Mini Matchstick Gun - the Clothespin Pocket Pistol

In this project we're taking boring old clothespins, and up-cycling them into powerful matchstick & toothpick shooters, that will stick into apples, and lob firey darts over 20 feet.

A Matchstick Gun is essential to your collection of desktop weaponry.  

This little pocket pistol will shoot a matchstick with power, blast toothpicks into fruit, and lob fiery darts. 

The best parts is, it can be made fairly easily and for almost nothing!

All we need for this project is;

• Some wood glue
• A utility knife
• A simple clothespin (Just make sure it's the wooden kind with the metal spring.)

Some additional items that might make your experience better will be;

• Some scrap paper
• Wooden matches
• Wooden toothpicks

To make the peg gun, you'll first need to remove the spring, and place the two wooden pieces, back to back, so the notches line up near the center.

Next, make a marking on the top piece about half an inch from the hole, and an angled marking on the bottom.  (see the picture for reference)

Just for convenience, I went ahead and filled in all the areas that need to be chiseled out with blue pen.  So grab your utility knife and carefully carve out all the areas marked in blue. 

The long channels made in the center of the pieces are going to act as our gun barrel, so play with them until a wooden matchstick can slide in and out loosely when the two pieces are pressed together.

The angled marking, marks the place where you'll need to cut a small notch.  This notch needs to angle back to hold the spring in place when you replace it.

When your pieces are carved and placed back to back, they should look like what you see in the picture.

Ok, it's time to make this permanent.

The flat sides of both pieces should be coated with a bit of wood glue, and pressed together.

I tried using a dab of wood glue on a scrap piece of paper, then carefully slid the pieces through it, giving them both an even coating. 

Simply press the two sides together, wiping away any excess glue, and let it sit for a bit. 

After about 5 to 10 minutes it should be just strong enough to attach the spring.

To attach the spring, I find it works best to put the forward spring hook over the outside notch, then bend the spring open so the other spring hook can slide into the center chamber.

The spring should easily hold itself in place.

Your peg gun is completely finished now and ready to use!

This gun is made for shooting wooden matchsticks, and they should slide loosely into the barrel. 

If your barrel is too tight, you can dry drilling it out with at 9/64 drill bit, or whatever it takes to get your matchsticks to fit.  However, keep in mind that the bigger the barrel, the more damaging it will be to the tip of the gun.

To load the pocket pistol, just insert a matchstick and continue pushing until the spring hook slips into the bottom notch.

The gun should cock itself automatically, and be instantly ready to fire.

If it doesn't, don't be discourage. Just tweak it and play around with it until it does.  Every gun is a little different and has a bit of a different personality.

You can hold it just like a little pistol, and when you're ready to shoot, simply pull the trigger. 

It's amazing to see, just how much power is stored in the spring.  That's evident by how it slams forward in just a fraction of a second, blasting projectiles over 20 feet away. 

Now this will work with toothpicks as well!

Just snap off one of the sharp ends to expose a broader surface. 

From a distance of about 6 inches, there's just enough power to penetrate the skin of an apple.  Of course, the closer you are, the deeper it penetrates.  

If your barrel is too big and makes the tip of the shooter look awkward, feel free to modify the tip until it meets your liking.

Well there's how to turn a humble clothespin into an amazing little desktop weapon.

If you liked this project, perhaps you'll like some of my others.

Check them out at www.thekingofrandom.com