This wasn't on my 100+ item cabin fever project list, but suddenly the challenge was conceived and the process began. Can't help but share (quite proud of myself
). What we've got here is a beaked hazelnut prod, 26 1/4" long, and (guessing) maybe 35#@8". Rawhide backed, elk hoof-tipped, mounted on a lock of my own design. Took some set, I may set myself the task of replacing the prod with an elm one. Looks pretty cool if I say so Myself, wouldn't claim it was wabbit-hunting worthy though. But it spits a light spruce bolt quite nicely, thank you. As a side note, I'm a bit tickled by the fact that there are not 1, but actually 3 wooden springs in use here: The prod of course, but also the chokecherry lock mainspring and the trigger as well.
The piece on the top is a chokecherry spring. It keeps positive pressure on the lock barrel until squeezing the trigger unseats it. It also holds the bolt in place, but the holding pressure is released upon firing. Pretty sneaky, no?
Lock close-up at full draw:
I carved the lock barrel with a farrier's rasp out of an antler tip. The top pin (at left) holds the string loop, and the bottom one engages a shelf carved into the pistol.
