Next, I hand fitted the holly wood plates that will cover the table of the tiller. Historically, many crossbows had bone or ivory plates fitted on top, and I had planned to make the plates out of bone. I picked up more than sufficient cow bone material at a pet store, but realized that I didn’t really want to work this much bone for as long as it would have taken. The stink is wretched, and the dust is not something you want to breathe. I chose a very nice plank of super white holly from my local hardwood dealer. This piece was absolutely and terribly expensive, about 60 dollars for a plank about 1” x 4” x 40”, but it will look great, a very ivory-like shade, so I deemed it worth the investment. The little bandsaw I have was not up to resawing the plank in half, so most of it was sacrificed to the arbalest gods. I ran the plank through my thickness planer until I had it about 1/8” thick, and had already rough cut it out for the first tiller, but thankfully, I had left enough extra that I was able to use the pre-cut pieces.
And that is where it stands. This morning, I continued to glue on the plating, and should have that step done by the end of the weekend. For decoration, I found some ¾” wide tulip wood veneer strips with dyed edging, and that should like really good. I will chisel in a channel along the table, and this will create a kind of border between the bottom edge of the table plating and the tiller. The red shade of the tulip is different than the red shade of the cherry tiller, so the contrast will be nice. I played with the idea of inlaying white and black dyed bone, and while that would look great, I think I will save that for another crossbow. If this doesn’t seem to make sense, I’ll be illustrating with photos soon.
You can expect more of this project soon, as I am cranking on it and can see the light at the end of the build. After I get the inlaying done and finish the table, I will bore the binding hole in the nose of the bow, make the string and the bastard string, bind the prod and the stirrup to the tiller, and mess about with final adjustments and begin shooting it. I may make a simple medieval sight, which is basically a little strip of brass with a series of holes drilled in it that is hinged, and lays flat or can be raised up when ready to shoot; think of it as a primitive peep sight, and you use the tip of the quarrel as the front sighting point.
The finish I plan for this will be boiled linseed oil and a few coats of tung oil, which will be a nice medieval look. Then I can poach the king’s deer. This bow is hardly strong enough to be considered a military bow. Those kinds of weapons are for the future, and I’ve found that crossbows are as addictive as self bows, maybe even more so.
