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Hello, does anyone know how long a steel prod can remain spawned? i know regular fiberglass prods generally can be drawn for 4 hours ( at least Barnett ones) before needing to rest for 30 minutes, i want to order a prod from Alchem, his prods have specs regarding brace heigt and power stroke but not draw time and i can't contact him or them, does anyone know?
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MePilot1
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Prod specs
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Hi Onager.consider an automotive leaf spring (Material that has often been used by financially challenged people like myself to make crossbow prods)your automotive leaf spring when fitted to a vehicle is under permanent tension(spanned)and worked far harder than a crossbow prod.This would suggest to me that the question of leaving a steel prod permanently spanned is academic.I look forward to comment for or against.
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Funny you should say that Hermit, right after i looked up alchem's steel bows and wrote this post, i just started contemplating making my own from a leaf spring, i already have all the tools, i think ill go for it someday soon, as for the specs yeah i've seen steel crossbows that supposedly can remain strung forever so i guess i'll make it with this specs if i find a spring 6 mm thick: 34" long with an aggresive taper, 1.5" wide at the center, braced at 2.5" or 2.75" with a 6.75" power stroke. what do you think, i think it should be pretty safe.
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sorry i meant 10 mm thick or just under half an inch.
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Onager,your brace height seems about right.Your draw length seems to be short,a draw length of around 10 ins.is usual.I would also go for a thinner leaf spring,a half inch leaf spring is probably hard to come by,and would need a great deal of work to achieve your aggressive taper.Grinding would be the only way to achieve this taper, if you haven't worked with leaf springs you could have .problems.Grinding creates heat,which if it becomes excessive,can affect the temper of the spring,and ruin it.1/4 or 3/8ths inch leaf spring(6-9mm)will suit you better and is easier to obtain
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Thanks for clearing that up Hermit, i always thought that leaf springs that are 3/8 or thicker were the most common and the thinner ones were rare, i never actually mesured one, anyway 10" of powerstroke seems like a lot to me, i heard somewhere that a crossbow prod should not have a draw of more than 1/3 it size (bace height + powerstroke) although i think that only applys to wood or composite, and i didn't know about how heat affects the steel, i think i'll pour water on it while im cutting and grinding so it doesn't loose its temper. Thanks again for the feedback, its very appreciated, any tips on what to look for when looking at leaf springs?
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Ok after making my own spring leaf bow I can suggest a couple of things. First of all, if you can, obtain a new unused spring. The metal is getting "tired" over time after god's know how many cycles of use in a car. The micro fractures can appear in it raising the risk of break. I myself used an old broken spring that was split in the middle but now somewhat regret it. The risk is tiny though, but still...
Imo the risk of loosing the temper of spring is exaggerated. You dont need to pour water on it constantly while grinding, just set a bucket of water near you and periodically put that spring in it. Simply avoid being a grinding maniac, and it will be fine )
Also imo, the 34" long spring leaf is too much... But if you like big guns, then ok ) 6.75" stroke is of cource too short compared to that long spring. I have similar stroke but on 64 cm bow, compared to your 86 cm. But I agree the suggested 10" is too much.
Also have in mind, that modern steel is used in leaf springs is almost ideal, compared to the middle aged steel, as well as the high precision factory tempering process. So you can get a way better performance from modern springs, and bend them more than people in the past could afford, without fear of break.
Good luck with
Imo the risk of loosing the temper of spring is exaggerated. You dont need to pour water on it constantly while grinding, just set a bucket of water near you and periodically put that spring in it. Simply avoid being a grinding maniac, and it will be fine )
Also imo, the 34" long spring leaf is too much... But if you like big guns, then ok ) 6.75" stroke is of cource too short compared to that long spring. I have similar stroke but on 64 cm bow, compared to your 86 cm. But I agree the suggested 10" is too much.
Also have in mind, that modern steel is used in leaf springs is almost ideal, compared to the middle aged steel, as well as the high precision factory tempering process. So you can get a way better performance from modern springs, and bend them more than people in the past could afford, without fear of break.
Good luck with
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Thanks for the feedback MePilot1, i´ll be sure to look for the newest leaf springs and to keep a bucket of water handy. At 34¨ this will be the shortest prod i have made so far but steel is very diferent than wood, i also think i´ll increase the powerstroke from what i´ve heard so far, thanks again for the advice.
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So here's my spring steel prod so far, i made it about 2 weeks ago, its 26" long 7/32" thick and it tapers to 1" with a slight recurve.
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I started to work on the stock in the morning, its royal cedar (i want it to be as light as possible), the nut is bronze as you can see, ill start to work on it on the weekend.
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Man, I admire you guys and your abiities to work metal. I do wood, but not metal - never had the training or inclination to do metal until the last few years. But now I liveaboard a 26 ft boat. Not a lot of space for a forge!
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Thanks man, it means a lot, though i think you might be giving me a bit to much credit, i cut the leaf spring with an angle grinder, and i bent the tips with one of those small "Benzomatic" blowtorches a hammer and an anvil, real simple.
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Also the nut was actually a 200 gram weight that i cut with a hacksaw.
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A bit of progress. 
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Angle grinders and Benzomatic torches make holes in boats like the one I live in. Not something I want to have happen! 
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I did the walnut inley last friday, i cut the stock a bit, epoxied the steel reinforcement pin on the front of the stock and cut the reinforcement plates for the nut yesterday and this morning i drilled the hole for the briddle, chiseled the socket for the nut and steel plates.
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I hadn`t done any work on the crossbow for about a week now, i was sick for about 4 days and i have a ton of work at the office and a cuople of orders at the shop so progress is slow, but i fell like im almost done now, my next post will probably be the finished x-bow.
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Your on the gain now my friend. Keep the fire goin cause you'll soon have something to roast. This will be a killin machine. Like Tony the Tiger would say, LOOKS GRRREAT.
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hey thanks for the encouragement C Sitas, means a lot, good stuff.
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So here it is, im gonna go ahead and say the crossbow is finished even tho i still need to make the wippe lever to cock it and the string (the one it has is made of paracord, to stretchy) what do you guys think.
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looks good my man. I've played a bit with the wippe. I ended up using a short length of rope with a ring on it. I attached this about where you'd put your foot in the stirrup . I hooked the end of the wippe in the ring. It worked perfect. There is a science to this believe it or not, that's why I used the rope with the ring. Once you got it figured out then ,you can get fancy.I really like the way you done up your string also.Looks for real.
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C Sitas, i though about the ring/wippe lever combo before but i opted for a lever that hooks to the prod itself, altho, with the string it has it pulls about 150# so i might just make a stirrup for it and keep the string it has, 150# with a 7.5'' power stroke isn't all that bad.
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Onager; I put my but stock on the ground and push the wippe downward.I'm an old fart, I can push more than I can pull. But, at 150# ,it not the end of the world.Only bad thing here is ,"Your leaning over the bow to cock it". Not really reckcommended .
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Beautifully done.
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Thanks man, well appreciated, did you make that crossbow in your profile picture? looks pretty sweet.
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