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+14

kenh

cnunley

ferdinand

Saxon Crusader

genesis

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8fingers

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mac

Basilisk120

Master Bran Padraig

Todd the archer

18 posters

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Making crossbow bolts

Todd the archer

Todd the archer: Crossbow Junkie
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Post n°1

Making crossbow bolts

by Todd the archer Tue May 24, 2011 3:25 pm

First topic message reminder :

Does anybody have a tutorial on how they make crossbow bolts. In particular, what do you use for shafting and vanes? Does anyone have jig or setup for doing the traditional 2 fletched bolts. How about the specs; length, thickness, what tips are you using? Overall weight?

Thanks in advance, Todd

8fingers: Workshop Savvy
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Post n°16

Re: Making crossbow bolts

by 8fingers Mon May 30, 2011 4:36 pm

I can't find the illustration right now but my recollection of the engine was a jig mounted to a bench that held the bolt firmly, and I would guess, have a way of indexing each slot. There was a fence that guided a scratch stock just so, just there. (A scratch stock is a sort of plane.)
I am exploring the idea of making something similar but using a Dremel tool in a router base to cut the grooves. By using a wire hook to catch a finished groove I should be able to index each cut. Matching V groove blocks to hold the front of the shaft and a squared up section like a miter box for the cutting area, a table and fence to guide the router.
I need one up and running by the end of the week, so hold my feet to the fire on this one. pale

pale

Juggle

mac

mac: Master Weaponsmith; Posts : 561
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Location : Near Philly USA

Post n°17

Re: Making crossbow bolts

by mac Mon May 30, 2011 9:53 pm

8F,

The pic in question comes from the loeffelholz manuscript. I'm not coming up with it on the web. I'll see if I can find it tomorrow.

Mac

JMC: Tinkerer
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Post n°18

Re: Making crossbow bolts

by JMC Sun Jun 12, 2011 1:55 am

Bonjour les amis

Making crossbow bolts - Page 2 Aus_wk10

Making crossbow bolts - Page 2 Aus_wk10

basileus: Crossbow Building Wiki
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Post n°19

Re: Making crossbow bolts

by basileus Sun Jun 12, 2011 2:14 am

Got to make something like this and try hardwood vanes again. My earlier wooden vanes were inserted through the shaft which made them hard to align perfectly (or spirally, for that matter). A thin, scraping steel blade should work as a groove cutter.

Basileus

mac

mac: Master Weaponsmith; Posts : 561
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Post n°20

Re: Making crossbow bolts

by mac Sun Jun 12, 2011 8:34 am

Merci, JMC!

Mac

8fingers: Workshop Savvy
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Post n°21

Re: Making crossbow bolts

by 8fingers Sun Jun 12, 2011 7:55 pm

Just a thought, but would a short section of a fine saw blade work better than a single scrapper/cutter? measure the thickness of your vanes and use multiple hacksaw blades or maybe reciprocating saw blades to make the thickness, but cut down to 1/2 inch or so?
JMC, Mac; Thanks for figuring out from my poor description the device I was thinking of.

genesis: Fresh Blood
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Post n°22

Re: Making crossbow bolts

by genesis Sat Jun 18, 2011 1:56 pm

I managed to pick up some reclaimed oak with a straight grain,and experimented with a smoothing plane,removing corners as far as possible with the shaft in the vice.Then,placed the plane upside down in the vice(with grip protection) and held the shaft in my fingers and worked the shavings off at each end towards the middle.Then, a bit of cheating with a linishing belt for the overall roundness,and hey presto,one oak quarrel shaft.

Paulius: Fresh Blood
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Post n°23

Re: Making crossbow bolts

by Paulius Tue Jun 21, 2011 4:58 am

I think that the best wood for shafts is ash. It has straigth grain and splits very well when green. You can simply take green log of ash and split it in squares. If needed work them to proper dimensions with axe or drawknife and then let them dry. When dried, you can round shafts as paul mentioned.
This is how I am doing it:
Making crossbow bolts - Page 2 Pictur11

Making crossbow bolts - Page 2 Pictur11

When I was making my first crossbow bolts, i tried to split dried ash, but this was hard to do properly. So I had to hew shafts with axe and this was wasting of material Making crossbow bolts - Page 2 728780

Making crossbow bolts - Page 2 728780

Although it is possible to round and smooth shafts only with plane and sraper, I have read that sandstone with round groove was used in massive production of bolt shafts.

Last edited by Paulius on Tue Jun 21, 2011 5:09 am; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : Added a photo)

Basilisk120

Basilisk120: Moderator; Posts : 548
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Post n°24

Re: Making crossbow bolts

by Basilisk120 Tue Jun 21, 2011 8:31 am

Paul- That sounds really cool. Lucky you on finding some good straight grained oak.
Paulius - Thanks for the tip on working the ash. Don't have access to good green wood down here, but might have to try that at sometime.

Saxon Crusader: Fresh Blood
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Post n°25

Re: Making crossbow bolts

by Saxon Crusader Mon Jun 04, 2012 5:04 pm

First post here and it's a question about nomenclature. I apologize in advance if it's a tad dumb but:

I'm ordering 11/32 Port Orchard cedar shafts from Three Rivers Archery and also the 125 and 145 grain steel field points, also in 11/32.

What I have not been able to find, even in Master Iolo's book is does one have to get a LARGER size of point or do 11/32 (3/8's inch) points fit snugly onto 11/32 shafts? I assume that's the case since the other sizes are notably different but I didn't want to make a dumb assumption and find out the hard way later. Very Happy

Very Happy

P.S. Old Geezer makes wonderful crossbows! Vera (that's what I named the one I got from him last Autumn) is my darlin'! Making crossbow bolts - Page 2 2281394845

Making crossbow bolts - Page 2 2281394845

Todd the archer

Todd the archer: Crossbow Junkie
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Post n°26

Re: Making crossbow bolts

by Todd the archer Mon Jun 04, 2012 7:59 pm

Yes, you use 11/32 points on 11/32 shafts. But they don't just slide over the end of the shaft. You need to taper the end of the shaft about 3/4" to 1". They make tapering tools or you can do it using bench top disc sander and run the shaft along a block of wood clamped down on the base set at the proper angle.

If pictures would help explain what I am saying let me know and I will post some.

Todd

Saxon Crusader: Fresh Blood
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Post n°27

Re: Making crossbow bolts

by Saxon Crusader Mon Jun 04, 2012 8:54 pm

Todd,

Thanks for the reply. I figured it was so but I really wanted to hear from someone in the know before I hit send on that size order! Smile

Smile

I got the V2 Taper Tool so hopefully that will suffice. The only thing I was still stuck on was whether I needed all left wing or all right wing fletches. Imagine this though: I looked at the ones I had which Master Iolo made for me and figured out that they were one each, left and right wing.

So my first attempt at making 100 bolts is only weeks away. I'll let you all know how it goes! Smile

Smile

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Post n°28

Re: Making crossbow bolts

by ferdinand Mon Jun 04, 2012 9:27 pm

Dont know if this will help u but here goes.
Bolts are 12 to 13 inches and about 3/8 thick is my best guess.
But maybe mac or one of the other guys can help u out with the measurements, they could be in the book of the royal dutch army museum were this whas taken.
Or do u want modern bolts? Have a three fletched one i could measure for u. Making crossbow bolts - Page 2 DSC_3085

Making crossbow bolts - Page 2 DSC_3085

Todd the archer

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Post n°29

Re: Making crossbow bolts

by Todd the archer Tue Jun 05, 2012 3:01 am

WOW, your fletch needs to be either left or right BUT NOT one of each. Both should be the same so that the bolt spins in flight. If one of each will cause the bolt to dive or rise and be quite unstable.

Todd

Geezer: Master Crossbowyer; Posts : 1194
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Post n°30

Re: Making crossbow bolts

by Geezer Tue Jun 05, 2012 5:01 am

Saxon: Geezer here (aka Master Iolo) You are mistaken about the feathers on the bolts I made for you. I never mix right and left wing-feathers. As noted elsewhere, that guarantees your bolts will fly badly. Choose either left or right feathers and stick with that. It's a lot less critical how much or which-way your bolts spin, than having them all the same.
Bolt length: According to the sources I have seen, medieval bolts range anywhere from 12 to about 18 inches in length, but the average is usually around 15 inches over-all. They're usually thick: between half and 3/4 inch diameter, tapered at the tail to fit between the lugs of a roller-nut. For lighter, target and sporting bows, I recommend 11/32 inch shafts about 15-16 inches long, with head-weight commensurate with draw-weight. Geezer

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Post n°31

Re: Making crossbow bolts

by Saxon Crusader Tue Jun 05, 2012 9:19 am

Geezer,

Thanks for the update and thanks again for the work of art that is my Vera. Smile

Smile

It might have helped if I turned on the lights when trying to figure out the wing. As it was I was lazy and simply eyeballed it by the phospher glow of my computer screen. Laughing

Laughing

Thanks to all of you for the support as I take this step into a larger world. I am notoriously NOT a "Maker" of things. Most things I make work but are relatively shoddy. I've always been a "plug and play" sort so I'm really going over the top with this bolt-making and having you all to support really helps the confidence a lot, I am grateful.

That and I learned just HOW fast one can go through 36 bolts!! Wink

Wink

Saxon Crusader: Fresh Blood
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Post n°32

Re: Making crossbow bolts

by Saxon Crusader Fri Apr 12, 2013 7:55 pm

Just checking in. The bolts I made last year (see above) got all used up because silly me, I didn't see the post here (which was in bold so you'd think I'd have caught it) about BOILING THE POINTS. Lol! Laughing

Laughing

I ended up having something like 24 points get stuck in our target butts. So this month I'm making more with both a hotter glue gun (10W is seriously insufficient I think...up to 40W gun now) and boiled points. I'll let you all know how it goes!

cnunley: Fresh Blood
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Post n°33

Re: Making crossbow bolts

by cnunley Mon Apr 15, 2013 10:06 am

Todd,

I make my bolts out of hard maple, 21 1/2 inches long, bodkin point, that come in a 38 grams total. I use lead shot in the tip to get them all to within 1/4 gram variance.

I use a Veritas doweling jig to make the shafts which produces a 3/8 in shaft after sanding. I finish them with 2 coats of linseed oil.

Graylings makes an excellent fletching jig that comes with plates for 2,3,4 flights. It's super easy to use, and very accurate, with adjustments for spin as well as adaptors for nocked or blunt end shafts. The best $25 I have ever spent. I am using thinned down gorilla glue, which works, but is still really goopy.

Right now I am using store-bought feather flights, but I am experimenting with parchment (very thin and expensive) inserted into slots. Thin wooden flights are next.

Hope this helps,

CEN

ferdinand: Crossbow Junkie
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Post n°34

Re: Making crossbow bolts

by ferdinand Mon Apr 15, 2013 12:40 pm

I am having trouble with balance. I made some new bodkin heads that are a bit longer and thinner to get more penetration. The total length is same as the other bolts but these new ones dont fly straight, they woblle. Any thougts?

kenh: Crossbow Junkie
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Post n°35

Re: Making crossbow bolts

by kenh Mon Apr 15, 2013 7:19 pm

Ferdi - where is the center of balance of the new quarrels? Too close to center might be causing the wobble ad you'll need to add weight to the points to get the c/g more forward.

ferdinand: Crossbow Junkie
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Post n°36

Re: Making crossbow bolts

by ferdinand Mon Apr 15, 2013 11:36 pm

kenh wrote:Ferdi - where is the center of balance of the new quarrels? Too close to center might be causing the wobble ad you'll need to add weight to the points to get the c/g more forward.

U are right, shorter shaft and longer tip makes center more to the back. I'll weigh them and add weight.

Stonedog: Tinkerer
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Post n°37

Re: Making crossbow bolts

by Stonedog Tue Apr 16, 2013 7:15 am

A few notes:

1. Make sure they all are the same exact length and within +/- 20 grains of each other
2. spine is pretty much irrelevant
3. same weight heads.
4. use a fletching device. I like the bitzenburger left wing. It can be set to 90 degrees to each other...put on a feather...two clicks and voila! Two fletchings set perfectly 180 degrees from each other. A Bitz isn't cheap and there are other decent alternatives...

I have made quite a few arrows for my longbows....I do all the same as above as except for the spine...

ferdinand: Crossbow Junkie
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Post n°38

Re: Making crossbow bolts

by ferdinand Wed Apr 17, 2013 11:00 am

Stonedog wrote:A few notes:

1. Make sure they all are the same exact length and within +/- 20 grains of each other
2. spine is pretty much irrelevant
3. same weight heads.
4. use a fletching device. I like the bitzenburger left wing. It can be set to 90 degrees to each other...put on a feather...two clicks and voila! Two fletchings set perfectly 180 degrees from each other. A Bitz isn't cheap and there are other decent alternatives...

I have made quite a few arrows for my longbows....I do all the same as above as except for the spine...

20grains!!? Man. That is just about 1 gram. Thaf is seriously close! I am not planning to be that accurate!
But length is same so i will have to make the heads shorter to get the balance forward. Thanks though for the advice! If i ever pick up hunting i will do so.

ferdinand: Crossbow Junkie
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Post n°39

Re: Making crossbow bolts

by ferdinand Sat Apr 20, 2013 5:05 am

How about this one! Pretty nice i think! Gettin thehang of it now! Making crossbow bolts - Page 2 DSC_4011-1_zps9635b153

Making crossbow bolts - Page 2 DSC_4011-1_zps9635b153

mac

mac: Master Weaponsmith; Posts : 561
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Location : Near Philly USA

Post n°40

Re: Making crossbow bolts

by mac Sat Apr 20, 2013 7:47 am

Ferdi,

That does look nice! Now, the only difference between you an a medieval arrow smith is about 10,000 points. In a craft like this, repetition is everything.

Seriously. By the time you have made about 100 or so, they are going to look really sweet and be pretty uniform.

Mac

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Re: Making crossbow bolts

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