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Lord Siegfried and Lord Christophe,<br>
<br>
The ground where we shoot is ROCK HARD clay, and very difficult to
drive anything into. It probably was heavily compacted when the gas
pipeline that is buried there was laid. Which brings us to the second
problem, in that you aren't supposed to drive anything into the ground
there (by state law) without getting a permit. Even going down a foot
would probably get us in lots of trouble, though I'm sure the pipe is
several feet deep. Remember 'Miss Utility'?<br>
<br>
The wooden frames (built by Lord William of Wolverhampton and his
brother John of Caer Gelynniog) are very heavy, and since we leave them
out there year-round in all weather, they are also much stronger
against wind than the constructions you describe. They may clunky, but
they work well for our purposes, and certainly could support a half
dozen or more darts without falling over. Your ideas are appreciated,
but we will stick with what we have for the foreseeable future.<br>
<br>
I would much like to get away from the construction foam, which leaves
a nasty gunk on arrows, bolts and darts due to the friction melting the
foam to the shaft on impact. This stuff can be scraped off with a piece
of plastic, but that takes off the protective finish on the shaft as
well. Our arrows need frequent maintenance. My choice for archery
(maybe not for atlatl darts) would be the classic round straw butt
about 8" thick on a tripod stand. These could be removed for indoor
storage, and the whole thing put up in ten minutes or so. I know
somebody still makes these (I stumbled across a web site once), but I
can't find them right now. I'm planning on setting up another range,
and would rather use these.<br>
<br>
Kind regards,<br>
<br>
<br>
Lord Mungo Napier, Shire of Isenfir Target Archery Marshal<br>
<br>
Siegfried wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:4C72AA5E.3010004@crossbows.biz" type="cite">
<pre wrap="">A couple of thoughts for you Mungo. Christophe already pointed out the
PVC/Fiberglass Rod method.
There are some other ways to make the targets lighter-weight and simpler
as well, plus stand up better. For example:
1) To make them hold together better, A sheet of cardboard on either
side of your sandwich does wonders. At the very least, on the back, to
stop blowouts.
I've seen those heavy 2x4 frames. You don't really need them ... Some
ideas instead are:
2) Make a 2x2 4 sided frame (fancy joinery, or just deck brackets for
the corners, so that the foam either rests against the front of it (and
gets duct taped on) ... or rests inside of it, and has a cardboard
backing that holds it on.
On the bottom two corners, put spikes (think pavilion pole spikes)
... maybe 6" long so that you can jam it into the ground. On the back
have two hinged legs that swing out. Jam it into the ground at a 30
degree angle, swing the legs back. Done.
3) The original 'simple' version I was talking about. As long as you
don't have heavy winds. Make the 4x4 foam sandwich. Lean it on the
ground, and take two of your 4' to 5' to 6' pavilion poles, and jam the
spikes through them from the back to front, and lean back so that poles
rest backwards. Unless there's a strong wind that will pick them up
and fly them, it will stand surprisingly well.
But I do like COG's fiberglass pole concept.
You could also use rebar, or perhaps fiberglass electric fence poles,
which are much stronger (3/8" diameter instead of 1/4" for reflectors)
If you want it to hold more than 6 darts.
Siegfried
On 8/23/10 9:50 AM, Garth G. Groff wrote:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">Lord Siegfried,
If you have built targets like this, I bow to your experience and
wisdom. We already use a double layer of pink or blue insulation, but
the sheets are slid into a heavy slotted frame of 2X4s, with substantial
feet at 90 degrees to the target face (I wouldn't want to try driving
large legs or pegs into the verrrrry hard ground of our range). I think
after several hits with darts, anything less substantial would fall over.
Kind regards,
Lord Mungo Napier, Shire of Isenfir Target Archery Marshal
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