The basic material for most boomerangs is plywood. A typical thickness is 4 - 5 mm (or 1/4 inch), and most is laminated Birch wood as this is light and strong.

The best stuff is "aviation" grade which is stronger, has not knots or naff bits and is usually made up of much thinner layers, so 4mm is 8 layers of wood (8 ply). Aviation grade ply can be got from Sky Sport Engineering in Sandy, Bedfordshire - phone Pete on 01767-627-375, and he’ll sort you out, and even get it delivered by courier. It cost about £70 for a 4’ x 4’ ( = 40 boomerangs if you fit them right) sheet of 4mm to be delivered, in November, so judge it from that.

Regular 5 ply

Cheaper , but perfectly adequate for most boomerangs is "regular" Birch ply which is 5 ply in 5mm or 1/4 inch. This is much cheaper, but does have the occasional knot or fault and is not as strong. One place to pick it up is from Birmingham Boards Co. in Oldbury for around £15 for a 4’ x 8’ so its a lot cheaper. Check your Yellow pages for a timber / board specialist near you.

Marine Ply

This is about twice the price of "Regular" ply but better quality. Get hold of this from small boat builders.

Other Ply

The stuff you get from the builders merchants is no good if it is 3 ply for 1/4" thickness.

Trays

Wooden tea trays are made of plywood of different woods. Usually 6 ply at 3mm they are rather brittle, but can used.

Why Ply

Ply wood is the best wood for boomerangs because the alternate layers of wood have the grain at right angles to each other, so it is strong in all directions - essential for something with a bend in the middle. Bits of tree that are naturally bent are usable - called natural elbows - you have to cut the right bit off a branch or ask Jay Butters to give you one.

Plastics

Quite a few boomerangs are made of plastic. These can be moulded from polypropylene or more usually are cut and filed from sheets in the same way as wood. Two types that I have used like this are Phenolic Resin and Expanded PVC.

Phenolic Resin

This is more commonly known by trade names such as Tufnol, Bakelite, Pertinax and Paxalin which are all variations on a similar theme of resin (phenolic formaldehyde) laminated on paper or cloth. Cloth is more expensive. This material is very strong and can be got in a range of useful thickness from 1.5 mm to 5 mm. The thinner grades are useful for light hovering boomerangs such as Trick Catch or MTA, whilst the thicker grades (3mm - 4.5mm) are suited to long distance boomerangs. Its higher density will give longer ranges. It can be got from plastic sheet stockists such as Heaven + Dowsett in Aldridge, West Midlands.

This material is harder to cut and file, so power tools are almost essential and that usually means creating a fine dust. Be extremely careful never to breathe any of this dust (powered dust extraction and a good mask), as it is said to be carcinogenic.

Expanded PVC

Two common trade names are- Foamex and Darvic. This is not very strong, but has a low density, so it is useful for children’s rangs and trick catch boomerangs. You can get it by ‘recycling’ shop signs etc that are made of this stuff, but you could buy it.

Polycarbonate

Solid polycarbonate can be used to make ‘rangs but I have never done so. It is strong but wobbly and so is not a favourite choice.

Polpropylene

This is also used to make rangs, it is a bit like polythene but more rigid. It is quite easy to work. It has a certain amount of flexibility / plasticity which means that it can temporarily be bent into different shapes i.e. tuned, to alter performance. It is probably possible to buy sheets of it, but you can cut and file ready made boomerangs of this stuff. Similar, but harder and more rigid is ‘ABS’, which is used for 'ready made boomerangs' that can also be cut and filed.

Fibre Glass

Fibre galss or, more correctly, glass fibre reinforced plastic is the stongest and densest of all materials for boomerang making (metals are supposedly banned). It is also the most expensive and hardest to work, so is less often used. It is available in a range of thicknesses and used for all styles of rang. Beatifull fibre glass rangs are made by Rudi Saltzman of Switzerland. Different grades are availble, and its important to get the right stuff (eg gfec or g10) as some fibre glass can be rather poor. Power tools are an essential, and I use a ceramic tile cutting blades in my jig saw and similar grade strips on my power file.

Natural Elbows

These are a style of wooden rang cut and shaped from the naturally occuring bends or elbows in tree branches.. They are very beatiful and may be stronger even than plywood as all the grain is in the correct direction. Not really reccomended for beginners to rang making as it hard to get flat blanks needed to give correct aerodynamic performance. Luckily we have a tutorial about this very subject.

Small Bits

If you only want to make a few boomerangs, and don’t want to buy a large sheet, then you could ask Sean Slade to cut the shape for you - its only a few quid for each blank. Other BBS members might let you have some of theirs at cost price.

Carbon Fibre

Very specialist, and expensive to start off. Well worth it. Again we are one of the only websites that offer a clear tutorial on this subject.