Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: bushman on October 24, 2009, 02:24:53 am
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Here are a few pictures of an urban crossbow pistol that I have made. All of the parts are made mostly from wood with just a few nails used as pins, 4 dry wall screws and 2 little strips of flashing to hold it together. The bow is made from around 20 of them wooded coffee stir sticks. If you try to glue them together they will just snap on you, learnt that the hard way, o well. But if you just bind them together with string then they will slip on each other and make a nice bow. I never measured that bow but it’s about 12” tip to tip and around 4 pounds of draw at 5 ¾”. The bolt is just a blunt one that I made from a chopstick. I have made some more, made arrowheads out of banding, 2 broad heads that are like trade points and then I tried to make one that looks like a spear point and is folded around the arrow shaft, for the fletching I used the flight feathers from a raven and a rooster. It works pretty good, when you hold it at about a 45 degree angle it will shoot an arrow about 40 feet. It will work for pickin off rats at about 10 feet. Here is
This is how it works:
The trigger is made to slide straight backwards when you pull on it, it has a pin that fits into a slot on the bottom of the “nut” (that piece that you see that is sticking up from the top there), the pressure from the bow string locks it all together until you pull the trigger backwards and that pin disengages from the “nut” allowing the bowstring to snap forward and send the bolt flying down range.
Here’s some pictures of it:
What do you think of it?
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Well that didn't work to attach the pictures. Can someone tell me how to post the pictures please? I can't figure it out. Thanks
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You have to post the pictures to a site like photobucket or somesuch and then copy them as [IMG]......[IMG]
It's a pain in the a$$.
Sound like a fun toy for shooting coffee cups.
Years ago at work I casually picked up a small piece of thin aluminium alloy strip, I flexed it in my hands and said 'this is decent alloy, it would make a bow for a miniature crossbow'
The new kid in the office didn't know me and said 'no way', I offered him a bet, I said, 'I'll make it into a miniature bow pistol, every yard it shoots further than half a soccer pitch you buy me a pint of beer, every yard less I'll buy you one'
Needless to say, I got the beer ;D
Del
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(http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/yy150/north_222/cp1.jpg)
Lets see if this works.
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(http://C:\Documents and Settings\Ida\My Documents\Curtis\cp1.JPG)
Lets try again.
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file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ida/My%20Documents/Curtis/cp1.JPG (http://file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ida/My%20Documents/Curtis/cp1.JPG)
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(http://file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/Ida/My%20Documents/Curtis/cp1.JPG)
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Ok lets try this again.
(http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/yy150/north_222/cp1.jpg)
(http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/yy150/north_222/cp2.jpg)
(http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/yy150/north_222/cp3.jpg)
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Ok I think I got it figured out how to add pictures now. It is a pain, especially when you are on dia up Internet and it takes half a day to do anything on it. Thanks, Del the cat, for tellin me how to add the pictures. What do you think of the pistol crossbow?
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That is pretty cool, nice job.
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That's cool, it's hard to judge the scale, how long is it?
Something on my project list is a full sized all wooden primitive crossbow.
I can't remember if I posted the link to my Chinese Repeating Crossbow, the actual bow is laminated fibreglass/maple so it doesn't qualify a 'primitive'
The original Chinese ones had Bamboo bows made of strips lashed together very much like your lolly(popsicle?) sticks
Heck I'll post the link, if anyone doesn't like the concept they don't have to click.
http://s411.photobucket.com/albums/pp195/Del_the_Cat/?action=view¤t=repeater.flv
It will be a bit slow to download if you are on dial up, but it's well worth a look.
Many years ago I worked with Alan Bilbow, he's a renowned maker of miniatures especially crossbows which are in several US museums and collections and they sell for thousands of dollars, he started off making a 1/4 scale copy of one of my bows! (He did a scale model of the Chinese Repeater in Sir Ralph Payne-Galwey's book too) He left the Uk and made his name in the US, great guy.
Del
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Anyone ever tried using an old leaf spring from a car for a crossbow?
It would take a while to hacksaw into shape, but its high quality spring steel alloyed slightly with silicon.
Not something you can pick up at HomeDepot.
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Heck I'll post the link, if anyone doesn't like the concept they don't have to click.
http://s411.photobucket.com/albums/pp195/Del_the_Cat/?action=view¤t=repeater.flv
Thats an amazing piece of work!
Machine gun of the ancients!
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Way to go bushman, that is just different enough to be really cool !
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Anyone ever tried using an old leaf spring from a car for a crossbow?
It would take a while to hacksaw into shape, but its high quality spring steel alloyed slightly with silicon.
Not something you can pick up at HomeDepot.
Yup...here's one I made earlier...about 20yrs ago (the fares at the end are silver soldered on)
(http://i411.photobucket.com/albums/pp195/Del_the_Cat/cocked.jpg)
Using car leaf spring is what tought me never to saw the wrong side of the line, I was only a kid (about 40yrs ago) and I was sawing out the profile as a series of 3 straight lines on each limb, I'd completed one side, turned it over, finished the first cut and then instead of sawing off the scrap I SAWED OFF THE LIMB :'(.
My brother helped me out, we cut another one sawing in 5minute shifts between the two of us. :)
Not a mistake you make twice. :-[
Del
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i like it! can you give more details on the trigger machanism? thanks.
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Heck I'll post the link, if anyone doesn't like the concept they don't have to click.
http://s411.photobucket.com/albums/pp195/Del_the_Cat/?action=view¤t=repeater.flv
Thats an amazing piece of work!
Machine gun of the ancients!
That repeater is one engineering work of art! Any chance of a diagram to see how it works ?
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Heck I'll post the link, if anyone doesn't like the concept they don't have to click.
http://s411.photobucket.com/albums/pp195/Del_the_Cat/?action=view¤t=repeater.flv
Thats an amazing piece of work!
Machine gun of the ancients!
That repeater is one engineering work of art! Any chance of a diagram to see how it works ?
I don't have a diagram, but this blog I posted on an engineering site has more pics, explanation and a rference to my source material.
http://cr4.globalspec.com/blogentry/3835
Del
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Sadly I don’t have any photographs on the action. So I hope you can understand this drawing I made of it:
(http://i786.photobucket.com/albums/yy150/north_222/action.jpg)
The trigger is attached to the trigger housing. There are two pins that fit into slots in the trigger housing that allow the trigger housing to slide backwards when the trigger is pulled. The spring at the back push the trigger housing forward to reset the trigger. There is a pin, “Trigger/Sear locking pin”, that fits into a notch in the “Sear (Nut, I guess you call it, right? Wasn’t sure when I first drew these up)” When the bow string is placed on the top the of the “sear” it wants to pull it forward and put pressure on the locking pin to hold it all together until you pull the trigger backwards and disengage the “sear” which lets the string fly forward. It works very well, just has an ugly trigger pull that you can’t adjust. Can you understand that? If not just ask.
Bushman
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I think that's a cool little crossbow. Nice job Bushman!