Swedish crossbow forum

I have just spent a couple of delightful hours over on
Patrik Westman's (Halvslak)crossbow forum. http://armborst.forum24.se/ Everything is in Swedish, but I guarantee the pictures to be in your native tongue.

It is a "must see".

Mac

Hi Mac, that is an awesome forum. You can read it also. Just download Google chrome (it is free!) it will auto translate the whole page. Does not always provide perfect translation but is more than readable.

Todd

Really! Google chrome, you say? Perhaps I try that.

I was muddling along with my couple hundred words of German and Dutch. I periodically plugged things into this online translator. http://www.translation-services-usa.com/swedish.php The results ranged from the OK to ridiculous. It had a lot of trouble with the technical terms, but those mistakes are relatively easy to sort out.

There is some good stuff on that forum.....
How about that method of putting in the nut bearings? Very clever.....! I'm thinking that there must be a variation on that theme which is less wasteful of material, yet still keep the bearings aligned during the inleting and gluing.

Mac

It´s great that you find our webpage useful. Sorry that i havent a english version, but the translate tools on the internet are getting better and better.
Feel free to download and take advantage of the journey of learning that we in our swedish little crossbowcommunity are doing. - The more the merrier
Note that some of the construction-drawings are from a russian forum and i have promised Ivo to mention that and to give the russians credit for the job. I havent had the time to mention every source for every drawing.

I signed up on http://armborst.forum24.se/ yesterday. It was very exciting. I've never posted through a translator program before.

Mac

Swedish forum is indeed a Sweet forum.

Good to see you stop by, Halvslak. Hows that custom from Dmitriy doing? You never got back to me.

Ivo

Mac: i saw your posting and i have written a reply.
- If we share knowledge, everyone will be even happier
Ivo: I have a lot to do with the Crossbowmeeting in Heidenau, Germany, building of a garage at home, my marriage in 6 of August and two wild kids.....puuhh.......so the beautiful crossbows in St Petersburgh must wait until the winter comes.

Wow. I was late to work at the shop yesterday, because I was so fascinated by the photo and articles in this forum! I was also happy to see some pages from Geezers first book of crossbows, his early illustrations of bow shapes.
My google translator did a fair job, but there were some very puzzling bits... but, it would almost be worth it to learn the language in order to read all of that. Of course, I have to learn German to read Geezer's amazing crossbow books, too...

Thanks so much for that link, I am really enjoying it...


Best!
Lightly

Swedish, French, Russian, Our's, and perhaps a few more forums that we haven't heard of yet...rolling our own.

Very proud of everyone here and wishing best to our colleagues around the world...maaan, this is great.

Ivo

The Swedish site is a wonderful resource. There are plenty of photos that give a good insight into how to do stuff. Don't worry about the language, just open every page you can find and see whats there.

But beware...it is a big time waster!

I am amazed at the size of the antler they are using for the nuts. Can anyone tell me what animal they come from as they are not the Scottish red deer we have here in new Zealand.

Also when I see "horn" mentioned for the nuts (not on the swedish site but elsewhere), are we talking about buffalo horn such as can be bought from "Hillend Horn Company" in the UK (they specialize in antler and horn for stick & knife makers)?
I have some and would like to use it for the nut on my first Xbox but want assurance that it is strong enough to take the loads.

Baskethilt

Baskethilt: NOT cow or ox horn. You want Antler... axis stag or moose horn are preferable. Geezer

Thanks for that Geezer. We don't have either of those species here so looks like the nut will have to be brass.

Basket hilt, we order our moose antler on line and turn it... I think you can get axis stag online, too.... it is an option, if you have a lathe. I can't remember what kind of deer you have there in NZ, but it may be that near the crown of the antler (if it is a big enough circumference) may do for a nut. You'd have to see how large the pith inside it is....

Best!

Lightly

Hi Lightly,

I was just browsing Kiwijim's post under the roller topic about red deer antler and he says its not suitable, as I thought.

Can you give me a link for purchasing moose antler please. If its not too expensive to import it might be the answer. But the pith worries me. I make thumb sticks and use red deer antler for handles. You have to drill out the pith and fill with a hard wood plug and resin because it is a bit soft. So I imagine the base of the moose antler would have to be pretty near solid right through or drill it out and fill with hard wood plug.

Has anyone tried cow bone from around the joints?

Maybe just synthetics would be good enough for my first bow. I feel I should be just building a basic bow to see what the issues are, but my tendency is to want to be historically accurate and also make something reasonably fancy. I tend to want to run before I can walk, but that's how I learnt to make knives.

Hey! Well, I believe that the link to the moose antler stuff is in another thread... Um. The one about the German bow built by the Italian man?

Ok, I found it:
Moscow Hide and Fur co. of Moscow Idaho. That is where we order our moose horn from. There is generally little to no pith in it. We order just about 6 inches of the part just above the crown. Pretty solid!

And maybe a simpler bow would be easier, if you would enjoy making that as much as a fancier, more traditional one... and, it's not like you can only make ONE. I think they repealed that law last year.... lol!

If you haven't seen them, I did some photo documentaries of my bow building/learning process. Mistakes and all.... There may be some info in there for you. So long as you don't repeat my mistakes! There are many sets of different kinds of bows as I built them. I will drop you a link if you are interested.
Geezer would usually be on here answering these questions, but he is busy being A Busy and Important Author this weekend! Attending a fun convention. Probably getting home about now and catching up on giving some kitty scritches.

You can also use the Delrin plastic, it comes in the correct size, and it is pretty easy to work. Most of our bows use Delrin for the nut, unless the client specifically asks for a bone nut. They are equally strong. The bone is just prettier.

I never thought of using the bone from a cow joint, but I can't ever remember seeing where there might be a piece of that large enough. And then again, I haven't examined a great many cow bone joints.

Good luck!

Lightly

Thanks for your input Lightly, it is much appreciated.

Yes it is a bit confusing at first finding stuff in different threads. But I suppose as I become more familiar with your site and the information available I will know where to look.

I will check out the moose antler but I can forsee all sorts of agriculture issues trying to import it into NZ. Delrin may be the quickest solution at this stage and as you say, build another, better Xbow later.

Once I get into the build I'll be sure to post progress reports and photos.

Thanks again for your help.
Baskethilt