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Site News
(from newest to oldest)
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Tuesday, October 14th, 2008
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Boomerang Nationals in Dallas
The 2008 National Boomerang Championships and Expo are coming to Dallas!
I am co-hosting the tournament at Eastfield College in Mesquite Thursday through Sunday. It's my bad luck that we finally got the tournament on the same year that the world championships were in Seattle. Lots of the regular competitors used up their travel budget for that tournament, so I.m not expecting as big a turnout as the Nationals usually have. We.ll have around thirty throwers, and some of these folks are the best in the world.
Andrew and I will be going for personal bests in all the events. Holly won't be competing, but she'll be working the sales table and giving throwing lessons to kids.
If you want to see something you.ve never seen before and may never see again, come on down to Mesquite on Saturday or Sunday and watch a bunch of guys and gals throw curved sticks at themselves. In addition to seeing some exciting action, you can purchase boomerangs and we'll teach you how to throw and maybe even catch them.
Here's the official web site with maps and schedules: www.boomerangexpo.com
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Saturday, June 14th, 2008
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Cameron Takes First at "LD in Big-D"
 For
the second year in a row, my nephew Cameron Kelsey was down from
Oklahoma visiting during the weekend of the "LD in Big-D" long
distance boomerang tournament. Last year Cameron, Ace, and I all
competed in the tournament, and we were all disappointed in our
performances. Cameron showed great promise, throwing incredible
distances, but not quite getting those awesome throws to fully
return.
This year was different. On Cameron's first throw, he got
what looked like respectable distance, and a very nice return. The official
measurement: 118 meters! This was the first
successful return of the tournament, and it would stand through
all 5 rounds as the winning throw.
 We
weren't able to be at the tournament for the second day so we
only got in three rounds, but Ace and I didn't do too shabby
ourselves. Ace set a new personal best at 106 meters
and I set new personal bests with throws of 89, 94, 100, and
finally 107 meters. (Yes, my best beat Ace's by
1 measly meter.) Not only did we all set personal bests, but we
are finally in the "100 Meter Club". Our results should be up
on the LD
website, www.baggressive.com
soon.
At the end of the second round, Cameron, myself, and Ace were
in first, second, and third. This drew some good-natured ribbing
and threats of finding something in the by-laws against that kind
of family collusion.
We all have to thank the tournament host, David Hirsch for
sharing his LD boomerangs with us, and helping tune them
between throws. Thanks, David!
Since neither Cameron, myself, or Ace had ever thrown over 100
meters before, we were classified as "Intermediate"
competitors. So not only was Cameron the Tournament Champion, he
was also the Intermediate Champion. Ace was the Junior Champion,
though there were only 2 juniors entered.
There was other excitement too. We had a storm blow in and
cause a rain delay. I needed a break at that point, because I had
worn myself out by chasing my wind-blown golf umbrella clear
off the campus and into an apartment complex across the street.
There was a also scary moment when one of my throws hit a range
spotter, slicing his pinky finger to the bone. Glad to hear
you.re OK, Larry!
I didn't have my good camera out much, but I did take a few
phone-camera shots. A
small gallery is available here.
Here's something I had heard about, but just now found. I
don't know how long this link will remain active, but there's
a pre-tournament news spot video on WFAA's site here: http://www.wfaa.com/video/?z=y&nvid=253881
Here are the full final results:
- Cameron Kelsey - 118m
- Tom Wythes - 116m
- Joe Rader - 116m
- Dennis "Juice" Joyce - 112m
- Bruce Armstrong - 107m
- Ace Armstrong - 106m
- David Hirsch - 98m
- Stuart Jones - 98m
- Mark Wolff - 90m
- Larry Burns - 86m
- Bob Rudy - 86m
- Roy Dempsey - 86m
- Barry Burns - 72m
- Walter Owens - 59m
- Xee Rader - 50m
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Monday, September 17th, 2007
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Holly Shows Boomerangs in Art Class
 Holly's
7th grade Art class had a discussion on Aboriginal art and Holly
mentioned that her family happened to have "a few boomerangs". The
teacher wanted to see some, so the next day, Holly took a few to
school. With all the questions of "Do they really come back?", the
whole class soon ended up out on the football field with Holly giving
an impromptu demonstration. Luckily, she had also taken a lightweight
Carlotta to show how more .modern. paintjobs contrast to the
Aboriginal. So she had something easy to throw to start with. After
she threw and caught the Carlotta, the teacher and other kids wanted
to see one of the bigger boomerangs in action. Though Holly had never
thrown anything so large, she made a go of it and got some good
returns. The class was very impressed and now know that yes, they
really do come back. The teacher sent me this photo of Holly holding
some boomerangs in front of some of the class.s aboriginal art.
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| First Annual LD in BigD Tournament
 Ace
and I, along with my nephew Cameron attended the inaugural LD
in Big D boomerang tournament. This was a Long
Distance competition that took place at Eastfield
College in Mesquite. The three of us performed below our
expectations, but several of the competitors got over 100 meters. The
top three finishers were Tom Wythes with 130 meters, Stu Jones with
113 meters, and Joe Rader and David Hirsch tying with 112 meters.
 Ace
was the family champion (2nd place in Intermediate), beating Cameron
and I with his toss of 79 meters. This was 10-meter
improvement on his personal best set in Houston in 2004 when he was
also about 10 inches shorter.
It was blazing hot, and we went through water and Gatorade like
crazy. One gentleman collapsed from the heat well before noon (he
was fine after cooling down in the shade and being checked out by
paramedics), and it only got hotter from there. Unfortunately, prior
engagements kept us for coming back for Day 2, so we only got two
rounds of throwing in, and I felt terrible about not being able to
help the guys out on Sunday. The good news is that they were able to
round up enough people to range-spot and line-judge, so they were
able to get another official round in on Sunday, even though the 3
of us coulnd’t make it back.
 It
was definitely a fun outing, and even though LD isn’t my
strong suit, it sure whet my appetite for trying to beat my personal
best at some point in the near future.
See my
small photo gallery here, and here’s
a link to the Dallas Morning News’ pre-tournment write-up.
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| Thursday,
September 7th, 2006 |
| My Blog Entries about the Atlanta Nationals.
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| Wednesday,
September 6th, 2006 |
 Photos from Atlanta Nationals.
I've got my
photos available here. I'll try
to keep a list of all the Expo photo collections I come across.
Here's what I've seen so far:
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| Tuesday,
September 5th, 2006 |
| USBA National Boomerang Expo in Atlanta, GA.
Monday night we got back from our second-ever Boomerang
Nationals. I am working on getting photos, blog entries, and video
together. Check back soon to see the goods... |
| Friday,
August 26th, 2005 |
We Missed the 2005 LD Shootout. Ace and I missed the 2nd Annual Texas Long Distance Shootout boomerang tournament in Houston this year. Ace was not able to defend his junior championship from last year. Hopefully we’ll make it back in 2006.
I’m happy to report that a Boomerang Association of Dallas (BAD) member was the champion. Congratulations, David Hirsch, for throwing 126 meters!
Full results are here on the BAggressive
site. |
| Monday,
October 18th,
2004 |
  2004
Texas LD Shootout. The Armstrong boys spent the weekend in
Houston for the first annual Texas LD Shootout, a long-distance
boomerang tournament. Ace and I didn't expect to be able compete
with our lone phenolic LD boomerang, but we knew we'd have some fun.
It was amazing to see so many boomerangs fly over 100 meters with a
full return. Everyone was super-nice, especially after our only LD
boom ended up in two
pieces. Roy Dempsey and David Bacque loaned us very nice
boomerangs that we were able to achieve personal-best throws with
(Ace-69m, me-83m), and I ended up purchasing a super-high-tech model
from the tournament champion and new Canadian record holder, Andrew
Cross. Hopefully with it, I'll be joining the 100 Meter Club
whenever I can make it to another tournament.
Even though Ace was the only junior thrower, he
represented himself quite well, and he definitely deserved to be Junior
Champion. His pick from the prize table was a very nice
"Anaconda" boomerang by Alberto Sabal of Mar del Plata,
Argentina. My pick was a neat sport model that maker David Bacque
says will go around 60 meters. I gotta find a decent field to try it
out.
Though I didn't take as many photos as I'd've liked, I have put
up a
gallery of the pictures I was able to take. There is also an
album of action
shots taken by Danny Coppedge. |
| Wednesday, April 14th,
2004 |
Boom Swappin'. I have recently made some
boomerangs for exchanging with other boomsmiths. Here are a couple
of them (click for a larger image):
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3-Blader going to Richard Bower in
Seattle.
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Left-handed 3-Blader going to Dave Hughes
in Houston.
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| Expo DVD. I have finally completed a DVD of the Houston Expo. It
contains coverage by Houston TV station KHOU, video I shot myself, a
slideshow of still shots I took, and maybe a surprise or two. I have also created a mock-up
of the DVD menu system which you can check out here
to see what the DVD is like.
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| Wednesday, January
28th,
2004 |
 Lighted Boomerangs.
I've put together a page on a few boomerang
lighting techniques, including lighted Astrojax,
Body Lights, Glow Sticks, and fireworks sparklers. Click here
to check it out. |
| Tuesday, January 27th,
2004 |
 Whole
Lotta Painting Going On. This weekend saw the most paint
being sprayed in my workshop since the beginning of Digital
Boomerang Systems over 10 years ago. (At one point I forgot to open
the garage door for ventilation and momentarily forgot my ABC's.) We
experimented with some new masking techniques which turned out
really good thanks to 3M's
"Safe Release" Blue Masking Tape. We also did some
basic color-blending paint jobs and finished up a neat looking
"rubber-band masked" paint job. Clicking on the image to
the right will bring up a very high resolution version where you can
see the details better. Later, I'll post close-ups of some of the
more interesting ones.
We caught a weather break and were able to go out and throw these
this evening a while before sundown, and I must say several of them
look great flying. The random-looking 3-bladers in particular look
spectacular when they come around and the sun hits those asymmetrical
spinning colors just right.
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| Monday, January 19th,
2004 |
Rad New Designs with my Nephew Cameron.
My sister Chris and her 14 year-old son Cameron came down from
Oklahoma for a visit this past weekend since they had Monday off for
Martin Luther King Day. Lots of our time was spent making boomerangs
with Cameron. This kid came up with some crazy new designs, and even
though they may look like weapons of some sort, I'm happy to say
that at the end of his visit, they were flying great. In case you're
thinking the 3-blader's paint job looks too good to be true, you're
right. We scanned in the boomerang and then used Photoshop to try
out paint jobs until we found one we liked. I forgot to get photos
of the finished products, but next time I see Cameron, I'll be sure
to do so.
It was cold and rainy most of the weekend and to get to the
workshop, we practically had to wade through a pond in my back yard.
After a couple of days of this, we were dying to try out these new
designs. Luckily Monday (the last day of Cameron's stay) was a
reasonably nice day. It was cold and windy, but at least the sun was
out. I took the kids up to the field for a while and we were pleased
to see that these radical new untested designs flew like champs.
Thank goodness we didn't have to work on them after testing, because
due to time considerations, we had already painted them. Soon Holly
was ready to go home, but Andrew and Cameron wanted to stay. I left
them at the field alone for a while and they made great use of that
practice time. Cameron has only thrown a few times, but he has
caught on quickly, and later on Monday he was competing quite
respectably in a few rounds of GLORP with Andrew and I.
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| Monday, December 22nd, 2003 |
 New
Power Tool! For years, I shaped my airfoils with a
mounted-upside-down hand-sized belt-sander. This has been reasonably
effective, but since my latest outbreak of Boomerang Fever,
I've been wanting something a little more powerful and versatile.
The week before Christmas, I had taken my daughter shopping,
ostensibly so she could buy gifts for her mom and brother. Somehow,
we ended up at a Home Depot. I spotted this Ridgid
Oscillating Edge Belt/Spindle Sander and thought it would
sure be neat to have. When I saw that it was on sale for 20% off, I
was even more interested.
I knew my wife planned to do some Christmas shopping later in the
day, so I called her up and asked if she'd like to get me something really
nice, that would definitely see lots of use. Next thing I know, I'm
loading this huge box up in the truck and the next stop is the
hobby shop where I buy 3mm plywood. Even better, once I got it
home, I was told I could open this one Christmas present early
because my wife knows that since I'm on vacation, there's no better
time to get some use out of this thing.
Well, it turns out that it is really excellent for boomerang
making. I can get my blanks smooth quickly using the unit's table
top and shaping the airfoils takes a fraction of the previous time
thanks to this thing's "very aggressive" sanding. I did
pick up some 120 grit belts as the 80 grit included would have been
too rough. I had to start using a particle mask more seriously too,
since way more sawdust flies off this thing than I'm used to. I
haven't really used the spindle sanding abilities yet, but it's nice
to know I have them available when I get into a tight spot.
This industrial strength unit may seem like overkill for
boomerang making, but I'm still hoping to get into some other, more
practical areas of woodworking some day.
Here's some links:
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| Friday, November 14th, 2003 |
 Got my Order from the Boomerang Man.
For many years, I've thrown my own creations almost exclusively. I
have received some nice boomerangs as gifts now and then (mostly Colorado
Boomerangs), and I've really enjoyed them, but I always find
myself gravitating to my own creations. Down at the National
Boomerang Expo in Houston, I got exposed to some amazing boomerangs.
When I saw the specialization of the booms used in the competition
events, I really got a hankering to make some purchases. I bought a
few there at the Expo, most notably a Fast Catch I "won"
at the auction. But I knew that if I wanted to make some mass
purchases, the man to talk to was Richard
Harrison, a.k.a. "The Boomerang Man".
Rich is super-knowledgeable and super-nice. I ended up talking on
the phone with him for over half an hour before finally placing my
$80+ order. He promises "Fast, Personal, Service", and
boy, does he deliver! I had my order within 48 hours, well-packed,
and exactly what I had asked for. In the photo to the left, you can
see a sampling of what I received. In order from the top are a Roger
Perry composite MTA (Maximum Time Aloft), a graphite Spinback 55 LD
(Long Distance), and a sampling of the several Tri-Flys I received.
Let's talk about each in a little more detail:
 | I've tried making MTA's before, but without great success,
mostly because of the complex tuning required to get a good
flight. This Perry MTA is much smaller than what I've made in
the past, and is pre-tuned for a good flight right out of the
box. On the cold-weather outings I've taken this on, I've had
some 20+ second flights and am hoping for 30+ seconds when the
weather warms. |
| The graphite LD is a nice flyer, but its ~60 yard flight
doesn't
really seem any farther than some models I've made myself. I'm
still happy to have it. |
| The Tri-Fly's shown are made of ABS and PET, both denser
plastics than the normal polypropylene versions I've thrown
before. Though I like to keep several of the basic Tri-Flys
around in case beginners stop by when we're throwing, I got
these higher-tech versions specifically to try out some
modifications on them. I've seen plans for reshaping them into
trick catch and fast catch models, and in fact, the world record
Fast Catch time (less than 15 seconds for 5 throws and
catches!) was set with a modified Tri-Fly. |
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| Monday, October 20th, 2003 |
 USBA National Boomerang Expo in Houston.
Though I flipped and flopped about whether to actually attend this
thing, boy am I glad we went! We had planned to merely spectate,
take part in workshops, and help out wherever we could, but on the
night we arrived, I ran into tournament director Tony Brazelton, and he
convinced Andrew, Holly, and me to sign up for the actual
competitions. Andrew, or "Ace" as he was known by the
other boomerangers, is now the National Champion of the both
the Novice and Junior divisions. Holly won several silver medals,
and I even managed to score a few medals myself in the Intermediate
division. Check back soon for a longer write-up on this super-fun
event, but for now enjoy
the photo galleries.
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| Thursday,
April 26th, 2003 |
New
Light-weight "Wood Saver" Models. We really only had one
nice, light-weight boomerang for 8 year-old Holly to throw (see picture
below), and didn't have any 4mm plywood to make more. Not wanting to wait long
enough to order some plywood and have it delivered, we took a chance and went to
an old hobby shop in Irving, TX to see
what they had (I had bought from them years ago). I wanted 4mm, but when the
proprietor showed me the price list it skipped from 3mm to 5mm. I decided it
wouldn't hurt to try to make something from the 3mm, and the price was right
($10 for 48"x12") so 3mm it is.
Though Holly is getting a stronger throwing arm, I wanted to make something
that turned quickly so that it would make it back to her. The best thing I had
for that was my old "Cheater"
model (looks like a 2-blader, flies like a 3-blader). After placing this on the
wood to trace the pattern, I saw that I could maximize the wood use by using the
inner and outer lines of the main boomerang to design two more. Though this is
certainly not a revolutionary idea, in this case I came up with two excellent
new models in addition to the one I set out to make. The smallest one only goes
out about 15 yards, but is a very fast returner. The largest one has a
surprisingly long range and quickly became Andrew's favorite boomerang. All
three are feather-light and you'd be hard pressed to injure yourself with one. Since
they are only 3mm thick, I do have some concerns about their durability, but I'm hoping
that since they do weigh so little that they're less likely to crash hard enough
to break. So far, so good. We've thrown them lots and they're holding up fine. I
now think that an awkward catch is more likely to break one than an actual
crash.
If you visit the MAL Hobby Shop's website,
be sure to check out the newspaper
article about the neat old gentleman who runs the place. He is 94 years old
now and incredibly sharp. He guessed both Andrew's and Holly's ages exactly and
was very fun to listen to for a while. We spent way more time in the store and
bought a few more things than we might have (model airplanes, kites) if he
hadn't been so entertaining. (No offence to his also-friendly son.)
| Saturday,
April 19th, 2003 |
Great
New Tool Purchase. Today I picked up a Ryobi
"Corner Cat" Finish Sander. On its first use, it has proven its
worth on the tough, otherwise hard-to-reach, inner elbow area of a boomerang.
That's the main reason I got it, but it is also nice for sanding the rest of a
boomerang too. Look for production to go through the roof! Click
here for another picture of the tool and you can get a better idea of its
size. This entry makes me think that I should do a page on what all tools of the
boomerang trade I use in the workshop.
| Thursday,
April 10th, 2003 |
Way
to go, Holly! Today Holly really came into her own as a boomerang
athlete. Using her same old light-weight model, she was making lots of
really good throws that were pretty much coming back, but that she just
wasn't quite able to haul in for the catch. But once she did get her first
catch for the day, the flood-gates were open! After her first catch, I
high-fived her and asked if she could make it two in a row. Well, not only
did she do that, but she also caught the one after that for an amazing
three-in-a-row! Unfortunately, the one after that sailed back and over her
head, breaking her streak, but she still wasn't done. By the time she
quit, she had made 8 catches total. Pretty impressive for a 8-year-old
girl. Pretty impressive for any novice, actually!
Andrew Finally Meets the Challenge. Andrew and I have had a
long-standing deal every time we go to the boomerang field: If he can
catch his very first throw of the outing, I'll pay him $5. If he misses
the first and gets his second instead, he earns $2.50. The third is only
worth $1.25, and if you've caught on to this pattern, you can figure out
that after several misses, it's not even worth tallying up. You may be
thinking I've gotta pay my son to go throw with me, but nothing could be
farther from the truth. It's really just a simple exercise in dealing with
pressure. And I do heap on the pressure. "You gonna get that first
catch today, Andrew? Wow, Five dollars! Can you imagine? I sure hope you
don't DROP IT!"
In the past, I have had to pay out $1.25 or maybe 62 cents a few times,
but he had never hit the big money. A few days ago, he caught his second
throw, and I knew it wouldn't be long before he finally hit the jackpot.
Well, today was the day! And it was even more pressure than usual because
it wasn't just me and him, but also his sister and Jamal, another kid from
the neighborhood. We were explaining the challenge to Jamal, and Andrew
stepped up to make his throw. Perfect strength, perfect trajectory,
perfect layover, perfect wind-angle. In other words, a perfect throw! The
boomerang boomeranged right back to him for an easy catch. I know I
never made five dollars so easily!
So now that he has succeeded at the challenge, I have deemed that he is no longer eligible.
Somehow, I don't think that'll make him want to go throw any less.
One last Andrew note for the day is that he decided that it was just wrong
for his name not to appear in the DBS record books,
so he promptly established a junior division and set the two-handed
consecutive catch record at an even 10. He would have ran the score up
higher if we hadn't ran out of time. We still haven't yet defined whether
this should be 12-and-under or 14-and-under or what, but at 10 years old,
he's got a few years left to set records. (I really expect him to pop up
in the "adult" records soon enough.)
(I guess I should mention that the main
reason we went to the throwing field today was to test some new models we
worked on last weekend. This was the first day since then that the wind
wasn't absolutely howling. We've got a bit more work to go on our two new
models, but they'll be featured here soon I'm sure. Andrew and I also
sketched out a few new designs on paper tonight, and I suspect we'll be
doing more building in the near future.)
Three At Once. A trick I've tried a few times over the years is
throwing three boomerangs, one after the other so that all three are in the air
simultaneously, and catching them all. I don't know the exact day, but one day
this month I finally did it! The boomerangs I used were my dual sport models
and one other that I can't exactly remember right now. Maybe this memory-lapse
will encourage me to update the site more often instead of sitting on news so
long. (I'm writing this February news in April.)
| Sunday, October 19th, 2002 |
A Milestone Day! Sunday afternoon had near-perfect boomerang conditions: Cool, overcast, and a
very light, steady wind. It was a day of milestones for the Armstrong kids.
Andrew
and I had gone up to the college grounds alone and had been throwing for awhile when
Michelle and
Holly returned from their shopping trip and walked up to join us. On Holly's very first throw, she got her first catch of a boomerang she threw herself (on a previous outing, she had caught one that I had tossed for her). She barely had to move to get to it and catch it. Hers is a
very light-weight 1/8" plywood model. The catch was not a fluke as she
had several more nice throws and she caught another one before packing it in for the day (her and Michelle were only there for 20 minutes or so).
On the opposite end of the boomerang
weight spectrum, Andrew got a catch with my super-long-distance weighted model. He had been throwing my favorite
"sport model" for a while now and I mentioned how much his arm-strength had improved since the beginning of the year and that he might actually be able to throw the weighted model by next year. Well, for some reason, he took this as a challenge and threw the weighted model probably 30 times before finally getting a catch. You have to really hurl it, and if the winds are light like they were that day, it is pretty difficult to get it to come all the way back. Come to think of it, perhaps telling him I'd pay him $5 if he caught it may have had something to do with his tenacity.
Another milestone for Andrew was getting several 1 finger catches with the 3-blader, including several with his left hand's
finger (maybe his right hand fingers had had enough of being chopped by the
spinning blades)..
My personal milestone was SMASHING the old DBS juggling
record. Using 2 boomerangs, I got 9 completions while always keeping one boomerang in the air. The old record which I blew to smithereens?
Seven. I used my dual sport models instead of the
smaller pair I used to use for this event.
I tried a stunt of having 3 in the air at once, and catching all 3, but 2 was the most I ever caught.
Let's see... Anything else of note that day? Oh, yeah. I re-tuned a plastic 3-blader for left-handed throwing and freaked Andrew
out with some opposite-direction flights. You don't see those clockwise paths
too often around here.
Mystery
Gift. I hadn't made a boomerang in way too long. What better excuse
to get back in the groove than to make someone a fabulous, hand-crafted
Christmas gift? My wife's cousin's husband Joe became a big fan of boomerangs
the first time we took him out throwing. His wife kept hinting to my wife how
much he would love a boomerang of his own. One hint was all I needed. I
fired up the old band saw and belt sander and went to work. This is probably one
of the longest times I've spent making a boomerang, partly because I was a bit
out of practice, and partly because I wanted Joe to have an excellent specimen
to start his collection. I'm sorry to report that after sitting for years in the
garage, some of my spray paint wasn't acting quite right, so the paint job
doesn't quite match the quality of the boomerang itself, but it is still fairly
flashy, if I do say so myself. Well, needless to say, the gift was a fabulous
success. Gift-wrapping the boomerang was almost as much fun as making it, and
I'm sure Joe had no idea what it was, even if he shook, rattled, and rolled the
package 'til he was blue in the face.
Boomerang
Catch & Bionic Jumps (VCD-Standard MPEG - 10,211KB)
I
should edit this video to make it boomerang-only for this site, but for now
there is a perfectly good boomerang-related video sitting on my other site, so
I'm linking it here. This is one of Andrew's "Show and Tell"
videos that he took to school on VHS to show to his class. The second
segment of this one has spectacular 70's-action-show-quality
special effects.
Andrew helped make his first boomerang. He drew out the design on paper, cut
that out, then traced the shape onto the plywood. We cut it out on the band saw,
and under intense supervision, I let him cut a couple of inches along the
straight parts. It is somewhat short and stubby, so it doesn't have a great
hover, but it is a decent flyer. One near-tragedy that befell this boomerang is
that we left it in the field while we went off to throw Aerobies
for a bit, and soon after, we saw a stray dog running around with the boomerang
in its mouth! Luckily, a bit of wood putty filled most of the teeth-shaped
dents. We also developed a cool Photoshop technique to design paint jobs. The
kids had lots of fun with that, but we lost all their groovy paintjobs in a hard
drive crash. Just to have one, I copied my favorite real paint job as seen here
on the right.
I registered the name Boomsmith.com. Previously I had a
boomerang page on my personal site, but decided to get a little ambitious and
put all my boomerang stuff on its own site. I also joined the Boomerang
Web Ring and started getting visitors from all over the world. Oh, if only I
had had a guest book running this whole time!
| Sometime
in the year 2000 |
My 8-year-old son Andrew has just recently gotten his first
catch. He's been throwing better and better and finally he caught one. It was no
accident, because he got three catches that same outing. I used to jokingly ask "What
child is luckier than the Boomerang Maker's son?". Lucky for me, Andrew
really does like boomerangs. No joke. He has aspirations of making his own and
will probably soon paint one himself that I made for him a couple of years ago.
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Teak Furniture
This page was last updated on
06/19/07 04:39:27 PM
.
(This thing's been reset so many times, it's basically
meaningless now.)
2004
Texas LD Shootout. The Armstrong boys spent the weekend in
Houston for the first annual Texas LD Shootout, a long-distance
boomerang tournament. Ace and I didn't expect to be able compete
with our lone phenolic LD boomerang, but we knew we'd have some fun.
It was amazing to see so many boomerangs fly over 100 meters with a
full return. Everyone was super-nice, especially after our only LD
boom ended up in two
pieces. Roy Dempsey and David Bacque loaned us very nice
boomerangs that we were able to achieve personal-best throws with
(Ace-69m, me-83m), and I ended up purchasing a super-high-tech model
from the tournament champion and new Canadian record holder, Andrew
Cross. Hopefully with it, I'll be joining the 100 Meter Club
whenever I can make it to another tournament.
Whole
Lotta Painting Going On. This weekend saw the most paint
being sprayed in my workshop since the beginning of Digital
Boomerang Systems over 10 years ago. (At one point I forgot to open
the garage door for ventilation and momentarily forgot my ABC's.) We
experimented with some new masking techniques which turned out
really good thanks to 3M's
"Safe Release" Blue Masking Tape. We also did some
basic color-blending paint jobs and finished up a neat looking
"rubber-band masked" paint job. Clicking on the image to
the right will bring up a very high resolution version where you can
see the details better. Later, I'll post close-ups of some of the
more interesting ones.
Got my Order from the Boomerang Man.
For many years, I've thrown my own creations almost exclusively. I
have received some nice boomerangs as gifts now and then (mostly Colorado
Boomerangs), and I've really enjoyed them, but I always find
myself gravitating to my own creations. Down at the National
Boomerang Expo in Houston, I got exposed to some amazing boomerangs.
When I saw the specialization of the booms used in the competition
events, I really got a hankering to make some purchases. I bought a
few there at the Expo, most notably a Fast Catch I "won"
at the auction. But I knew that if I wanted to make some mass
purchases, the man to talk to was Richard
Harrison, a.k.a. "The Boomerang Man".
New
Light-weight "Wood Saver" Models. We really only had one
nice, light-weight boomerang for 8 year-old Holly to throw (see picture
below), and didn't have any 4mm plywood to make more. Not wanting to wait long
enough to order some plywood and have it delivered, we took a chance and went to
an old hobby shop in Irving, TX to see
what they had (I had bought from them years ago). I wanted 4mm, but when the
proprietor showed me the price list it skipped from 3mm to 5mm. I decided it
wouldn't hurt to try to make something from the 3mm, and the price was right
($10 for 48"x12") so 3mm it is. 
Way
to go, Holly! Today Holly really came into her own as a boomerang
athlete. Using her same old light-weight model, she was making lots of
really good throws that were pretty much coming back, but that she just
wasn't quite able to haul in for the catch. But once she did get her first
catch for the day, the flood-gates were open! After her first catch, I
high-fived her and asked if she could make it two in a row. Well, not only
did she do that, but she also caught the one after that for an amazing
three-in-a-row! Unfortunately, the one after that sailed back and over her
head, breaking her streak, but she still wasn't done. By the time she
quit, she had made 8 catches total. Pretty impressive for a 8-year-old
girl. Pretty impressive for any novice, actually!
Andrew Finally Meets the Challenge. Andrew and I have had a
long-standing deal every time we go to the boomerang field: If he can
catch his very first throw of the outing, I'll pay him $5. If he misses
the first and gets his second instead, he earns $2.50. The third is only
worth $1.25, and if you've caught on to this pattern, you can figure out
that after several misses, it's not even worth tallying up. You may be
thinking I've gotta pay my son to go throw with me, but nothing could be
farther from the truth. It's really just a simple exercise in dealing with
pressure. And I do heap on the pressure. "You gonna get that first
catch today, Andrew? Wow, Five dollars! Can you imagine? I sure hope you
don't DROP IT!"
Andrew
and I had gone up to the college grounds alone and had been throwing for awhile when
Michelle and
Holly returned from their shopping trip and walked up to join us. On Holly's very first throw, she got her first catch of a boomerang she threw herself (on a previous outing, she had caught one that I had tossed for her). She barely had to move to get to it and catch it. Hers is a
very light-weight 1/8" plywood model. The catch was not a fluke as she
had several more nice throws and she caught another one before packing it in for the day (her and Michelle were only there for 20 minutes or so).
On the opposite end of the boomerang
weight spectrum, Andrew got a catch with my super-long-distance weighted model. He had been throwing my favorite
"sport model" for a while now and I mentioned how much his arm-strength had improved since the beginning of the year and that he might actually be able to throw the weighted model by next year. Well, for some reason, he took this as a challenge and threw the weighted model probably 30 times before finally getting a catch. You have to really hurl it, and if the winds are light like they were that day, it is pretty difficult to get it to come all the way back. Come to think of it, perhaps telling him I'd pay him $5 if he caught it may have had something to do with his tenacity.
Mystery
Gift. I hadn't made a boomerang in way too long. What better excuse
to get back in the groove than to make someone a fabulous, hand-crafted
Christmas gift? My wife's cousin's husband Joe became a big fan of boomerangs
the first time we took him out throwing. His wife kept hinting to my wife how
much he would love a boomerang of his own. One hint was all I needed. I
fired up the old band saw and belt sander and went to work. This is probably one
of the longest times I've spent making a boomerang, partly because I was a bit
out of practice, and partly because I wanted Joe to have an excellent specimen
to start his collection. I'm sorry to report that after sitting for years in the
garage, some of my spray paint wasn't acting quite right, so the paint job
doesn't quite match the quality of the boomerang itself, but it is still fairly
flashy, if I do say so myself. Well, needless to say, the gift was a fabulous
success. Gift-wrapping the boomerang was almost as much fun as making it, and
I'm sure Joe had no idea what it was, even if he shook, rattled, and rolled the
package 'til he was blue in the face.
Andrew helped make his first boomerang. He drew out the design on paper, cut
that out, then traced the shape onto the plywood. We cut it out on the band saw,
and under intense supervision, I let him cut a couple of inches along the
straight parts. It is somewhat short and stubby, so it doesn't have a great
hover, but it is a decent flyer. One near-tragedy that befell this boomerang is
that we left it in the field while we went off to throw Aerobies
for a bit, and soon after, we saw a stray dog running around with the boomerang
in its mouth! Luckily, a bit of wood putty filled most of the teeth-shaped
dents. We also developed a cool Photoshop technique to design paint jobs. The
kids had lots of fun with that, but we lost all their groovy paintjobs in a hard
drive crash. Just to have one, I copied my favorite real paint job as seen here
on the right.
