the biggest thing I am thinking of doing is making a catapult... I can build it except for how to winch down the firing arm and have it release without using the always working method of slicing the rope with a sword... any ideas?

A form of pull release?

The only type of pull release I can think of is disengaging the gears which would take a while before I could fire again... maybe not using gears is the answer, and if that is the case I can't think of an effective solution

check oggs treb

i would not mix a treb and cat design, i've seen it done and it is horrible. made one like that and we have to just keep modifying it to keep it working.


a agree with hatchet, i think a spring loaded cat with a pull release should work nicely

There is a type of knot that you can tie, where the rope will hold under great strain, until you pull on the loose end. As far as I know, this method would have been common historically as well. I can probably find or remember the knot and show you how to tie it. (though it should be pretty simple)

sweetness, can I convince ya to bring a rope to like the second dagorhir meet this year? should be able to go to that 1

Found it! It's used for tying horses to a hitching post, so you can release the horse quickly if it starts panicking. In your case, the horse is the catapult arm, and the quick relase is your pull trigger. Let me know how well it works for you:

i know this knot..

There was a ballista-esque catapult used at Ragnarok. Wargar had one, if I remember right, and it could launch rocks, golf tube arrows, and water balloons. Definitely see if you can talk to them about it.