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Author Topic: Central European Crossbow Project  (Read 58880 times)

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Offline Dane

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Re: Central European Crossbow Project
« Reply #45 on: February 28, 2012, 09:34:50 pm »
Thanks, Josh, and thanks, Gus. I will be posting videos eventually, and not in the distant future.

Tonight, I chiseled in the two recesses for the square nuts I will use to secure the tickler (trigger) pivot pin, which is made from a 10/22 threaded rod.






Then, I finished the final sanding, up to 600 grade. I paid especially attention to the bone table surface, and got all (I hope lol) tool marks out of there. If I missed a few, well….it would be an understatement to say I am sick of working with bone, gov’ner.

And then, I rubbed in the first coating of true oil.





I was told that black walnut makes for a spectacular look, and they weren’t kidding! The areas where there were note and so on look extra amazing, and these shots were taken at night under artificial light. My first crossbow (with the cherry tiller), I had used boiled linseed oil as a first coat, but decided to go straight to the tung oil. Tung oil is a wonderful finish, and I will probably post more about that later, but for now, it was a long day, and I am still recovering from a nasty stomach virus, so I am not 100%. Suffice it to say that tung oil gives a very antique look (meaning medieval in this case), is easy to apply, and dries relatively quickly between coats. I expect to put on maybe 3 more coats.








And there you have it, kids. The next step is a bit of buffing and polishing the tickler where it contacts the sear, making the quarrel rest (out of bone, huzzah), and binding in the bow with the bridel cord. Then on goes the stirrup, which I am securing to the tiller using woven rawhide strapping (it sounds way more complex than it really is). After that, binding in the rolling nut using (ick) dried gut :)

Some may say, all this for a weapon some medieval pope would have you excommunicated for using? Yup. Devils be damned, these things are a lot of fun. And building one will quickly make you appreciate the amount of time it took to build a crossbow vs. a longbow. I haven’t really looked into what the price points were back in the day, but also factor in you can have your surly men at arms killing bad guys pretty much with very little training vs. a lifetime spent mastering the long bow. I just want to poach the king's deer, and dont any of you tell the authorities, or I may hang. Or move in a hurry. :)

More soon,
Dane
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Greenfield, Western Massachusetts

Offline MoNative

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Re: Central European Crossbow Project
« Reply #46 on: February 28, 2012, 10:17:45 pm »
Looking Dane! ;D
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Offline Elktracker

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Re: Central European Crossbow Project
« Reply #47 on: February 28, 2012, 10:18:07 pm »
Looking great Dane and cant wait for the video, hope to see you shoot it in a video when its all done!! Thanks again for sharing!

Josh
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my friends think my shops a mess, my wife thinks I have too much bow wood, my neighbors think im redneck white trash and they may all be right on the money!!

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Offline ErictheViking

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Re: Central European Crossbow Project
« Reply #48 on: February 28, 2012, 10:23:28 pm »
Yeah the walnut really did pop when you applies the tung oil. excellent workmanship Dane, you really got a knack for medieval killing machines. cant wait to see the end result.
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"He that but looketh on a plate of ham and eggs to lust after it hath already committed breakfast with it in his heart"  C.S. Lewis

Offline Dane

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Re: Central European Crossbow Project
« Reply #49 on: February 28, 2012, 10:39:27 pm »
Thanks, MoNative.

Josh, the videos will include shooting tests and all that.

Eric, medieval killing machines are even more fun than Roman ones. I have been sketching out the details for an espringal, which I think would be awesome fun to have around. The last gasp of Roman and Greek torsion technology, and they were possibly powerful enough the skewer several Vikings at once. That project probably won't be started this year, but you never know. I want to beat the Myan calendar, just in case 2013 doesn't come. :)
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Greenfield, Western Massachusetts

Offline ErictheViking

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Re: Central European Crossbow Project
« Reply #50 on: February 28, 2012, 10:57:57 pm »
 ;D, Constantly killing each other in those periods made for some interesting death dealers for sure. War  :D to see more of your projects in 2013
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"He that but looketh on a plate of ham and eggs to lust after it hath already committed breakfast with it in his heart"  C.S. Lewis

Offline ErictheViking

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Re: Central European Crossbow Project
« Reply #51 on: February 28, 2012, 11:00:26 pm »
sorry stupid touch pad scrambled my post. :(  meant to say war always seemed to spark great innovation in weapons. and I hope to see more of your projects in 2013. :D
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"He that but looketh on a plate of ham and eggs to lust after it hath already committed breakfast with it in his heart"  C.S. Lewis

Offline Lee Slikkers

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Re: Central European Crossbow Project
« Reply #52 on: February 28, 2012, 11:14:35 pm »
I still think that sweet piece of bone and walnut would make one heck of a whitetail or turkey slayer  >:D
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~ Lee

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"The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant: 'What good is it?"
— Aldo Leopold
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Offline Dane

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Re: Central European Crossbow Project
« Reply #53 on: February 29, 2012, 06:41:33 pm »
I got you and agree, Eric. And technology can rule :) I will probably build a half-scale espringal, and start with that and work out design challenges before building a full sized one. Ideally, I'd want to build a reconstructed machine using only Medieval technology, such as broad axe to square up timbers, etc. That would be a tremendously challenging project for sure. If you are not sure what that machine is, it is a kind of timber frame box on wheels, with torsion bundles strung one on each side, between the side rails. In the center is a kind of mega crossbow groove and large rolling nut lock. Two bow arms are thrust through the torsion bundles, and I am envisioning it as a inswinger. You crank this thing back using a wheel and big ass wooden screw. Place giant arrows in machine and let fly.

Lee, I believe this would kill a deer or turkey as dead as can be :) Problem in MA is that you have to have a special permit to hunt with a crossbow, medical reasons I think it is.

Here are a few photos. I've put on three coats of oil thus far, and think I am about done with that, since I want it to have a nice soft finish, not a high-gloss one, though that too would look really good. I made a little bone quarrel rest.



Hopefully, the photo that shows the bolt  / quarrel (named because the bodkin heads are shaped in a square) easily shows the idea behind the sloping nose of the tiller.



I made this from cow bone, filed in what I hope is a little pleasant decorative groove and polished it, and began the groove itself. I will finish the bolt goove itself once I have it on the crossbow and can do final touchup at the range. I glued it on then with super glue (my favorite brand is Gorilla super glue, which is a thick formula and gives you a lot of working time), then clamped it to the nose of the tiller.




Maybe some of you are saying "Hey, he said the quarrel rest will slide in a little dovetail groove." Yes I did, but historic crossbows often had fixed bolt rests. And after my little disaster with the other maple tiller and the bloody groove, I decided to go this route. :) Call me chicken, go ahead, and who wants omlets? :)

I also finished up the binding block out of maple, it looks nice, although most of it will be covered by leather and linen thread once the prod and the stirrup are in place.

And that is all. Tomorrow, I get to stay home due to 8 to 12 inches of heavy wet snow, so I will continue with the crossbow then. If all goes well, this thing will be shootable this coming month.

Dane
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Greenfield, Western Massachusetts

Offline Onebowonder

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Re: Central European Crossbow Project
« Reply #54 on: February 29, 2012, 06:55:20 pm »
That walnut has finished up very pretty.  Better than most furniture!

The Springal project sounds like fun too.  My son and I built a trebuchet a few years back that had a 10 foot long throwing arm for a homeschool history fair project.  It was a blast! ...and surprisingly accurate.  Though I doubt it would be much for deer hunting, it would certainly be effective for taking out a passing pickup truck on a county road.  Let's not discuss how I know that though... ;)
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Offline Lee Slikkers

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Re: Central European Crossbow Project
« Reply #55 on: February 29, 2012, 07:04:48 pm »
We Home School too and I've done a few cool projects but if my boys read this they are REALLY think I am lame  >:D
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~ Lee

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant: 'What good is it?"
— Aldo Leopold
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Offline Dane

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Re: Central European Crossbow Project
« Reply #56 on: February 29, 2012, 07:20:37 pm »
Onebow, how do you know this? :) And thanks about the furniture comment....sanding and finishing are not my favorite things, but I spend a lot of time getting this right. A few tiny imperfections are evident, but I can live with them. I did make a concious decision not to fill the wood, though this walnut is fairly porous and would have looked great filled. It looks a bit more rustic this way, I think.

Lee, get to work with your kids. Make something big and dangerous and fun. You will be so cool then lol.

Dane
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Offline Onebowonder

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Re: Central European Crossbow Project
« Reply #57 on: February 29, 2012, 07:39:23 pm »
Just between you and me, it involved some over-ripe catalopes, an Excel based range calculator we came up with, and a curmudgeonly old neighbor that happened to cross through our test range while going down to the field to feed his cows.  The trebuchet being an indirect fire sort of device, we were never even seen.    >:D   ...though we may have been heard laughing our butts off!
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Offline Lee Slikkers

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Re: Central European Crossbow Project
« Reply #58 on: February 29, 2012, 07:48:21 pm »
Quote from: Onebowonder on February 29, 2012, 07:39:23 pm
Just between you and me, it involved some over-ripe catalopes, an Excel based range calculator we came up with, and a curmudgeonly old neighbor that happened to cross through our test range while going down to the field to feed his cows.  The trebuchet being an indirect fire sort of device, we were never even seen.    >:D   ...though we may have been heard laughing our butts off!

Now that is right up my alley!  My boys are 11 & 9, how old are your "youngin's"??  We are in the process of selling our dream house and relocating but as soon as we do I'll be embarking on some Blacksmithing stuff with them (they have a head start on me since they relocated 1st) but I hope to catch up or at least add some support.  I bought them an old belt driven blower forge and have a line on a good Anvil so we'll see where that leads.

Anyway, sorry for the derailment Dane...continue on my friend!!!  (and if you need someone to test out that sucker on some Longbeards let me know  >:D)
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~ Lee

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant: 'What good is it?"
— Aldo Leopold
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Offline Dane

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Re: Central European Crossbow Project
« Reply #59 on: February 29, 2012, 08:01:30 pm »
Onebow, awesome story. All that math is why I enlisted as a grunt instead of the field artillary.

Lee, I hope your house sale goes well and you get your forge up and operating soon. You can make all kinds of gruesome medieval stuff there for sure.

No sweat on derailing the thread, and continue any converesations you want to.

Dane

PS the quarrel rest looks great, so tomorrow, I am probably going to bind on the prod.
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Greenfield, Western Massachusetts
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