Hand crank pulley as a spanning device

I've seen how a windlass works and it got me thinking if maybe a homemade windlass could be made. I know a goat's foot lever would be more practical, but I wanna make one just to see if it would work. I'm not sure if it's been done before, maybe someone has done it before. It wouldn't look very "medieval" but maybe find a way to attach some thick hemp rope to it and improvise it to fit on the butt of the tiller. Just an idea.


Kinda like this one in the image maybe wider.

I make them for every bow I shoot. I should say that I'm not medieval style though. I do use the double block take up though. It makes cranking effortless.Medieval style I believe uses the two handed crank. Geezer could tell you for sure. I'm only pulling about 150 but my back and arms are a 72 year old wreck.My take ups are about 2" in dia.,one on each side of the stock.

Geezer here on boat-windlasses.  Yes, you should be able to do this.  Medieval windlasses were attached to a little iron box that fitted over the end of the buttstock. And yes, they used a double crank (in most cases) but a single one should work just fine.  Most important, they drew the string with a double-hook and pulleys that kept the bowstring centered, with as little damage to the serving as possible.  That's going to be your biggest challenge: getting the windlass to draw evenly, right up the middle, without damaging the stock or bowstring.  Have fun stormin' the castle.  Geezer.

Just a small come back on the windlass. Drawing the string evenly is easy. All you have to do is make a U shaped sled out of .100 metal. Mine is about 3.5 to 4 inches long, and about 4" wide.The mouth of the U is about half the length of the sled. I mount the smallest pulley you can buy on each side of the front end of the U. About half the distance going back on the U fixture is where I mount a 10/32 bolt on each side . They end up like pegs sticking out .I thread these and I cover the threads with plastic tubing. These are used to pull your string. The pulling rope comes from the winch ,down to a pulley and back to the winch ,on each side of the stock. Picture this, the U is coming back around your trigger mech, but pulling the string in front of it.Sorry I can't have photos.