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Crossbows - Everything about Building, Modding, and Using your Crossbow Gear

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» 12th Century Chinese Crossbow Chronographed
by stuckinthemud1 Fri Nov 24, 2023 3:50 pm

» Crossbow Stock
by kenh Tue Oct 31, 2023 6:19 am

» Colletiere a Charavines continuing experiment
by stuckinthemud1 Sat Oct 07, 2023 5:36 am

» Cocking - how
by stuckinthemud1 Thu Aug 03, 2023 4:24 am

» Questions around heavy crossbow lath buildin
by stuckinthemud1 Wed Apr 26, 2023 1:10 am

» Arab Crossbow
by stuckinthemud1 Tue Apr 25, 2023 7:57 am

» prod angle, and lever trigger for sale anyone?
by stuckinthemud1 Mon Mar 20, 2023 5:54 am

» flexible string
by jasper1978 Mon Mar 20, 2023 1:25 am

» [solved]Skane/Lillohus crossbow thread
by stuckinthemud1 Sun Mar 19, 2023 7:44 am

» jens sensfelder
by jasper1978 Wed Mar 08, 2023 11:58 pm

» 400lb Windlass crossbow bolts weight and accuracy shooting high.
by stuckinthemud1 Sun Mar 05, 2023 2:53 pm

» Codex Löffelholz crossbow
by stuckinthemud1 Tue Jan 24, 2023 4:14 pm

» Digitar prodsc
by stuckinthemud1 Sun Jan 15, 2023 2:42 pm

» Troubleshooting
by Andy. Fri Jan 06, 2023 12:29 pm

» Wood Prods
by stuckinthemud1 Fri Dec 30, 2022 12:47 pm

» Colletiere a Charavines crossbow
by stuckinthemud1 Fri Dec 30, 2022 8:54 am

» Simplified Löffelhotz speedloader
by stuckinthemud1 Fri Dec 09, 2022 4:05 pm

» Fiberglass H-bows
by c sitas Sat Nov 12, 2022 8:44 am

» Bad Antler
by drawknife Sat Nov 12, 2022 3:48 am

» Anyone make their own bolts?
by Juniper Mon Oct 17, 2022 8:20 am

» Josef alm in English
by Juniper Sat Oct 15, 2022 4:22 am

» Qin/Han lock drawings
by kenh Fri Sep 23, 2022 8:16 pm

» stirrup dimensions?
by stuckinthemud1 Thu Sep 01, 2022 1:49 pm

» Skane/Lillohus lockbow information needed
by stuckinthemud1 Sun Aug 14, 2022 6:23 am

» need help contacting le musee Dauphinois Grenoble
by stuckinthemud1 Sat Aug 13, 2022 3:22 pm


2 posters

    Glad to be here. - Working toward building a completely unreasonable machine

    avatar
    JimKS
    Fresh Blood

    Doesn't mean
    I'm new to crossbows


    Fresh Blood Doesn't meanI'm new to crossbows


    Posts : 2
    Join date : 2014-06-28

    Glad to be here. - Working toward building a completely unreasonable machine Empty Glad to be here. - Working toward building a completely unreasonable machine

    Post by JimKS Sat Jun 28, 2014 10:13 am

    Hello. My name's Jim. 

    A week ago I found my seven year-old grandson using a makeshift slingshot to evict the pest metropolis colony outside the cottage. I joined him for a little while. He remarked that if we took our job seriously, we'd be using a crossbow. My inner seven-year old agreed. Although my inner law-abiding citizen wonder whether harassing canada geese with a stick slingshot legally differed from neutralizing canada geese with a medieval weapon. Ultimately, we decided it'd be fun to build one but we'd have to find another way to evict the geese. He and my inner seven-year old also decided that the crossbow needs to be at least as powerful as physics and our abilities allow us to make it. 

    Later, my son/his dad volunteered to help.  My son and I only ever repaired things together, we never worked on anything together just for the sake of doing it, so this project will be something special for the three of us. 

    I was a carpenter but have experience in fabricating and metal work. My son's a mechanical engineer. So we've got a useful set of skills for this. But neither of us have built anything like this before, and we questioned the viability of our designs. I'm glad I found this site. 

    -Jim.
    kenh
    kenh
    Crossbow Junkie

    I live here!


    Crossbow JunkieI live here!


    Posts : 883
    Join date : 2012-08-03
    Age : 75
    Location : Living Aboard a Sailboat in Fort Myers, FL

    Glad to be here. - Working toward building a completely unreasonable machine Empty Re: Glad to be here. - Working toward building a completely unreasonable machine

    Post by kenh Sat Jun 28, 2014 12:32 pm

    Welcome Jim;  The answers to most of your questions can be reasonably easily found here or in the Crossbow Building Wiki (see link at the right of the page).

    The biggest starting question is "What kind of action (also called "lock" or "trigger") do you want?"  The Skane style pin lock is pretty darn simple.  The classic roller nut-and-tickler action isn't "rocket surgery' either.  More complicated "multi-axle" actions step the complexity figure up as much or little as you're willing to go.  

    Prods don't have to be metal -- they can be PVC pipe, fiberglass bars, wood, wood-glass composites and other exotic materials.  Look at the prod in my Avatar picture, which draws well over 200# and was made from two pieces of fiberglass chainlink fence tension bar, and cost $7.

    Tiller designs range from nearly straight sticks to futuristic fantasies.

    Physics and abilities should easily allow you to build a 250-350 pound draw weight bow.

    When you've don't some homework reading here in the Crossbow Building Resouces & FAQ, and you've got questions, just ask.  The only dumb questions are the ones you don't get answered.

      Current date/time is Thu Mar 28, 2024 1:36 pm