SPOTLIGHT

Craftsman debunks boomerang myths

For one thing, it's not
Australian

By PIERRE ST. LOUIS

Star Correspondent

Which of these things don't belong — the kangaroo, Paul Hogan or the boomerang?

If you said the boomerang, you're right.

While the kangaroo and Hogan, of Crocodile Dundee fame, are products of Australia, the boomerang is not.

"The earliest recorded boomerang is 23,000 years old, it was found in what is now Poland." says John Cryderman, a boomerang-maker from Chatham who was in Sudbury to demonstrate his craft.

In fact, Cryderman says, boomerangs were used all over Europe up to 1,000 years before they reached Australia.

Another misconception is that boomerangs were used for hunting. Cryderman says they have always been used for recreation. A typical boomerang weighing two to 10 ounces is too light to cause any damage.

Cryderman explains that boomerangs have often been confused with hunting sticks, hunting tools that weigh three to five pounds and are non-returnable.

Boomerangs are not the V-shaped instruments typically seen in cartoons. They come in all shapes and sizes, are specialized to fit right- or left-handed throwers and come in men's or women's models. They can be constructed from almost any kind ofwood. '

Cryderman owns more than 2,000 boomerangs, some of which have come from as far away as Russia.

To his knowledge, he is the only person in North America who still makes boomerangs the old-fashioned way, by steam-shaping and bonding the wooden strips together.

Boomerangs fly using the same principles as airplanes. They are moulded with the top surface curved like an airplane wing,

"Everything that is necessary for an aircraft to fly properly is necessary in these things," he says.

In order to perfect his craft, Cryderman has become an expert in aeronautics. His boomerangs have become known around the world, and one of them has been put on display by NASA.

Prince Charles, an avid thrower, is one of his customers, Cryderman says. The two royal models are made from exotic woods and are weighted with gold and silver. Their $20,000 price tag is a tad more expensive than Cryderman's regular boomerangs, which sell for $22
and up.

It takes Cryderman about a week to build a boomerang in his basement shop.

Cryderman will be back in Northern Ontario to show off his boomerangs at the North Bay wood show, from Aug. 19 to 21.