Wood boomerang template

I use wood 2" to 3" wide for normal shapes, 3" for triblades and 2" for quadriblades. When I make lapjoints, the more traditional boomerangs normally require two pieces at least 12" long, triblades need three pieces from 6 to 8" long and quadriblades need two pieces at a perfect 12".

There are two ways to resaw; with the band saw or with the table saw. I use both. The band saw takes a smaller kerf giving more usable wood, but the table saw is more accurate at my house and I don't spend as much time sanding. See photo 1 for resawing at the bandsaw. Either way, I usually give the wood a trip to the sander or planer to make sure it is flat and even. I am fortunate enough to own a wide drum sander, which makes that work go so easy.

One more way of obtaining thin wood would be to reduce thicker wood with a planer as in photo 2. A reminder, be sure you are working with dry and not green wood. I have included some additional dealers of thin hardwoods at the end of part one.

The savvy shopper can also obtain very nice thin woods on Ebay see source below. Two things to watch out for when selecting pieces of wood for your boomerang are knots and extreme changes in grain pattern. Knots are sometimes difficult to work with, especially if they are located in the area you plan to route. Extreme changes in grain, such as burls and unusual curl, can often be weak points in the finished boomerang. OK, we now have some wood and we are ready to go.

Here is where we need to divide up the processes by which style boomerang we are making. We will start with traditional shapes, so you multi blade fans need to wait until Part Two of the article. The first thing you need to do is cut the angle you wish the elbow to be. If you decided that a 90 degree angle is good enough, you can cut the pieces off square, otherwise continue on. I estimate the angle by laying a template of the final shape or a boomerang used for a template , on my table saw and eyeballing a cut right through the elbow.

The boomerang's elbow, not mine. See photo 3. I lock my miter gauge and make the same cut on both pieces of wood not the boomerang. I should note that I have attached a wood extension to my miter gauge, which allows me to use stop block to make the pieces exactly the same length and also allows shorter pieces to be cut at a greater angle.

Otherwise the piece may not reach the blade. When you are done flip one piece over and overlap the pieces at the elbow, the result should be the correct angle as in photo 4. While you have the saw set, cut a piece of scrap wood with the same angle to use as a push block during routing.

Photo 5 shows two cut strips and a pusher piece. Make sure that piece has parallel sides before cutting. I now have several pieces at different angle that I reuse. This makes the set up easier for the next time. Two angles I frequently use are 18 and 22 degrees. I keep a push block for them handy and use it to set my miter angle. Photo 6 shows how you can obtain a different shaped boomerang reversing the angle on the cut pieces.

Now it's time to get out the router table. Mine is an old Craftsman table with matching router. First, I use a straight piece of wood for a fence and attach it to the table behind the bit. I make sure that the distance from the fence to the front edge of the bit is the same as the width of the wood I am using as in photo 7.

I then set the router bit depth to just a little less that half the thickness of the wood like photo 8. Chances are that you've never experienced a properly functioning hand plane. It takes a little effort tweaking and sharpening, but the results are very worthwhile, as you'll see. Crown molding is a powerful way to improve the look of your home, and here's the place to get tricks and tips for installing crown molding with skill.

Looking to learn how to work with wood and don't know where to start? My DIYUniversity Course on woodworking for beginners is the best place online to learn a new skill and develop good working habits that will save you time and energy down the line. The differences are very subtle. If the bending is very noticeable without a flat reference surface, you've probably overdone it.

This is it: the moment of truth. Test your boomerang to see if it needs further adjustments. Of course you'll need to know how to throw it first:.

Step 1: Find a big open field with soft terrain like football field, park, beach etc. A boomerang easily goes out 25 to 30 m 27 to 32 yards. So make sure you have enough space around you in every direction, and no bystanders in the way. Step 2: Determine the wind direction e.

In other words, if the wind comes from 12 o'clock, throw somewhere between 1 and 2. For lefties, throw somewhere between 10 and 11 o'clock. Step 3: Hold the boomerang between thumb and fist with the profiled side facing you.

Doesn't matter which arm you grip. It's a matter of preference. Step 4: Throw pretty vertical with a slight inclination to the right to the left for lefties. Never throw horizontal like a frisbee! Step 5: Throw with lots of rotation. That's what makes it come back to you, so you can never have enough spin. If it wants to do an extra loop, you probably threw it too hard. Step 6: It will come back horizontal. Do a sandwich catch by clapping your hands together.

It should have slowed down enough to make an easy catch. If it comes in too fast, don't bother catching. If the wind is a bit too strong, you can make your boomerang less efficient by adding rubber bands to one or both wings.

The closer to the tip of the wing, the more effect. Never throw in high winds! The boomerang will come back way too fast and might injure you. If your boomerang doesn't fly like you want it to, you can try to vary your throwing style. For example, you could alter the angle to the wind, the height and power of your throw, the angle at which you hold the boomerang or a combination of these. If that doesn't help, there are a few things you can do.

Does your boomerang fly too high or does it fly too low so that it crashes to the ground about midway? This can be adjusted by bending the wings. Bending upwards results in higher flights, and bending down in lower flights. Does your boomerang fall short? If it tries to make a circle, but slows down and drops dead prematurely, it is most likely that your boomerang does not have enough lift.

There are a number of ways to increase lift. Bending both wings up a little more could be enough to generate that extra lift.

Do this first because you can always bend them down again. This modification also affects the height of the flight, so if it was already flying high, I recommend doing something else. Removing more wood from the trailing edge will also increase lift. But don't make the edge too sharp. A third option is to remove some wood from the underside of each leading edge, as shown in the picture. Does your boomerang try to make an extra loop? Try throwing it with less force.

It might be that your boomerang has too much lift. You could try to remove more wood from the leading edges. Other than that, there's nothing much you can do except start over. That's why it's important to gradually remove wood and test each time, because you can't undo removal of too much wood. Regardless of the modification you make: a little goes a long way. Small modifications can make huge differences, so don't overdo it, and try 1 modification at a time.

Once you're satisfied with the flight of your boomerang, you can go ahead and paint it in whatever colors you like.

Before you do that, give it a quick sanding with the fine grit sandpaper to get it extra smooth. But be careful not to sand too much, because you don't want to change the flight characteristics anymore.

I use acrylic paint, because once it's dry, it doesn't wash away with water like water color paint for example. Spray cans would also work. I use a polyurethane wood varnish for protection. I give 1 coat on both sides and let it dry 24 hours.

Then I do a quick sanding with the fine grit to get rid of any irregularities. Just a couple of passes will do, because you don't want to sand your paint away. Then you give a final coating on both sides respect the drying time for each side and your done! Once your varnish is dry, go out there and throw!