Making a historical crossbow - with the HIGHEST arrow speed?
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Published 2024-07-14
To achieve this goal, it was important to keep the weight of the bow (340 grams) low and to maximize the acceleration distance (30cm) of a light arrow (15 gram). The bow has a draw weight of 200 pounds (approx. 90 kg).
Decisive for the arrow speed is the bowstring (natural long flax yarn) with a low dead weight (11.1 grams at 64 cm length) and maximum tensile strength (approx. 400 kg). This corresponds to 4 times the draw weight and is certainly borderline.
The crossbow bow is made from a combination of horn, wood, animal sinew and birch bark and was used from the Middle Ages (12th century) onwards. Everything is held together with glue from the swim bladder of a fish (Isinglass) and rabbitskin glue. Both glues have been in use for centuries.
The stock is made of maple with an arrow rail made of horn. The trigger mechanism is a so-called "schnepper" and has been in use since the Renaissance (15th - 16th century).
The production of a prototype 1.0 with subsequent filmed prototype 2.0 was very time-consuming and took me almost half a year.
I hope you like the video and have fun ....
0:00 Intro
0:30 Horn
2:26 Wood core
3:41 Gluing horn and wood core
6:05 Sinew covering
11:44 Tiller
13:11 Birch bark
14:38 Trigger mechanism
15:35 Crossbow stock
20:06 Small parts
22:18 Assembly
23:57 Shooting test
All Comments (21)
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For more videos like this, please leave me a subscription, give me a "thumbs up" and/or support me financially via the "Super Thanks" button below the video. Turn on the subtitles. Have fun.....
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I'm speculating that only a handful of people have the historical knowledge and craftsman like skill to build such a crossbow. You sir are an artist, and it was a pleasure watching you construct this.
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very cool imagine showing this to some king in the 15th century and he's like "awesome now make 1000 of them" 😮
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Thank you for sharing the making of the crossbow. Also thank you for leaving the original construction sounds and no music. Thoroughly enjoyed your craftsmanship!
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So much work. This is why every blacksmith in every movie is always working in every scene of every film.
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That sinew coating is essentially like the modern day fibreglass work... Amazing
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the last flex test made me go "holy sh*t" out loud that was brave sir
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Sir your craftsmanship is absolutely phenomenal. The attention to every detail and precision is screaming with superb quality. I also love the fact that you were using all organic materials and not synthetic crap. By far the best video on crossbows that I ever saw.
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That is a work of art . Every time I have sinew backed a bow I end up starting another project while glue is drying . Now I want to tackle a crossbow .
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I can only imagine how long it took to create something like this back in the day with very limited tools and resources.
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This is really very impressive, not only technically, but also historically. A lot of research has gone into this project. However, the sheer speed of the arrow is terrifying, and its penetration of different materials makes one understand how it was such a feared weapon. Full marks on this one Sir. 💯🙏
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Andi, this is extremely impressive. It is borderline terapeutic to see someone create something like this from the ground up. If possible, I’d love to see you and Tod from Tod’s workshop do some kind of colaboration in the future. Also, 1 million views in less than a week, on a otherwise quite small channel? that alone shows how incredible this was to watch
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I didn't expect it to be so beautiful. I have a new appreciation for the crossbow and the craftsmen who made them (and still do in your case).
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Beautiful work. I really appreciate the recreation of historical pieces. The practicality of such weapon was always on the low side of course given the weight and set up time for each shot. I hope to see other projects from you.
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Meticulous planning produces an awesome result. Fantastic job. Its a functioning and deadly work of art.
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I would love to talk about the different types of wood that could be used. Mostly like Osage Orange or English Yew. I am looking forward to the rest of this video! Thanks for the show!
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The crossbow is awesomely amazing👍...! Everything from the starts to finish was so smooth. Very educational, I love every details and thank you for sharing, bruh !!! You have a sweet hands for this job ...!
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This content is what YouTube is all about!! I was bummed out when this episode ended. Great stuff!!
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Brilliant work. It's easy to see why horn bows cost the four figure sums they do. Top level craftsmanship know-how and materials.
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it is nice to see an actual reproduction where no shortcuts were taken. Well done sir!
