Hammerhead bolt

Sittin here, sippin some R&R, and I thaught of an Idea.

I don't know if you've ever used a Pea nailer before. I actually don't know if that's what it's called. That's what my grandpa calls it. It's basically an extension for a hammer. It's about 8 inches long, one side is magnetic and holds a tack or nail, then you strike the other side with a hammer to drive the tack or nail. We use them to get through the leather webbing and nail down the pocket ears on pool tables. ( if any of that makes sense... I move and put together pool tables for part of my living)...

Anyway (Sorry, I tend to ramble when drinking )

I was thinking, what if you made a bolt with a reinforced heavy shaft and a magnetic head that you can attach a tack or nail to. It'd be a like an old timey nail gun. One pull of the trigger and your nail is driven.

I don't know the practicallity of this invention but it certainly is interesting....

As a weapon, it's kindof scary really. Cause if you get shot with an aorrow or bolt, yeah it sucks to get out but at least you can see and get to it. Whereas with this, you just have a nail or worse... a headless spike... stuck in you whithout any way to pull it out. Unless you have a claw hammer or a flat bar handy.

But, I'm not a violent person and I like to think of the craftsman aspect of it. Being able to drive a nail from a distance could have its benefits... coodinit?

That sounds like an evil innovation I can think of a few uses, such as pest control, zombie hunting, and just wanton destruction.

Dane

Made an exploding arrow once about twenty years ago. Luckily I was shooting from behind a tree. Never thought of trying a nail.

Check out the atlatl and its fore shaft. Lots of videos on youtube showing how they work and how to make them. Idea is to hollow out a short section of your shaft, reinforce with sinew and glue. Insert fore shaft of your choice, launch it, recover main shaft, reload and relaunch. Handy if you have a herd of mammoths around to practice on. We haven't seen any around here for 200 years or so. See how well they work.

I think this is an interesting idea. You would need a heavy bolt, so thinking you would need a heavy steel prod to go with it but it could work.

This is a link to making an atlatl dart. He used a river cane, I think. Bamboo would be a garden center replacement.

I can picture this as a way to stick something with a marker or a tracking device.

A bolt with a detachable foreshaft that gets embedded in the target with a barb retaining it. And upon penetration to a certain depth, the ball bearing release rim is pressed against the surface and the tracking module (similar to how you release a quick disconnect for air hoses)

Perhaps this is something that can be introduced to the guys who tag sharks/whales with tracking devices to study their migration etc.

Abo, you're onto something with this thing.

Ivo

PS: Now that I look at it, I think I drew the quick disconnect all wrong.

haha, I was fartin around in the shop and I decided to give this arrow a try.

So I grabbed an old beat up arrow and cut the tip of the head off to make it flat, then I used a little tiny magnet that I had and attached a nail on it



Simple as that!

I loaded the "Daedric Bacon Crossbow" and shot at a chunk of 2x4 from about fifteen feet and laughed my ass off when the arrow burried itself in the wood.





Ok, so it's not technically burried, but for driving a nail in that far then penetrating that deep with a flat head, I'd say that's pretty god damn impressive,

I split the wood with a hatchet to get my magnet back and it was kinda neat cause you could see the penetration of the nail and the arrow



I tried it again and this time got good news and bad news.

The good news is that it drove the nail hella...



The bad news however, the arrow bounced and flew up in the air and the magnet is nowhere to be found.

In conclusion, this has some potential. If I wasn't working on my super awesome suprise project right now I'd be building a crossbow bolt (not an arrow) with a built in magnet and heavier shaft (this one is only fiberglass) That could hold and drive a bigger nail.

It's also needless to say, but I'm gonna do it anyway, It would suck a big one to get "hammered" by one of these.

Wow that is darn impressive. Your crossbow drove that nail deeper than I would have thought. There maybe some thing to this idea.