Making a cross-stick boomerang

Bernard S. Mason.  Boomerangs.  How to Make and Throw Them.  New York:  Dover Publications, Inc., 1974.  Originally published as Primitive and Pioneer Sports by A.S. Barnes & Company, 1937.

Originally published back when gasoline in cars was measured by dipping a wooden stick into the tank.

The author stresses:

"But there is another aspect of this sport that plays a most conspicuous role in its appeal--the making of the boomerang is as interesting as the throwing.  In fact the making and the throwing are inseparably related in the the full enjoyment of the pastime.  There is pleasure in throwing a boomerang that is purchased or obtained from some one else, but it is in no respect comparable to the joy and thrill that results in handling one which you yourself have made.  All the time the boomerang is being whittled you are looking forward to throwing it--constantly in your mind is the question, 'Will it come back?'  And when the last chip has been removed you hasten to hurl it--and it works!  There is thrill and glowing satisfaction as can come from few other pastimes!  Even the old-timer at the boomerang game never fails to experience it; he may have made a thousand boomerangs, yet each time he throws a new one and it works perfectly just as he planned that it should,  he feels a surge of pride and satisfaction that is worth many times over the effort required for the making.  It is a feeling of craftsmanship, of having been the cause!"