Posted: 9/5/2010 10:36:28 PM EDT
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Who has got them, who has used them, and has anyone ever hunted or know anyone who has hunted with them?
Saw one in a friend's house last night and if I wasn't scared of loosing a finger or breaking a car window, I would have been in a euphoric state of wonder. Tell me what's up... 
Longest Record Throw |
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Haha yup, this is where I prob got the notion Looks like I am going to have to get a "sport" one. It would be cool to set up a target and practice hitting it with a hunting one but then again, if you miss I'm sure retrieving it gets old, quickly |
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I got a boomerang once when I was a kid on vacation (just to texas not australia). It was a nice wooden one, I was just foaming at the mouth the whole drive back home, just waiting to get home and give it a whirl. Well we finally got home and I sprang from the car and let fly. It was wonderous, beautiful, sublime even-it made a wondrous arc through the bright blue sky and came back towards me and whack right into the side of the garage and splintered into about 52 pieces.
After that I never really had the desire to get one. 
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I've had a couple of boomerangs over the years.
Picked up a few while down in Australia that are the typical sized, one is hand crafted/carved while the other is a piece of thin plywood that is machine cut. After I learned how to throw them I picked up some semi-custom hand made ones as well. A buddy of mine has a couple that cost between 50-70 bucks a piece and have custom weighted tips to make them balance and fly properly. There are right handed and left handed boomerangs. Really, it doesn't matter which hand you throw them with but it DOES matter which bit of the air foil cuts into the wind. If you have a right handed boomerang the flat part of the air foil will be in the palm of your hand. It's just like an air plain wing in that the part of the air foil you want biting into the air is the thick meaty part followed by the thin trailing edge. You can throw a left handed boomerang with your right hand but you just have to make sure that it's air foil is arranged in your hand properly and it is going to fly it's circle in the opposite direction when it returns to you. When you throw them.... First thing you need to know is that it takes surprisingly little force to throw some boomerangs. They are an aircraft wing and they are relatively light weight with big wing spans. Of my rangs the amount of force needed to throw them, I'd say it's about like trying to throw a tennis ball 25-40 feet. Next up, blade angle to the ground. If you throw a boomerang such that the blade is parallel to the ground, YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG Way to throw a rang is so that the blade is about 5-10 degrees from vertical, 5-10 degrees meaning 80-85 degrees as you hold it out away from you about to throw, not past vertical 95-100 degrees. Some boomerangs are tolerant of winds and almost need a wind while other boomerangs need almost ZERO wind. They are absolutely touchy how you throw them into the wind as well. I have found with mine that they are not tolerant of the wind very much, anything over 5 mph and it will blow them all over hell and back. When you throw them, if you have a right handed one which means it will fly out in front of you, cut left, and orbit back around to your left before hovering down for a catch, you need to throw them so they cut into the wind. That means when facing the wind directly, turn clock wise a few degrees at a time until you find the right angle of wind to throw the boomerang into the wind or against the wind. I have to face about 30-45 degrees away from dead on into the wind when I fly my boomerangs if I want them to return to me during a breeze/wind. How well do they return to me? I've gotten to where after years of not throwing them within 5 to 10 turns I can get them to fly back to within 5-10 paces of where I originally threw. As I warm up that will reduce down to roughly 3-5 paces with the occasional only 1 or 2. I have caught them one handed in the past but usually I do the typical "clap" where you turn your hands parallel to the ground and you bend your fingers up away from your palms to clap down on the boomerang. Most of the designs out there will climb in elevation as they orbit back to you, as they hover down to the ground above you, you will see a very distinct "ring" from the spinning wings/blade of the boomerang. That ring is what you aim for when you go to grab it. There are some really funky boomerang designs out there, some have very strange flight paths. We've also thrown as many as three boomerangs all at once by stacking several right handed boomerangs together. Tightest loop on the inside, 2nd tightest loop in the middle, and biggest loop touching the bottom of it's air foil in the palm of my hand. When you throw them they all separate in the air and spread out to fly their own flight pattern. Then there are the hunting boomerangs. Saw those in Australia and they are COOL but more for decoration. If you were to throw one you are likely going to break it and mess it up after it spins and impacts the ground. I am unsure if they have any that can manage to actually lay over horizontal in flight or if they are all oriented vertically during flight, I'd hope they'd lay over horizontal and fly straight so that they could fly farther like a glider almost. But the big hunting ones are HEAVY. I think part of the reason they might be effective is as they are flying through the air and tumbling, it would be a very disorienting thing for an animal to see because their perspective of it would be that it is growing/shrinking as it arcs towards them. The trailing edge of this thing when it spins around could definitely hit something hard enough to break it's neck or maybe snap a leg. 
They have some that are almost as long as a grown man's arm. |
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I've got a couple of dozen that I've collected over the years. I've found them all over the place from all sorts of different vendors like kite and hobby shops. I even have a few that friends have brought back for me from Australia. But the vast majority I bought from The Boomerang Man. I've been buying "Bs" from B-Man since pre-internet days (1975) when he used to have a small classified ad in the back of Popular Mechanics magazine, and you mailed in orders from his small, newsprint catalog. With a check.
If you want to get started in boomerangs, I suggest picking up a few standard pattern Bs - forget the triblades or "omegas." I have a Wyche Standard that I bought in the late 70s or early 80s that flies beautifully, and also looks good on the wall. The American 475 and Stones Throw KP-16 are also good candidates to get your feet wet. I also have a Wyche Contest Hook that flies well, but likes a harder throw and stiffer wind. Here's something that I always found interesting - I don't know what they use for finish, but Australian boomerangs have a very distinctive smell. The varnish smells almost sweet. If you need some instructions, the John Mauro book is a good place to start. Basically you wait for a day with a very light wind, and (if you're right handed) stand with the breeze hitting your left cheek. Hold the B with the flat side against your fingers and the "L" hook forward, and throw at a slight upward angle with the B leaning slightly to the right. If you throw it right it should circle around to the left and come around directly behind you, hovering directly over your head. I've seen contest throwers sit on a barstool and continually throw and catch without ever getting up off the stool. The biggest mistake people make is throwing too hard. So there ya go. Put in an order with B-Man and wait for a fairly calm day at your local park or university field and have fun! ETA: Since you mentioned the Longest Distance, that is not really a boomerang. Years ago B-Man sold what I believe was the longest distance RETURNING boomerang. IIRC it was called The Aluminum 25, which like the name says, was a big 25" boomerang made from aluminum. He was so worried about people getting injured that he wouldn't sell you one unless he knew you as a regular customer. Legend was that boomerang won a contest by flying around the Washington Monument and returning to the thrower. Of course, that was during the Carter administration. I don't think they let you throw heavy flying metal objects around The National Mall any more. And what do you call a boomerang that doesn't return? A stick. 
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I've had one of these designs for better part of 15 years.
Easiest to throw and easiest to catch by far, 
The center "loop" creates a very easy area to catch as it hovers back down to the ground. The other conventional design returning rangs can be a bit more difficult to catch. |
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Quoted:
I've had one of these designs for better part of 15 years. Easiest to throw and easiest to catch by far, http://theboomerangman.com/cart/image/cache/GLOVER%20ACROBAT-500x500.jpg The center "loop" creates a very easy area to catch as it hovers back down to the ground. The other conventional design returning rangs can be a bit more difficult to catch. good to know 
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| This guy lives right by me. He is some super USA boomerang team member and claims to have the worlds largest collection of boomerangs. He used to come to my school when I was a kid and give presentations a lot. Might be worth a look. |
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Had one as a kid. Could never get it to return to me.
Then, one day, it happened. I threw the thing, and I watched in amazement as it went away from me, curved in the air, and came back my way. I tried to catch it, but it wound up plowing me in the face. And so closed that chapter of my life. _MaH |
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Quoted:
This guy lives right by me. He is some super USA boomerang team member and claims to have the worlds largest collection of boomerangs. He used to come to my school when I was a kid and give presentations a lot. Might be worth a look. there is a US Boomerang Team?
his website says that they werent used for hunting 
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Quoted:
I've got a couple of dozen that I've collected over the years. I've found them all over the place from all sorts of different vendors like kite and hobby shops. I even have a few that friends have brought back for me from Australia. But the vast majority I bought from The Boomerang Man. I've been buying "Bs" from B-Man since pre-internet days (1975) when he used to have a small classified ad in the back of Popular Mechanics magazine, and you mailed in orders from his small, newsprint catalog. With a check. If you want to get started in boomerangs, I suggest picking up a few standard pattern Bs - forget the triblades or "omegas." I have a Wyche Standard that I bought in the late 70s or early 80s that flies beautifully, and also looks good on the wall. The American 475 and Stones Throw KP-16 are also good candidates to get your feet wet. I also have a Wyche Contest Hook that flies well, but likes a harder throw and stiffer wind. Here's something that I always found interesting - I don't know what they use for finish, but Australian boomerangs have a very distinctive smell. The varnish smells almost sweet. If you need some instructions, the John Mauro book is a good place to start. Basically you wait for a day with a very light wind, and (if you're right handed) stand with the breeze hitting your left cheek. Hold the B with the flat side against your fingers and the "L" hook forward, and throw at a slight upward angle with the B leaning slightly to the right. If you throw it right it should circle around to the left and come around directly behind you, hovering directly over your head. I've seen contest throwers sit on a barstool and continually throw and catch without ever getting up off the stool. The biggest mistake people make is throwing too hard. So there ya go. Put in an order with B-Man and wait for a fairly calm day at your local park or university field and have fun! ETA: Since you mentioned the Longest Distance, that is not really a boomerang. Years ago B-Man sold what I believe was the longest distance RETURNING boomerang. IIRC it was called The Aluminum 25, which like the name says, was a big 25" boomerang made from aluminum. He was so worried about people getting injured that he wouldn't sell you one unless he knew you as a regular customer. Legend was that boomerang won a contest by flying around the Washington Monument and returning to the thrower. Of course, that was during the Carter administration. I don't think they let you throw heavy flying metal objects around The National Mall any more. And what do you call a boomerang that doesn't return? A stick. I actually knew The Boomerang Man from before he sold boomerangs. He managed a hobby shop, mostly HO slot cars. In college I used to go there to buy model airplane stuff (control line, and later R/C). A few years later I met him again through my brother in law. The guy would go down to the city park with an old suitcase full of various styles of boomerangs. We followed him back to his shop, just an old converted small store, where he had tables covered with chicken wire, and would lay out the raw wood boomerangs he imported, shoot clear lacquer on them. He ran some magazine ads for a while. My first efforts with boomerangs were with some my Dad made from plans from, I think, Popular Mechanics. I was about, oh, 9 or 10. Those were a little rough, but would return. You'd better catch the damned things or they'd knock you silly. |
| I saw one type that you would throw conventionally, it would go out, circle around to the left, come back, and if you missed it the first time by, it then turned a sharper circle, this time to the right, and come by for a second chance to knock yourself silly. A sort of figure 8 pattern with a big top loop, small bottom loop. |
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Ì have some of them, and also made them when I was younger.. actually pretty easy to do if you have a model. whatever shape you do, you just to a wing profile on it, assymetrical.. the more curve you make on your wing, the quicker it turns. I had one that could make a 360° within 25yards. |
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Quoted: Had one as a kid. Could never get it to return to me. Then, one day, it happened. I threw the thing, and I watched in amazement as it went away from me, curved in the air, and came back my way. I tried to catch it, but it wound up plowing me in the face. And so closed that chapter of my life. _MaH That's what happened to me! When it actually came back I was in the middle a "WTF no way" when I realized the collision course for my head. I had enough time to put my hands up and it chopped the web of my hand so hard I decided to put it away. |