16th century Spanish "ballesta" crossbow - with shooting videos and testing info

[autologus]

For those in the US that would like to see a medieval castle being built using medieval technologies and methods check this one out.

http://ozarkmedievalfortress.com/

Grady

[Del the cat]

Great link Dane  cheers and Autologus.
Del

[M-P]

Historical crossbows are cool.  This one looks great so far.  Ron

[autologus]

I fixed the link sorry.

Grady

[Dane]

Thanks, Grady. It is a bummer that the castle project has run out of funding. I hope they can find the means to continue.

Dane

[dragonman]

thats looks like some fine engineering work.......wood and metal looks cool together

[Dane]

Thanks, Dragonman. The irons will look really cool once I chamfer the outside edges, but the kinda bulky look is interesting and pleasing, too.
Dane

[Dane]

I finished a number of steps today. I did the rough shaping of the tiller, as I needed to do this to make the steel plating for the area around the prod, and to make the lock plates. These were made using 1018 mild steel at 0.125" thickness. I used a hack saw to cut the basic shapes, then files to get them to the correct dimensions. They are flat on the top edge, and curve to conform to the tiller shape at the bottom. I must say that the original Spanish ballistas probably had these parts forged around a form and cover all four sides of the tiller, but to make my life simpler, I chose to deviate from historical examples for this weapon. Later, I plan to use thinner gauge metal and make them truer to the original weapons. But even with this "cheat," the lock plates and front plating will serve their purposes.

To make the oblong slots in the front plating, I measured where they will go, drilled out as much waste metal as I could with a drill press and appropriate sized bit, and then used hand files to finish the holes. I left a bit of extra metal on them for final adjusting once I either rivet or screw (debating which method to use) the parts on.

Inletting the front plating was simple, if a bit time consuming. Draw the outside edges, then use a chisel to inlet. I used some rasps and files as well, and it was relatively fast work. Really good and very sharp chisels makes this work easier, but even inexpensive chisels will do.

You can see that I still need to do a bit more work to get the steel flush with the sides of the tiller, but they are mostly there.

I'm taking a break for the day, and will continue tomorrow. Thanks for watching.

Dane

[Dane]

Here are a couple of photos of historical examples of this kind of crossbow. I believe that this is in a museum in Malta, but my Russian is rusty, and I have to check into that.

You can see a variety of differences in the shapes of the lock plates and the plating at the "muzzle" end of the bows. And some are iron / steel, while others are bronze or brass. I opted for the simplest designs, but will spiff up the weapon with some inlayed bling on the top of the tiller aft of the lock, perhaps crosses?



The crossbow closest to your view at the lower left of this photo shows the plainer rectangular lock plate, and this one is definately steel. I can't say if the metalwork was originally in the white, or if it was colored or treated in some way. I am not sure what will look best, but no rush on this step.



The middle weapon is the one I am using as a model for the front plating. Notice that one some of these crossbows, the plating travels all the way to the end of the bow, and while it looks great, for this first one in this style, less metal is a good thing from my perspective. Also, you probably have noticed (or will now lol ) that some of the lock plates are a kind of L shape. I can't begin to say why there are different styles, perhaps just builder's preference? You can also see in all of these weapons the lug aft of the rolling nut that was used in conjunction with a cranquin or perahps goat's foot lever to span / draw the bow. For military bows that probably drew 300 or more pounds, you would absolutely need mechanical aid to draw them. For a dinky little 165 pound bow, a belt hook system would be fine, though I do plan to build a spanning device for this. That is way down the list of steps, so more on that when I get to it.

What is a cranquin, you say? Here is a shot I took of a splended example of a craquin in the Higgins Armory, in Worcester, MA. This is a German device, and while there is another style that slips my mind, these things are mechanical wonders, with a series of gears inside the gear box. The arm with the claw draws the bowstring up as you crank on it furously while men die and things are smashed and other war stuff is happening. I imagine you can also make a pretty decent bludgening weapon out of both the crossbow and the cranquin, should you run out of ammo.



Dane

[Del the cat]

Nice pics Dane, cheers.
I worked with a guy (Alan Bilbow) about 40 years ago who got into making miniatures, he did a beautiful 1/4 scale cranequin, all by hand including the 3 toothed gear which engages on the rack, it worked a treat.
I think making a full sized one would be a huge amount of work.
He did one with a complete windlass too, it was a pain trying to keep the strings from tangling up, I expect that was true of the real thing too.
Del

[Dane]

Thanks, Mr. Cat.

That miniature cranquen sounds like fun. I have a full-sized one a client owns that I am using for a heavy German-style bow. I'll have to post some shots of it later. They must be very difficult to make, far beyond my own metalworking skills. One company in Poland makes them, and they are very costly.

Windlasses are neat, and one day, I have to think of making one myself. The straight ended stock with the reenforced ends, like that Spanish bows I posted, used the windlass. They must have been difficult to keep from getting all tangled up, like Christmas lights. Obviously, the Spanish style didn't use this kind of winding device, as the lugs are there on all examples, and the stirrup was used to steady the bow as you spanned it. Perhaps it is just decorative and not functional? For this bow, I plan to make a nice butt using some bone and horn I have here.

[Del the cat]

I think those lugs are for a Goat's Foot lever as those are relatively light bows.
I've never tried a goats foot lever, it must be tricky to get the curve right to act smoothly. Maybe could work it out with CAD (cardboard aided design )
The bending levers I've made hook onto a ring at the front of the bow.
Del

[Dane]

I reckon making a goat's foot would be a challenge. You will notice the rings at the front of all the Spanish bows? Perhaps providence, thus, I am making that same kind of spanning device for this crossbow. A real Conquistador would laugh at me, but since they are long dead, that is not an issue.

Dane

[Del the cat]

I reckon making a goat's foot would be a challenge. You will notice the rings at the front of all the Spanish bows? Perhaps providence, thus, I am making that same kind of spanning device for this crossbow. A real Conquistador would laugh at me, but since they are long dead, that is not an issue.

Dane

Yeah,  now that Halloween is gone I recon we're safe from the zombie conquistadores for a while at least
Del

[Dane]

Conquistador zombies aside for now (but a worthy topic in and of itself), I have done some more work over the last couple of days.

First, I have finished the inletting for the two front plates and the lock plates. Then I lowered the height of the table (top surface of the tiller/stock) by less than 1/8". It was easy enough, mostly done with a farrier's rasp and then some sanding. The edges will be rounded all the way around, so no worries there.




The next step is to make rolling nut bearing blocks. These are traditionally made of bone. I had some thicker pieces of cow bone, and started by filing in a goove with progressively larger round files, then took a piece of 1.25" D doweling, the same outside diamater as the nut, and continued to deepen the groove. Probably for a crossbow this light in draw weight, the bearing blocks are not critical, but it will make for a faster release, as the nut will spin faster than in an all wood socket, and they look pretty nice too.