{fb1000000There are those who would scorn an article encouraging violence, and I would be one to agree. For those of you who don't want to know the secrets of successful blow darting, I suggest you quickly turn to the next page. Meanwhile, for the rest of us, here's how to make and use blow darts.
Blow darts make excellent target practice weapons. They are very cheap to make, and are silent in use. Used properly, then can improve your hand-eye coordination and reflexes.
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To make some blow darts and a suitable firer, you will need:
• Lots of paper, standard A4 plain paper is perfect
• As many nails as you want darts. Use the ones that are designed not to crack wood when inserted. These don't have the flat round head, but have an elliptical shape, with a slightly larger bit at the top for you to knock them in with. The nails should be about an inch and a half long.
• A pencil
• Plenty of Sellotape
• A piece of copper or plastic piping, about 1cm in diameter, and 50cm long.
To make darts, simply tear a piece of A4 paper into four pieces. Take one of these pieces, making sure that the straight edges (the ones you haven't torn) are at the top and right hand sides. Place a small piece of Sellotape on the top of the nail, and stick it to the top right of the paper, so that it protrudes by about 3cm to the right hand side (the cream part is the Sellotape and the grey triangle the nail):
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Now, make the paper into a small cylinder by placing a pencil along the top edge of the paper, and rolling it up. Remove the paper, and by gripping the full length of paper cylinder, make the paper tighten into a long cone onto the nail and place a small piece of Sellotape about 10cm up to hold it together. The dart should now look like the one pictured at the start of this article.
Push the dart into your firing tube, and mark on it where it gets stuck. Now remove the dart, and cut it cleanly across 1cm in (towards the nail) from your mark. Discard the cut-offs for recycling, and continue until you have a number of darts. We recommend taking at least 20 or so when you go out, as you *always* lose them, and you won't want to come back in to make more once you have started.
Right, now you have your firer and some darts. Go outside, and find a secluded spot, away from houses, and people walking dogs etc. Pop a dart into the end of the pipe, nail first. The dart should just lodge in the end of the pipe. Now, place the end of the pipe on your lips (this is why a plastic pipe is better), aim away from any humans or animals (a tree is ideal) and blow as hard as you can in one short sharp blow from your lower chest. You should feel your lower abdomen move in as you blow out. That's it; the basics of blow darting.
Remember to be careful when doing this, as accidents will happen if you are careless or silly. I will finish on the words of my one of my mate's mum: "it's always fun 'til someone loses an eye".
