Mechanical Steampunk crossbow ideas.

First topic message reminder :

Hi everyone. I'm Ryan from Arizona. I always liked crossbows, until a friend gave me a cheap little pistol one... now I'm really curious into making my own.

I was wondering if anyone has used an animal spine as a base for a crossbow? I want to get a unique and kinda creepy look and I happen to have one lying in my supplies.

Anyone got any cool ideas to add?

Ryan, there a number of books for learning wood carving, and forums like Regina Anglorum that have some nice wood carving and other craft topics. What is nice is when form and function coexist, rather than a veneer of 19th century stuff over modern stuff, like you see with some steampunk "computers," which are PCs and keyboards all tricked out to look like something Queen Victoria would have used. There is a real connection between the Arts and Crafts movement and the medieval period, where they were reacting to the mass produced stuff the age of industry allowed, cheap junk turned out by the trainload to meet the Victorian middle classes's insatiable hunger for stuff (sound familiar?). And today's steampunks now are harkening back to what is sometimes a real romaticism about a period that had terrible social and economic conditions. Steam things blew up, people were scalded to death in horrible factory accidents, Casey Jones died with his hand on the throttle, scalded to death by the steam, and so on.

For some real food for thought, google Kinetic Steam Works,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DeZAFmr9ek Check out this video. You can see the giant snail. And check out their site, http://kineticsteamworks.org/ The stuff will blow your mind, and these guys deal with the real deal, real steam, paddle boats and other neat stuff.