Greetings from Idaho

First off, I am over 70 years of age. I fancy myself as a craftsman and a weapons enthusiast. After building and mastering each discipline (in my mind, anyway) curiosity ebbs and I find something new. I have moved through building bench rest rifles, black powder 'buffalo' rifles and flintlock 'Kentucky' rifles. I just got a 'wild hair' to check out crossbows. In my teen years I was very active with a recurve bow but old-age arthritis limits such activities anymore. I am considering building a crossbow but I am not interested in commercial designs.
To prove myself marginally acceptable to be here I started to post a picture of my latest flintlock longrifle but as some websites frown an off-topic posts I didn't.
I am going to study and watch, probably from the bleachers, and may utter some questions that may sound shallow but keep in mind I AM NEW TO ALL OF THIS.
Any words of wisdom will be readily accepted.
I was once told, "NEVER get into benchrest rifle shooting, it WILL drive you nuts!" I failed to heed the warning and that is part of what's wrong with me

Thanks for your kind indulgence.

Welcome Tinker, I too am some what new to making crossbows myself. I am currently in the middle of building a medieval crossbow that if all goes well I will use for hunting this fall. I have made a stock for my excalibur. It is my first attempt.



Would mind seeing some of your work.

Todd

Hello Tinker and welcome to the forum!

You could begin your journey to crossbow making by reading through some of my articles. A good starting point is the designing crossbows article which covers various design topics. Please don't hesitate to ask for help either - there are plenty of knowledgeable people in this forum.

Hello Tinker and welcome to the forum,

I think a similar warning goes for crossbows, so you've hit jackpot twice my friend. It is a very interesting weapon though, combining gunsmithing and traditional archery it makes one hell of a paradox.

Ask whatever you need help with, as basileus said - guys and girls here are great!

PS. Very interesting that you mention flintlocks and such...My friend is currently building a combination wheel-lock pistol/crossbow...he keeps it quite due to not having much information on the mechanism, but all in all it's wicked stuff and might be of interest to you >>>Link

That is an interesting piece of equipment. Apparently the first "over-under" firearm I would guess