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the paracord wrap is the part most people overlook… but it’s where the catapult is made. Every frame is wrapped by hand—tight, even, and built to feel right the second you pick it up. No shortcuts. Just repetition, patience, and doing it properly. www.catapultcarnage.co.uk

In this video I’m comparing my old slingshot finishing process with the new tumbled / stonewashed finish I’ve started using. The old way was all done by hand. After the frames were waterjet cut, I had to remove the tabs, countersink the holes, route the edges, then start the sanding process. The main areas that took the most time were the fork tips, the cup of the forks, and anywhere your fingers or thumb sit on the frame. For the old satin finish, I’d normally work through different grits of sandpaper, shaping the fork tips first with a coarser grit, then refining them with finer grits before polishing and knocking the shine back to a satin finish. The problem with that is every stage takes time, and every frame depends on how much hand work goes into it. Different sanding tools also leave different marks. The disc sander is good for getting flat areas and fork tips shaped quickly, but it can leave directional scratches if you don’t work through the grits properly. The bobbin / spindle sander is better for the inside curves and the cup of the forks, where your fingers sit, but again, it still needs refining afterwards. Hand sanding gives the most control, especially around the tips and grip areas, but it is also the slowest part of the whole process. The new process is different. I still shape the important areas by hand, especially the fork tips, because those affect how the bands sit and how the frame aims. But instead of sanding the entire frame to a finished satin polish, the frames now go into the tumbler. The tumbler works over the whole frame and gives it a matte, stonewashed-style finish. The biggest difference is consistency. With hand sanding, small differences in pressure, angle, grit, or time can change the final look from frame to frame. With the tumbler, the finish is much more even across the full batch. The tumbled finish also has practical benefits. It reduces glare on the fork tips, which is better for aiming in bright light. It hides small marks and scratches better than a polished or satin finish. It also gives the frame a smooth, worn-in feel without making it slippery. So the old way gave a nice handmade satin finish, but it took a lot of time and labour. The new way still keeps the important hand-shaped areas, but the tumbler does the bulk of the finishing work. For me, that means a more practical finish, better consistency, less glare, and a huge saving in sanding time. This is probably the biggest change I’ve made to my finishing process in years.

Watch me make this slingshot ☝️ in related video