Walnut Crossbow stock

[bluezephyr]

When i was employed i had to make a crossbow stock for a customer, The customer was interested in archery and always wondered what old style crossbows would feel like to fire, The components are available from a company in the US called Alchem, I was so please how this turned out i bought all the bits i needed,I took advantage of the very stong £/$.
I still havent had time to do anything with the parts, If i do one i will buy some nice hardwood, Being fairly new to hardwoods what would you guys reccomend?

The customer had to string the prod on, I bought a kit with Irons to hold mine.
Funny how you can buy plans for an English medieval crossbow in America !

 

[mr]

Walnut would seem like a good choice to me. Ash would be cheap and also suitable as a hardwearing material in case you find yourself called up to serve Queen and country and have to provide your own armament.

Cheers Mike

edit

http://crossbows.biz/products.html

lots of pics of various different types of wood in use as stocks here.

 

[PowerTool]

I remember getting out a library book many years ago (late 70's ) about building your own crossbow,as I was tempted to make one - sure walnut was the timber of choice in there.

Andrew

 

[tim]

I built one at school when I was 14. Its downstairs somewhere although the string has disappeared. My parents had a fit and Dad decide to confiscate the firing mechanism - which I never saw again. Shame he didn't realise I had anticipated that and had made another set.

Stock is Mahogany. Prod pressure is pretty high - either a 120 or 160 lbs IIRC. Never used it to kill but it sure made a mess of a chemistry textbook at 30yards. Those were the days.

Unbelievably it was all above board and part of a woodwork/ metal work class. One guy got caught making an SLR though (and I don't mean a camera). We are sure he would have got away with it but the new chaplain was wandering around and spotted the rat tail of the firing parts - he had just joined the school from being padre to 2 Para in the Falklands.

Here it is:

Cheers

Tim

 

[Mcluma]

I built one at school when I was 14. Its downstairs somewhere although the string has disappeared. My parents had a fit and Dad decide to confiscate the firing mechanism - which I never saw again. Shame he didn't realise I had anticipated that and had made another set.

Stock is Mahogany. Prod pressure is pretty high - either a 120 or 160 lbs IIRC. Never used it to kill but it sure made a mess of a chemistry textbook at 30yards. Those were the days.

Unbelievably it was all above board and part of a woodwork/ metal work class. One guy got caught making an SLR though (and I don't mean a camera). We are sure he would have got away with it but the new chaplain was wandering around and spotted the rat tail of the firing parts - he had just joined the school from being padre to 2 Para in the Falklands.

Here it is:
Cheers

Tim

That didn't turn out to bad for a project done by a 14 yr old

 

[George_N]

I know it is a bit OT, but what is the legal position as regards making/owning/using a crossbow? Given the recent thread that highlighted the fact that my Opinel knife and leatherman multi-tool are both illegal for me to carry in public, I'm curious about the view the law takes about such obviously deadly weapons. Sorry if that sounds like I'm putting a damper on things, I don't mean it in that way, I'd really like to make a crossbow myself (a longbow too, for that matter), probably because I grew up watching Robin Hood and William Tell on TV.

 

[mr]

Under the Crossbows Act 1987, crossbows cannot be bought, handled or shot in England, Wales or Scotland by those under 17, even under adult supervision. Similar prohibitions for Northern Ireland are made in the Crossbows (Northern Ireland) Order 1988. Section 5 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 prevents their use for hunting birds. In Scotland, section 50 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 [2] makes it illegal to be drunk in a public place in possession of a crossbow.
Section 44 of the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006, designed to bring crossbows into line with firearms, raised the age limit to 18 in England and Wales, with effect from 1st October 2007[3]. The Scottish Parliament made similar changes in section 62 of the Custodial Sentences and Weapons (Scotland) Act 2007 [4], also with effect from 1st October 2007.

So sayeth Wikipedia

The 87 Crossbows Act may be found here

or here if you're not a fan of the pdf format.


Which is not to say that crossbows are not covered by other offensive weapons or firearms legislation which they may be.

Cheers Mike

 

[tnimble]

Over here crossbows (and longbows, swords, daggers etc) are listed as a type 4 weapon. Type 4 weapons do not require a licence, they may be freely sold, bought, carried and used by persons of 18 years or older. When carried in public the weapon may not be ready to fire / use.

The rules are somewhat the same troughout the EU

 

[Lark]

wow thats nice would love to make one my self as well.

not to shoot but would be good for show...


when i was about 12 my friends dad made one as well.

 

[George_N]

Thanks Mike, very comprehensive. We are obviously much more tightly regulated than our European cousins.

 

[Calpol]

I looked into making one a while back and one of the designs used a car leaf spring for (technical term coming up) 'the metal bit on the front'

Would still like to make one actually, maybe sometime once the workshop is up and running...

 

[Lark]

is there ny free plans out there.... not even looked just asking

 

[mr]

Howzabout http://www.vintageprojects.com/archery/crossbowfull.pdf

Cheers Mike

 

[bluezephyr]

http://www.alcheminc.com/crossbow.html

This is where i bought the bits, And there are some plans aswell

 

[Digit]

I built one at school when I was 14. Its downstairs somewhere although the string has disappeared. My parents had a fit and Dad decide to confiscate the firing mechanism - which I never saw again. Shame he didn't realise I had anticipated that and had made another set.

That rings a bell! Mine put a three eight dowel clean through the shed door panel at 30 yards.
Snag was, dad was inside at the time!
Not good!

Roy.

 

[Lark]

hahaha crazy.

 

[George_N]

I built one at school when I was 14. Its downstairs somewhere although the string has disappeared. My parents had a fit and Dad decide to confiscate the firing mechanism - which I never saw again. Shame he didn't realise I had anticipated that and had made another set.

That rings a bell! Mine put a three eight dowel clean through the shed door panel at 30 yards.
Snag was, dad was inside at the time!
Not good!

Roy.

Roy, just read this and laughed my socks off. I can just imagine your Dad's reaction. It reminds me of when my pal and I made black powder muskets out of electrical conduit and the gunpowder from penny bangers. The "musket balls" were sheep feed pellets which fitted the barrel perfectly. We made some very cool looking bullet holes in a few windows before Dad caught up with us.

 

[Digit]

Happy days!


Roy.

 

[Pete Robinson]

bluezephyr, American black Walnut was traditionally used for gun stocks where its durability and shock-resistant properties excel, not to mention that it is also a really nice wood!!

Some interesting reading here and sounds like an interesting project to make.

Pete

 

[bluezephyr]

We were going to use oak but found it splintered too much and the customer agreed on the walnut, Apparently its more stable than most woods, So my boss at the time said.
I'd like t think it was a loving project, But was started at 8.30 am and collected by 5 and just a steady pace not to mess it up, 2 coats of oil aswell. , Another day working and being unnapreciated!.

I was amazed how easy it was to work with, Compared to Oak and Beech.