# That is IT, fetch me a trebuchet! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 16, 2003, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-it-fetch-me-a-trebuchet/201876 "2003-09-16T02:47:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Pigs\_in\_Space](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@Pigs\_in\_Space](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pigs_in_Space)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-it-fetch-me-a-trebuchet/201876/61 "2003-09-17T03:40:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by matt\_mcl \* > \*\*It didn’t make a resonant, Wile-Coyote-esque SPRYONGGG!!!? \*\* Sadly, no. Kind of a large crunch. Frankly, it was rather disappointing. I like the accordian idea. Small, easily available, and you’d be doing the world a favor. ---
**Author:** ![lilbtagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4491bb/32.png) [@lilbtagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lilbtagna)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-it-fetch-me-a-trebuchet/201876/62 "2003-09-17T03:42:20Z")
I found [these instructions](http://www.fryerskits.demon.co.uk/treb/index.htm) for a little trebuchet made out of cardstock. I bought myself some cardstock a few months ago, but haven’t had the time to build my trebuchet yet. Sigh…one day… ---
**Author:** ![Palewriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/db5fbb/32.png) [@Palewriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palewriter)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-it-fetch-me-a-trebuchet/201876/63 "2003-09-17T03:45:56Z")
“Whiskey! Lot’s of whiskey!” Almost sounds like an anthem. Could someone please set this to music? Changing the subject, for castle defence, I’ve always favored boiling oil. It’s probably the sizzle. Once the attackers have retired to lick their disgusting wounds, it’s crispy-fried rat all round for the home team. - PW ---
**Author:** ![Publius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@Publius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Publius)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-it-fetch-me-a-trebuchet/201876/64 "2003-09-17T03:46:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by CanadianVampyr \* > \*\*I can get you one, though you’ll need to put it back together, it was dismantled. And its only 7 ft tall. Maybe not as destructive as you may have wished for, but still capable of hurling things at walls quite satisfactorily. > > The sad thing is, I’m completly serious \*\* Pffft, seven feet? That won’t do you much good when you come up against the sixteen-foot monster some of my friends and I built this past summer. Your only hope is that our shoddy construction techniques result in a Trebuchet Dance that sends the thing rolling down a hillside. Or that the water balloons wind up flying backwards. Or that the concrete counterweight we use drops prematurely, completely destroying a plastic patio chair. Actually, I guess there’s a pretty good chance that all of that’s going to happen. Now go away before I taunt you a second time. The sad thing is, so am I. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-it-fetch-me-a-trebuchet/201876/65 "2003-09-17T03:54:57Z")
This thread richly deserves an excerpt from Spider Robinson’s “Silly Weapons Throughout History,” but I cannot lay hands on my copy of _By Any Other Name_. So I will merely leave you to contemplate the dogapult, the bullista (and its refinement, the Cattling Gun), and similar travesties. ---
**Author:** ![andygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-it-fetch-me-a-trebuchet/201876/66 "2003-09-17T03:59:23Z")
This is not sad! This is a joyous cause for great celebration! I wonder what my mom would say if I asked for one for christmas… ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-it-fetch-me-a-trebuchet/201876/67 "2003-09-17T04:03:38Z")
Well, if we get incredibly anachronistic (or something), we combine the bullista with the unique ballista from Diablo 2 XP, the Buriza-do Kyanon Ballista. Among other things it pierces its target and deals massive cold damage to the target. If we could finagle a magic guided arrow we could get whatever we were shooting at this target to hit it, pierce it and then come back and hit it again. And by that time it’s frozen and thus much like hitting something with a pail full of liquid Nitrogen. ---
**Author:** ![andygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-it-fetch-me-a-trebuchet/201876/68 "2003-09-17T04:08:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Siege \* > \*\*_Now wait one cotton-picking, trebuchet-building moment!_ > > If anyone is laying Siege around here, I want a say in it! \*\* So how about it? Look at my sexy trebuchet, baby. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-it-fetch-me-a-trebuchet/201876/69 "2003-09-17T12:23:04Z")
## quote: Originally posted by Siege Now wait one cotton-picking, trebuchet-building moment! ## If anyone is laying Siege around here, I want a say in it! > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by andygirl \* > \*\*So how about it? > > Look at my sexy trebuchet, baby. 🆒 \*\* Huh! I saw her first! Check out my battering ram. 😉 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![andygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-it-fetch-me-a-trebuchet/201876/70 "2003-09-17T12:28:38Z")
My thread, sweetie. I got dibs. Don’t make me pull out my, ahem, artillery. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-it-fetch-me-a-trebuchet/201876/71 "2003-09-17T16:53:30Z")
Surely, they had [blivets](http://www.ussrankin.org/id430.htm#b), or similar ammunition, in the 14th century? > [@](#): > > Blivet - (1) Traditionally, “Ten pounds of shit in a five-pound sack.” ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Bianca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@Miss\_Bianca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Bianca)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-it-fetch-me-a-trebuchet/201876/72 "2003-09-17T18:20:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Otto \* > \*\*I thought a trebuchet was the thing embalmers use the pump embalming fluid into the body and other fluids out. > > What word am I thinking of? > > Sorry to hijack. Feel free to fling me. \*\* I think you’re thinking of a _trocar_ . From the OED Online: TROCAR - A surgical instrument consisting of a perforator or stylet enclosed in a metal tube or cannula, used for withdrawing fluid from a cavity, as in dropsy, etc. Most disgusting medical implement ever. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-it-fetch-me-a-trebuchet/201876/73 "2003-09-17T18:32:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Can’t we just hurl Howard Stern or Rush Limbaugh and call it even? On the other hand, we could hurl Howard Stern AT Rush Limbaugh and call it a win! ---
**Author:** ![Papaveraceae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e8c25b/32.png) [@Papaveraceae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papaveraceae)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-it-fetch-me-a-trebuchet/201876/74 "2003-09-17T18:44:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AbbySthrnAccent \* > \*\*Was it a piano? I thought it was a casket. 😕 \*\* Ah HA! A question that I can pretty much answer… It was a upright piano. Maggie’s house burned down, and the piano was the only thing that survived the fire. I believe that it was Chris who built the trebuchet, and asked her for the piano to fling. I think that there was also a cow fling to celebrate Monty Python as well, but that may just have been my overactive imagination/hopeful attitude. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-it-fetch-me-a-trebuchet/201876/75 "2003-09-17T18:54:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Baker \* > \*\*Have you got a model for it? That sounds like a fun project for me and my nephew. \*\* As it happens, I do. [link](http://members.shaw.ca/djklassen/treb.gif) I drew it up, in a manner of speaking, though it was freehand with a mouse in Paint - long way from a CAD, and the attempt at the 3d view isn’t very compelling. The commentary assumes you know some things about trebs (for example, very little is said about the sling), so if you want any extra information, just ask. ---
**Author:** ![boobah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/46a35a/32.png) [@boobah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boobah)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-it-fetch-me-a-trebuchet/201876/76 "2003-09-17T18:58:00Z")
Well, I’m off to [practice](http://www.flingthecow.com/flash/). Bye, all. ---
**Author:** ![andygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-it-fetch-me-a-trebuchet/201876/77 "2003-09-17T21:22:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Casey1505 \* > \*\*Surely, they had [blivets](http://www.ussrankin.org/id430.htm#b), or similar ammunition, in the 14th century? > > * * * > > Blivet - (1) Traditionally, “Ten pounds of shit in a five-pound sack.” > \*\* We’re using modern versions. See above re: Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2003, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-it-fetch-me-a-trebuchet/201876/78 "2003-09-17T22:50:19Z")
I’m still waiting for **paulberserker** to show up, having already announced plans to build a wedding cake trebuchet to go with his biscuit cannon. Maybe you two could work together? ---
**Author:** ![DarRRva](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/53a042/32.png) [@DarRRva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarRRva)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-it-fetch-me-a-trebuchet/201876/79 "2003-09-18T01:27:59Z")
Hey when you guys are finshed having fun with your trebuchet, want to bring it over to little NZ and lay waste to my school? I could have 2500 schoolboys ready for a seige of the faculty if you like… Whiskey will of course be supplied, as well as wenches ---
**Author:** ![andygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-it-fetch-me-a-trebuchet/201876/80 "2003-09-18T01:59:05Z")
I’ll try, Dar, but do you know how hard it is to get siege weapons through customs? Ever since that little incident with the vat of tar I always get searched… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-it-fetch-me-a-trebuchet/201876.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-it-fetch-me-a-trebuchet/201876.md?page=5)