Past Projects: The Crossbow
My first year at Ball State, I took a special Honors symposium. It was a sort of combined humanities/history class, and spanned two semesters. It was a total of four classes, two each semester. The first semester was Honors 199/201 and the second was Honors 201/202. The same group of 23 students took all four classes together. We had Dr. Ruebel and Dr. Mr. Edmonds the first semester, and Dr. Mr. Edmonds and Dr. Mrs. Edmonds the second semester. While it was a lot of work, consisting mostly of reading and writing, it remains one of my favorite classes I've taken at Ball State. Most class time was spent discussing the reading material, so it was very open-ended and non-traditional. At the end of each semester, we were asked to present a creative project instead of taking a final exam. The only direction we were given was to tie the project into the class, and to not do anything illegal. I think I may have been borderline on the second criteria.
In the spring semester of the class, we read a poem called "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It's about a sailor who shoots an albatross with his crossbow, and the ensuing punishment for his sin. The crossbow was an integral part of the story and I liked The Rime best of all that we had read in the class, so I decided to build a crossbow for my creative project.
I started early in the semester; I bought the wood for the stock in January and began working on it right away. All but two components of the crossbow were hand-made. I wasn't able to forge the bow part, but I lucked out and found a guy on the internet who made and sold them. I also had to have a bowstring custom made at a local archery shop.
The hardest part was the trigger assembly. With help from my uncle, I got it built and functioning. It requires precise drilling and carving out of the stock, and working the trigger mechanism into place, then pinning it. On the front I mounted a stirrup that I forged in my furnace. The stirrup is used to anchor the weapon while cocking it; this isn't like a toy crossbow that you can cock with one arm while holding with the other. It takes both hands and lots of leg and back strength to arm.
The last step of the assembly was to bind the bow to the stock and trigger assembly. Traditionally hemp was used, but I had to use twine because I couldn't procure hemp at the time. In this step, the steel prod (bow) is sandwiched between the end of the stock and another small block of wood, with leather in between to act as a cushion. It isn't screwed or nailed in place. Instead, twine or hemp is used to lash the three parts together in two steps. The first step loosely binds all parts together, then a second application of twine is used to tighten the first, stabilizing the components and holding the crossbow together during the violent process of firing.
Firing the crossbow is both exciting and frightening. The amount of strength needed to arm it is enough to make it intimidating. If I recall correctly, the draw weight is 185lbs. When that kind of energy is stored in the bow, ready to be released at a pull of the trigger, it makes you very cautious about safety. I get more nervous firing my crossbow than I do my .357 magnums.
The device isn't terribly accurate, but it throws a piece of oak several yards downrange when the trigger is pulled. I did some test fires at a shed at the back of my parents' property; the bolts (crossbow arrows) went right through it. Finding myself on the business end of this thing would ruin my day.
One of my favorite aspects of this crossbow project is being asked to display it at different times. Last year it was on display in the Honors College for a little more than a semester, and just this week I was asked to present it to Dr. Mr. Edmonds' current 199/203 class (the same symposium I built the crossbow for two years ago). It's always a big hit, and I like talking about it. One student asked if we could go outside and fire it. I got the same request from a classmate when I first presented the crossbow to my class. However, I've never had the crossbow strung while on campus, which effectively disables it. Firing it on campus would probably be a bad idea anyway, in case something went wrong and it hit a car or a window or a person... The next question I got was if I had video; sadly, I do not. But I do have pictures. Once the weather gets nicer, I'll try to get video and post it here.
The tiller (stock) in its rough-cut form. I used a draw knife to finish shaping it:
The finished tiller and other components:
Firing up the forge to make the tickler (trigger) and stirrup:
A very hot fire:
The forging of the tickler:
More forging of the tickler:
The partially finished tickler and stirrup:
The strung prod. These are the only two components that I didn't make by hand:
Binding, part one:
Binding, part two:
The finished crossbow:
A hole in the shed...
