Here is a dart holder atlatl I'm making as part of the package I plan to send to my recipient.
The dart has a holder shoulder at the nock which sits in a notched area to hold the dart against the spur. Conventional darts can be used with normal finger pressure to hold the dart back against the spur.
This works great. It is effortless to hold the atlatl with a dart loaded. The dart can't loose contact with the spur until it pivots out about 10 Deg. from hold position. Once the throw is started and the atlatl starts rotating up, the holder shoulder clears the holding groove and is only in contact with the spur until it launches.
The atlatl is about 24" long and the handle is rotated away from the thrower to help line up wrist bend within the swing. Made from an unknown kind of sapling that has leaves a lot like honey locust with bark that is very dark and smoothe except for lots of lighter colered goose bumps all over but spread out a little. The wood right under the bark is a dark grey with really bright yellow wood under that and a medium reddish brown and yellow striped heart wood. The pics don't do the wood justice.
The holder shoulder is a short piece of cane fitted snuggly over the end of the dart and rounded over a little on the rear. The notch in the atlatl could be made a shade deeper and a straight sides shoulder holder would work. The pic with dart nocks shows the one dart with a shoulder holder next to three regular darts.
I still gotta apply the finish and finish making some darts to send. The shafts are mostly straightened but lack fletching, finish and points.
I've had fun making the working dart holder and tried several diffrerant ways that would hold the dart but none came close to working as well as this dose. Will post an update when I get more done with the set. Terry
