The
Never ever do this at home TV series is a huge success in Norway. Supposedly they show you dangerous stuff you shouldn't do at home. Recently this included a relatively big
trebuchet used for throwing food! We all learn that we shouldn't throw food in the garbage, so I guess the idea was to show how you should not throw food with style.
But if you haven't seen the show then curiosity may have helped you do stuff anyway. That is what happened back in 2007 when my kids and I build our own trebuchet. We had previously seen a full size version in action at the
Middle Ages Centre in the south of Denmark. While we couldn't throw big stones in our neighborhood, water balloons and tennis balls are pretty harmless.
So we aimed at a smaller version.
Using a bucket filled with stones for load, we were able to send our projectiles far away, to where we could not find them. Or if the release of the sling was out of tune, then we had one water balloon go vertical - we couldn't understand where it went before we suddenly realized that it was about to land in our midst. So all the kids in the street and I dispersed in different directions. Nobody got wet though!
Unfortunately the weapon was lost last year when our old garage was torn down, so I hope the kids come home with a school project where they need my help building a new one.
By the way, I see from the picture that I looked younger then!
