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cross bow once more... (Read 9376 times)
Douglas_The_Black
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cross bow once more...
May 10th, 2006 at 9:16pm
 
Ever look at paintings from the 13thc? the cross bow prod looks very short. as apposed to my crossbow prod that is the size of a short bow.

I have a small but thick hunk of bow wood left over, its very short like 2 and 1/2 feet or less. Is there any way i could make a small but powerfull crossbow prod out of wood that short? Im worried that it would snap on me.

Maybe the crossbows in the paintings are lamanent with layors of stuff in them. Maybe i should hold off untill i get some cowhorn to make it a little longer...


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ok ok not from the 13thc but you get the idea

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this guy seems to have one of those many layerd bows


now that i look at it my hunk of wood seems way too small but what the heck what do you think?
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Taiki
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Re: cross bow once more...
Reply #1 - May 10th, 2006 at 9:55pm
 
Too be honest i think they where Really bad at drawing Tongue and your crossbow looked ok to me doug this isn't saying much since i know nothing about them but its an honnest opinion Wink
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Mike
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Re: cross bow once more...
Reply #2 - May 10th, 2006 at 10:32pm
 
Yeah, their artwork is exaggerated, like when they depict their longbows in the tapestries. Completely out of proportion, but the ones next to the battle axe look decent.
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Douglas_The_Black
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Re: cross bow once more...
Reply #3 - May 10th, 2006 at 10:41pm
 
well its not that i dont like my cross bow its that i have a small hunk of good wood that i would like to turn into a crossbow Grin
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i live in a maze of typo's&&&& popularity is for dolls a hero cannot be popular-Ralph Waldo Emerson&&&&DTB-master of the corny vest, and crappy carpet!
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Slinger_Man_Dan
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Re: cross bow once more...
Reply #4 - May 11th, 2006 at 2:27am
 
  Greetings, DTB,                                                                           
     I understand your reluctance to throw away a nice piece of wood,
but my sense is that 2 1/2 feet is simply too short for a workable bow made only of wood ( not that I'm any sort of expert. ) I seem to recall reading somewhere that crossbow prods were made of steel, sometimes covered with leather, which might explain why they don't look like steel in the paintings. Certainly laminating the wood with horn or antler would make a big difference but would be a lot of work.
As I said, I'm hardly an expert ( I've always said "expert" is spelled:
"e-g-g   s-p-u-r-t" ) so I hope you can come up with something.   
      Thank you very much for the superb artwork, though. The hunting scene in particular brings back some great memories!!
                                                                               .......Dan
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Re: cross bow once more...
Reply #5 - May 11th, 2006 at 5:03am
 
Don't throw that wood away! 2 1/2 feet (76cm according to google) is more than adequate. Most of my crossbow prods are that long or a little shorter. Remember that draw lenght on period crossbows was really short.
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Slinger_Man_Dan
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Re: cross bow once more...
Reply #6 - May 11th, 2006 at 12:31pm
 
Quote:
Don't throw that wood away! 2 1/2 feet (76cm according to google) is more than adequate. Most of my crossbow prods are that long or a little shorter. Remember that draw lenght on period crossbows was really short.

                                                                                               
    Demagogs! I stand corrected! If I dredge the bottommost sediments of my mind, I seem to recall that crossbow prods were indeed made of steel.......later. That is, into the 1400's  and later, but I confess I don't know what was common earlier. Is there a reference that you know of that we could consult??              .......Dan
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lobohunter
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Re: cross bow once more...
Reply #7 - May 11th, 2006 at 1:19pm
 
Have confidence Doug. Go forth and make a awsome short prodded crossbow
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Re: cross bow once more...
Reply #8 - May 11th, 2006 at 3:05pm
 
How would making a crossbow that shot spears work?
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Re: cross bow once more...
Reply #9 - May 11th, 2006 at 5:50pm
 
According to the romans and Greeks, really well. They were called Scorpions and they fired what were essentially small javelins or huge crossbow bolts, that were said to be able to impale several men in a shot. there were forms that fired round shot in lieu of bolts, and some of the seige forms, if the proportions of their ammo is correct, were up to 40 feet tall and fired 18 kg (40 lb) round rocks at enemies' walls. Actually, while playing Rome:total war I have taken out goodly portions of the opposition with the ballistas and scorpions, including the enemies's generals. It's sort of funny to watch them fly off the screen after being struck with a flaming bolt or rock several times their size seconds before their army breaks up and flees screaming.
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Douglas_The_Black
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Re: cross bow once more...
Reply #10 - May 11th, 2006 at 9:25pm
 
make this

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v653/DouglasTheBlack/others/balista.jpg


then scale it up. Its not too hard to do truth told, The biggest problem i had was the holes i had to drill into the top and bottom of the ballista.


If you need any help on like the details let me know and ill try to help. I am planning for this summer to make a huge verson of the one above but wood is not cheap

Undecided
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i live in a maze of typo's&&&& popularity is for dolls a hero cannot be popular-Ralph Waldo Emerson&&&&DTB-master of the corny vest, and crappy carpet!
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Re: cross bow once more...
Reply #11 - May 11th, 2006 at 9:55pm
 
Quite cool, what sort of cordage did you use for the torsion springs? And.... How's it shoot !Smiley?

Do you have any measurements (size or draw weight)? This sounds like a fun project.

Always be on the lookout for wood being thrown away. A lot of times when construction is being done they throw out some really nice sections.
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Douglas_The_Black
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Re: cross bow once more...
Reply #12 - May 11th, 2006 at 10:06pm
 
thats paracord that was twisted into 4 thicker ropes. Can you see the wood on the top? I put a pipe around that wood then twisted untill i started to hear the wood creak. Last i checked it pulled 50 pounds. I could shoot a pen very far, and bolts with fletching pretty far. The cool thing about it is how concistant it shot, i think after i mounted it to the picknick table the darts only had an inch or so varyation depending on how far back i drew it. remind me some time to get a pick of the bow arms. The rope was so tight it compressed the wood.  Grin

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v653/DouglasTheBlack/others/balistafront.jpg
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i live in a maze of typo's&&&& popularity is for dolls a hero cannot be popular-Ralph Waldo Emerson&&&&DTB-master of the corny vest, and crappy carpet!
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CanDo
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Re: cross bow once more...
Reply #13 - May 11th, 2006 at 10:18pm
 
Thanks DTB Smiley That looks like thick wood that was getting bowed (sp?) Wow

Anyone know of some good sites for this sort of thing?

This is one of my next projects Smiley
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Re: cross bow once more...
Reply #14 - May 12th, 2006 at 5:48am
 
Here is a paper on Teutonic Order and the importance of crossbow in their conquest of Baltics.

http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/articles/ekdahl.htm
->
"Throughout the whole of the Middle Ages simple and cheap crossbows made from yew wood were used in the country districts."


Also about ballista- i'm building one right now, too. Just 2 days ago i learned that simple wood isn't enough to hold the twisted rope. The crushing force created by twisting the rope is tremendous- my random guess is at least 10-15 times the draw weight of finished ballista.
Ok, i'm off to find some at least 1cm thick round steel bar now.
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