Carbon,

I've been using your nail dart idea with duct cones and as of yet haven't had one come loose on me. Don't know what I've done

differently other than using Gorilla Super glue. Just thought I'd drop that.

Cheers,

Turtle.

Same here. I have lots of shots on my duct tape cones and have never had one come loose.

 

[Lightgeoduck]

Well, my guess would be, depending on how hard the object you are hitting is. I know shooting at my blowgun pad, all of my darts are fine, but shooting at my pin up wall, sometimes my homemade cones push forward...or come un glued.


This is just my experience, and not sure if it has anything to do with your situation.


LGD

 

[treefork]

Well if your Robbin Hooding then the solution is simple. Use multiple targets. As already stated the hot glue is a blow gunners friend. Heavy gauge piano wire with duct tape should fit the bill. Even when the cone finally fails you can reuse the shaft. The spring steel shaft is DURABLE!

 

[NightKnight]

That video I posted before showed using those bead rings to hold the cone in place on the nail. Have you tried that?

 

[neondog]

Small pony-tail elastics can also be used t reduce cone slip.

 

[Turtle]

I'll slam some into some hard wood when I get home and see if I can dislodge them. I have been using a premium

super glue and glueing both the inside and outside of the cone and so far they've been holding well albeit it mostly

into some thick cardboard.

I've been cleaning the grease and grime off the nails beforehand as well before the application of the glue.

Good idea on that hot glue, I might give that a whirl sometime as well.

 

[Pelletor]

After the blowgun is made, I'm too frugal (read cheap) to buy a blowgun and after shooing a blowgun the fun part is designing and making the darts.

I never use duct tape for cones except once on a stun dart and while it is waterproof and durable I find it to be too heavy, adding weight on the wrong end of a "regular" dart. Many of my darts are (flag) wire darts and I have found I can use the brightly colored flag as a cone too. I also use light packing tape on newsprint as cone material and what was once my standard, extruded milk jug plastic (HDPE) for cones that can be colored with permanent markers. It is possible to use the labels from softdrink bottles (1-2 liter) for cone material that is very light, water proof and easily colored with markers and a "free" bonus material.

Lately I have really liked the performance of drinking straw darts with a 6 penny nail for the business end. I wrap a layer of packing tape at the tip to prevent shattering that has proven to be effective. I can use any of the cones mentioned on my nail darts too.

I attach the cone, for the most part now, with hot glue but have used Gorrilla Glue successfully too. If I'm using hot glue on a nail I try to preheat it with the glue gun tip a little so it sticks well. The skewer dart has the tip held with dental floss and Super (CA) Glue. Some have suggested heating the dental floss with a flame to tighten it and that seems to work too but I have not used that technique much.

Some of my dart efforts:

 

[orcrender]

Have you ever tried putting the end of your straw darts into boiling water and expanding the cone end with a plumb bob? I did this with some of the better fast food places straws. It needs to be a thicker more stiff type of straw.

 

[Pelletor]

I have never heard of or tried that Orcrender, nice idea. I'll give it a try, it would certainly shorten the time to make a straw dart, thanks!

 

[neondog]

Or put the plumb bob in boiling water. Just don't put the plumb bob in the microwave! I think a warmed up shaper would allow the straw to stretch further.

 

[orcrender]

That would work I think.

 

[Pelletor]

I tried heating my metal plumb bob with a candle and got the best results with that... Because if its thermal inertia it took a while to heat but once up to temperature I could push it into the straw without cooling it too much (this time thermal inertia worked for me) It was a pain to get right and by that I mean push the plumb bob and keep its axis aligned with the axis of the straw, not get it too hot, prevent it from getting too cool etc.

I tried a PoP (Plaster of Paris) mold of my plump bob (less thermal inertia but lighter to work with) and that didn't work well either. I've spent several hours fiddling with this concept without getting a way to make it work effectively. So I stopped.....sigh! It is an intriguing concept.

Maybe holding the heated cone in a drill press (not turning) and properly fixing the straw benieth it would provide the control and accuracy required. As I write this I thought it might be possible to make a female mold of the cone shape with a hole in the center that would accept and also fix the straw in place. Put that rig on the drill press table and press the heated male cone shape into it.....

 

[neondog]

Would it be easier with a straw that was closer to the size of the bore?

 

[Pelletor]

Yes Neondog, It would be easier with an even larger straw but these straws from fast food places are fairly big and nice to shoot, I really like them and the price is right too!

 

[neondog]

Yes Neondog, It would be easier with an even larger straw but these straws from fast food places are fairly big and nice to shoot, I really like them and the price is right too!

I'm a big fan of "the price is right" myself! I rarely consume fountain drinks but I figure that if I tell them to hold the onions I just saved them enough to cover a couple straws.

 

[NaturalFork]

Have you ever tried putting the end of your straw darts into boiling water and expanding the cone end with a plumb bob? I did this with some of the better fast food places straws. It needs to be a thicker more stiff type of straw.

Such a cool idea!

 

[orcrender]

It only seems to work well with thick walled straws. Seems like Mickie D straws can go to about .40 cal before they split. I think straws have gotten thinner now.