Medieval steel prods

Good morning, Crossbow enthusiasts: Geezer here, with news... at least for some of you. My apprentice, Lightly, just jogged my foggy memory. About 2 years ago, a rather difficult customer ordered a very lovely bow from me. He fitted it with a very handsome medieval type prod/lath from: www.digitarc.com If you're hot to have a very-correct prod, with properly rolled ends, that's tapered in thickness rather than width, these folks have a very good item. Cost quoted at 145 Euros is pretty reasonable, all things considered. Geezer.

.....a rather difficult customer ordered a very lovely bow from me. He fitted it with a very handsome medieval type prod/lath from: www.digitarc.com....

Interesting...how was this customers difficulty expressed? Was it a reproduction crossbow you were building for him by any chance?

PS: Good resource.

The customer had definite ideas about what he wanted and was a passive manipulator. I tried to give him advice, he disregarded ALL of it. Nothing was ever right, but he wouldn't tell me what he actually wanted, while remaining perfectly pleasant and apparently reasonable. It was positively infuriating. This is the guy who didn't want a Matuls cranequin... it was 'too expensive'. Then when he got his 350 lb. crossbow (he might have used a belt-hook, but he wouldn't have a foot-stirrup) he discovered he couldn't span it. Imagine that! Eventually, he got his bow and I got my money. Two months later, he was back, wanting a new bow to new specs. I told him to go elsewhere.
The name was Alvarez... he lives in California, if he comes calling, for up and call for the SWAT teams!
Still, it was a beautiful bow. I'll see about digging up some pictures to post.
Geezer

How about this style of Prod tip, is this a pin end? kinda looks like a 3 claws to me, it's from an original 16 century bow. Is there a generic name for this style?
Thanks
B.

Answer to balbi: Yeah, I would call that a 'pin' end, as differentiated from a slot and wheel at least. Some pin ends are essentially a three-pronged fork, some have a flattened flange and a pin, and some have the flattened end of the prod/lath rolled up into a tube. I particularly like those... they're elegant and should be strong. Geezer.

I believe the best forgerer of steelprods with historicly correct measurments and nocks is the legendary Jens Sensfelder, e-mail jens.sensfelder@googlemail.com.
See some samples at our website http://armborst.forum24.se/armborst-about25.html

Hello crossbow friends: Mr Halvsiak is correct about the workmanship of a prod forged by Jens Sensfelder. Mr Sensfelder makes one hell of a prod. I know I purchased one from him not long ago. Nr 116 draw wt is 350kg. that come to about 751lbs draw wt.US. He is a great guy to deal with also. Mike

Geezer wrote:Good morning, Crossbow enthusiasts: Geezer here, with news... at least for some of you. My apprentice, Lightly, just jogged my foggy memory. About 2 years ago, a rather difficult customer ordered a very lovely bow from me. He fitted it with a very handsome medieval type prod/lath from: www.digitarc.com If you're hot to have a very-correct prod, with properly rolled ends, that's tapered in thickness rather than width, these folks have a very good item. Cost quoted at 145 Euros is pretty reasonable, all things considered. Geezer.

Hmm, interesting prods. I wonder if the thickness taper is linear... doing that correctly (following the cube root curve) is fairly difficult.