G'day from Australia

Hi All,

Kwandokun here from the land down under.

I've been an archer for a little over a year now and only recently started developing an interest in crossbows. I must admit, the walking dead had a lot to do with it.

I love all things wood, and find some of the pieces created by the members here to be truly awe inspiring. I'd like to achieve that level of craftsmanship myself some day.

Being completely new to this, with only limited woodworking experience, I hope it's all right to ask some starting questions.

I'm going to start my journey by creating a simple all wooden crossbow I think. Any plans/template recommendations for a complete newbie?

Other than a scrollsaw, what other must have tools are needed to create a crossbow? I'm hoping to create all of the elements of the crossbow myself.

Cheers guys!

Hey how you going Kwandokun
First off you may want to go get your class M license if your living anywhere esl apart from western Australia since they don't like us having fun but its just a thought so if your project doesn't work out to plan you can just go buy one.

Cheers B.Cheers haha.

Is a class M for hunting with a crossbow or any kind of ownership of one?

I predominantly want to make them for display, and the occasional target shots in the garden.

What kind of local woods do you recommend for builds? Is Tassie oak good enough for the stock?

Tasmanian Oak, Ribbon or White Gum and Aussie Cypress all have hardnesses roughly equivalent to American Oaks, Beech and White Ash - approximately 1300 on the Janka Hardness scale - so those species should make nice crossbow tillers. Are you wanting to make the prod from wood as well? You'll want a wood that has lots of 'spring back' to it. In American Red Elm and Osage Orange are good prod woods for example.

Thanks for the info kenh.

Yes I'm thinking I'll do a wood prod as well, maybe cover the middle section in a few layers of fishing wire or equivalent (sinew)?

Generally how wide and thick should the plank of wood be for the crossbow body?

I've seen a few wooden catches and triggers on youtube. They should be right for sub 100lb bows right?

This is from N.Q bow hunting site.
You are required to obtain an 'M Class' weapons licence if you wish to
own a crossbow. The crossbow must also be stored in much the same way as
a firearm (gun safe etc).

They didn't want to make a new class for crossbows so they put it under class M for misc, BB guns and a few other fall under this class, but if your building it for display and the odd shot here and there i wouldn't worry to much but it is handy to have, like i can use my crossbow at home but because it has no safety i cant take it to the club for target shooting or take it hunting.

But just though ild let you know since here they take things to the next level so if your living in the city and deside to go ahead with out the licence just be careful who you show and tell because if they do nab ya for it you wont be able to go for any firearm licence for a few years if ever.
Thanks Ben

Ah gotcha.

Cheers for the heads up.

As I said, I mainly want to make one for the craftsmanship aspect of it. If I decide later down the track I want to take the crossbow out to the club or field I'll get a licence.

Do you think Bunnings will have the wood I need, or do I need to get to a specialist timber yard?

Yeah Bunnings will have every thing you need just some of there wood is really crap but hey its fairly cheap.

What sort of things should I look for when determining a 'good' piece of wood for our purposes?

Obviously it should be straight, but what else?

Tiller wood - no cracks, splits or knots. In the States, a 2x4 or 2x6 (50mm x 100 or 150 mm) would do. How is that 'structural lumber' listed in a metric world, BTW?

Prod wood - quartersawn, no cracks, splits or knots about 1x2x30 inches. If you've never made a wooden bow before, you need to check out how to build a Board Bow. Sam Harper's site is a good start: http://poorfolkbows.com Realize that all those sites are talking about a 6 ft long bow, not one less than 3 ft long, but you'll see how its done! Geezer here may be able to help with rough dimensions for a wooden prod.

Cheers Kenh.

I'll head to the hardware store this weekend and let you know the standard measurements of wood in the metric world.

Did you mean 1000 or 1500mm for the length measurement?

For the tiller I'd buy a board nominally 2 inches wide x 4 inches high x 30" long. Your dimensions would be roughly 50mm wide x 100mm high x 75 cm long.

Prod dimensions we would say 1"x2" x 30"; you'd call it 25mm x 50mm x 75 cm

gotcha. Thanks for clarifying.