How to make a crossbow with your own hands at home

Now it has become fashionable to hunt with a bow and crossbow. Although in our country it is prohibited, but still you can shoot at targets, practicing in this difficult business. You can make a crossbow with your own hands at home for training. After all, good models from well-known companies are very expensive. A homemade crossbow can be made "for yourself." It is worth remembering that if the weapon is more than 20 kg, it is considered a cold weapon. Therefore, when creating a crossbow, it is worth taking into account this important nuance.

There are classic models, they are similar to the ancients, and their design is simple. Also there are modern crossbows, they are called "block". Such weapons have a more complex design due to the blocks and other innovations that enhance its power. Such a crossbow at home will be much more difficult, but the description of this process and the drawings, which will be detailed in the article, will help you in this.

The crossbow has many components:

• bow;

• bed;

• The trigger mechanism;

• String;

• In some modern models there are blocks at the ends of the bow.

What to make a crossbow

The main material from which the crossbow is made is the tree. From it they make a bed and an onion. The trigger mechanism in the powerful specimens is ground out of iron. And those in which the tension force is less than 20 kg, can be made of solid wood, it will withstand. Also used for onions are spring metal and various composites.

Conventional crossbow from wood

First, let's look at how easy it is to make a crossbow with your own hands, and start with its simple form. This is a standard design of ancient weapons, and it can be used not only for shooting, but also as a spectacular piece of furniture, hanging on the wall.

Which tree to use

To create a crossbow, you need to choose:

• oak;

• ash;

• Acacia;

• maple;

• poplar.

All these rocks are dense enough to withstand the huge loads that will affect the bow and the bed of the crossbow.

Material preparation

To ensure that the weapon fires long and powerfully, its material must be properly dried within a year. Having cut off the necessary trunk or branch, both must be painted down. To do this, you can use any glue, paint or varnish. If the logs are closed in this way, moisture can not quickly leave the workpiece, so the wood will dry more slowly and evenly. So the material does not form internal cracks, and made a crossbow with their own hands at home will serve a very long time.

After that, the log is put in a dry place, where the sun's rays will not fall on it. So it should lie a year. After a while, the bark is removed from the billet, so it dries a week. Then the log is sawn in half. So it is still a week, only after that you can start creating a crossbow.

Tools for making a crossbow

• Knife.

• Saw.

• Plane.

• Sandpaper of different granularity.

• Joiner cutter.

• Chisel.

• Drill.

Make an onion

On the workpiece choose the side in which the annual tree rings are thinner. This is the northern side, the fibers on it are denser than in other parts. This is what we will use, creating a crossbow with our own hands at home. From this part you need to make a bow.

The middle is planned, from it in both directions it is postponed approximately on two centimeters, having marked a part which will be squeezed in a box of the crossbow. This will be the thickest place of onions. From it begin to cut the material, moving gradually to the edges. String the workpiece gradually from both sides, while checking, until it at least slightly begins to bend.

After that, you need to take a strong rope, make a loop at its ends. It will be a test string. It is needed to check the bow tension. It is very important that his shoulders bend evenly. Wearing an improvised string and pulling a bow, you can see where to shoot the material. They are marked, neatly cut with a knife. So you need to continue until the product will not bend evenly on both sides.

Knot processing

Very often the material comes across knots: some are visible immediately, others can be opened during the processing of the material. The more dangerous they are, the fact is that because of them, chips can be formed. Therefore it is necessary to process such places with a well sharpened knife. If there is no confidence or experience, it is better to tinker a bit longer and sand it with sandpaper. You can also use the file for this purpose.

Bed

When the onion is ready, it is postponed and proceed to the manufacture of the bed. First, choose where there will be a trough, which will shoot an arrow, make this place perfectly smooth. It is from him will depend on how accurate the crossbow will shoot. To understand everything, it is better to look at the drawing of the crossbow. How to make his bed, here is detailed. After that, cut the trough for the required length. Usually it is about 30 cm. Then make a recess for the bow and trigger mechanism. They are conveniently cut with a chisel and carpenter's knife.

Trigger

As mentioned above, it can be made of dense wood or, if the crossbow is powerful, made of metal. The simplest mechanism is the so-called "nut". It consists of a cylinder, on the one hand - a hook for the bowstring, and on the other - a stop for the trigger. In powerful crossbows the descent is more advanced for easier pulling the trigger when loaded.

We examined in detail how to make a crossbow with our own hands. A master class with drawings, we hope, will help to understand all the subtleties.

This is an ordinary medieval model. Now we learn how to make the same weapon, only the modern model.

Block Crossbow

Such an apparatus is much more difficult to make, it will require much more tools than for a conventional one. So, we create a crossbow with our own hands at home from fiberglass. This material is ideal for making onions, because it is biting and light at the same time. It can be cut from a single piece of fiberglass 1 cm thick or done by yourself. If not too lazy to tinker, it is better to make yourself.

We make fiberglass arms for a crossbow

It is necessary to take fiberglass or Kevlar and cut into strips. They need from 30 to 40. In general, it's better to try everything by experience. These strips are glued with epoxy resin so that everything solidifies when solidified. You also need to think about how to put all this "sandwich" under the press. It is best to use the boards, between which to place the shoulders, to clamp all the clamps.

In the epoxy adhesive there should be less thickener than usual in the range of 8 to 10%. Everything freezes in 24 hours, but if the room is cold, time can increase. When everything is frozen, the shoulders are finished, cutting the sticking edges with a knife and sanding with sandpaper.

Now, in detail, we will discuss how to make a crossbow with our own hands at home and what additional elements of its design should be made.

We make a figured box

To do this, take a board with a thickness of at least 4 cm. Mark where the butt, handle, trigger and fittings for the shoulders of the bow will be. In general, everything is according to the drawings. After that, you need to drill out all the necessary holes and cut.

Blocks

They can be made of aluminum. It is better that they were on the bearings. Perfectly fit the middle parts of the wheels for roller skates. They are strong enough to withstand heavy loads, in addition, their size is ideal. Axes for them are needed in 5 mm thick. You can take them from the videos or make it yourself.

Fasteners are made of sheet steel or similar durable material. You can also make the ends of the onions thicker before filling them with epoxy resin, to install the blocks, in this case, no attachments will be needed.

After that, the manufactured crossbow with their own hands at home, you need to install the trigger with a trigger and boom holder. In general, all parts are connected with bolts, must have washers. They will allow more tightly twisting, without damaging the material.

In block crossbows the bowstring is longer and stretches differently. It seems to cross over, and when tight, this system allows you to give the arrow twice as much energy to fly than in the case of a conventional crossbow with the same bow.

In powerful block models the string is a steel cable, only it is able to withstand a huge sharp pressure when shot. In crossbows, whose power is not more than 40-50 kg, it can be weaved from kapron threads.

We make the bowstring for the crossbow

In this way, you can make a string for both a recursive and a classic crossbow. Just their length will be different because of the features in the designs of both models.

Take a board the length of the planned bowstring, drive in two pegs, on which a kapron thread is wound around . When the thickness of this long oval becomes 5 mm, it is wrapped, making a gap of 2-3 mm between the windings. Near the pegs you need to braid without gaps, because there will be loops for a hook.

About the bowstring, you can say that if you make it too thick, then the strength of the crossbow decreases. However, thin can tear. So in this case you need to choose an intermediate thickness. It is better to study similar sports models with the same tightness and make a string of their thickness. When this is done, the two halves are joined and wrapped together. Again, near the loops need special care. Then wrap the middle, where the bowstring will engage and push the arrow. This place is also done carefully, because it will be provided with a force of friction of enormous power. All the cut edges of the threads need to be glued with glue. This will make them more dense and monolithic.

This article presents drawings and a description of how to make a real crossbow at home. This is not so difficult, especially if you make wooden weapons. If the product is made for hunting in order to achieve enormous power, then you should choose a block model. Its design is a little more complicated, you may need a machine for making some parts.