Hi Guys - Lot's of knowledgeable, friendly and helpful members on this forum. Kudos to all of you. I have been lurking for about a week, absorbing a ton of information on crossbow design. Read Iolo's 1st book "cover to cover" and thoroughly enjoyed it. Also really liked Lightly's photo tutorial on tying in a prod. There is a wealth of good information and experience on this forum.
My son is taking a Medieval history course in high school and he wants me to help him build a crossbow for his class project. I have a decent woodworking shop, but no metal working tools. We have ordered a #3732 150lb. steel prod, string, trigger mechanism and ABS roller nut blank from Alchem. I just have a few outstanding questions that I am hoping maybe some of you might be able to help me with:
1) What diameter, length and weight of bolt should we be targetting for the above prod? I think I read somewhere that Geezer recommended a cedar bolt with a 125 grain head for a 150lb. prod. Making our own bolts is a little intimidating - especially the fletching part - seems like a bit of an art. Is it possible to purchase a 1/2 dozen bolts without breaking the bank? On the other hand, making a wooden jig for fletching would be fun! I would just need a good tutorial on how to do fletching. If we decide to make the bolts any recommendations where to buy parts?
2) On his website, Jim Koch recommends beech, oak, ash, hickory, maple or birch for the tiller. Hard maple, birch and oak are pretty common up here. Any words of wisdom or recommendations? I have seen lot's of photos on this forum of oak tillers. Any idea why people prefer oak?
3) Any idea what diameter of string we will receive from Alchem?
4) Is there a notch in the back of the cross-bow bolts or just flat?
I hope these questions have not already been answered on another post. If they are, please feel free to point me in the right direction. Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge. Much appreciated!
My son is taking a Medieval history course in high school and he wants me to help him build a crossbow for his class project. I have a decent woodworking shop, but no metal working tools. We have ordered a #3732 150lb. steel prod, string, trigger mechanism and ABS roller nut blank from Alchem. I just have a few outstanding questions that I am hoping maybe some of you might be able to help me with:
1) What diameter, length and weight of bolt should we be targetting for the above prod? I think I read somewhere that Geezer recommended a cedar bolt with a 125 grain head for a 150lb. prod. Making our own bolts is a little intimidating - especially the fletching part - seems like a bit of an art. Is it possible to purchase a 1/2 dozen bolts without breaking the bank? On the other hand, making a wooden jig for fletching would be fun! I would just need a good tutorial on how to do fletching. If we decide to make the bolts any recommendations where to buy parts?
2) On his website, Jim Koch recommends beech, oak, ash, hickory, maple or birch for the tiller. Hard maple, birch and oak are pretty common up here. Any words of wisdom or recommendations? I have seen lot's of photos on this forum of oak tillers. Any idea why people prefer oak?
3) Any idea what diameter of string we will receive from Alchem?
4) Is there a notch in the back of the cross-bow bolts or just flat?
I hope these questions have not already been answered on another post. If they are, please feel free to point me in the right direction. Thanks in advance for sharing your knowledge. Much appreciated!
Last edited by dz63 on Fri Nov 11, 2011 8:13 pm; edited 1 time in total