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I Thought I’d post this crossbow I made. The idea was for an Anglo/Norman 12th C type weapon based on various collected data rather than a single drawing. Perhaps the type Gerald of Wales mentions.
The prod is made from Welsh yew (really excellent stuff if chosen carefully) and draws 100lbs at 12”. It had too much natural reflex so I steamed it out to straight and that's where it has stayed with no string follow. The tiller is of ash and is in two parts and split-dowel and wedged together. This houses the mechanism which, as you can see is a simple a rising pin of horn and steel tickler.
I was pleasantly surprised by the smooth and clean loose. The tickler was modified from a hanging basket bracket, of all things, bought at a garden centre! I had the stirrup made for me by a blacksmith friend. The bow’s string is made from linen treated with bees wax and in an endless style.
The Prod is held on jute bindings, not really period but looks the part. The bolt clip is of horn that was heated and pressed into a form.
The performance seems reasonable and shoots a bolt at a high of 156FPS down to 128FPS after a number of shots. The ½” bolt works as well as the 3/8” one. These are both of birch and fletched with swan and bound on with silk and a tree resin varnish.
The whole bow is proofed with a beeswax/animal /tree resin.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Last edited by yeomanbowman on Tue Feb 19, 2013 12:24 pm; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : spelling!)
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