How does the latin go...Ex Sudore Voluptus!
Beauty is produced by labour!
Lovely looking piece Tod.

Thanks very much guys, I really appreciate the kind comments; it really does help to keep me going.

Tim Lison wrote

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Pom-poms. hahaha. It has pom-poms. Just awesome Tod. Love it. Your crossbows get better and better. Would LOVE to see a video of this in action, both firing and just cranking the string back! Any way we could see that? Maybe post one to Youtube and link it? I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting to see it...

Patrick Kelley wrote

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Do you think the Pom Poms could have served as a noise dampener on a hunting bow? I used similar things, affixed to a bowstring, years ago while hunting with a longbow.

I am guessing you know, but for those that may not, pompoms were very common on these bows, and so I thought that it was time I put some on and this seemed the bow for it. As to their purpose; who knows? I suspect it was just another element to add decoration. They may be there to create some sort of vibration damping, but really I suspect with a steel bow that is a couple of kilos in weight and a stock that is around 3 or 4 kilos they wouldn't do much. Hunting was all about stalking and getting really close to your quarry, and bows are noisy on discharge, so it wouldn't help there either.

I will be posting a link of me spanning and shooting this bow, probably in the next week or so, but I will let you all know when I do.

Julien M wrote

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Superb work Tod!!! How long did the piece take to complete? How the hell does one manage to cut 3mm x 3 mm pieces of horn, let alone 6000? This is an absolutely amazing piece.

Thank you

The whole ensemble took around 2.5 weeks, but the days were long....

As some of you may have guessed, the squares were prepared before hand and glued up as sheets of material and then these were glued to the stock and the whole bow was shaped after; I strongly suspect that the original was made in a similar way.

David Lewis Smith wrote

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This is one of the most remarkable things I have seen in a long time. Like the rest of my fellows who have commented, I am stunned out of words, Did you hand make everything to include the screws? How much force do you need to operate the windless to charge the bow?

Thank you.

A friend makes the steels for me, the rest of bow was completely me.

The rack for the cranequin was profile cut, but formed by me. There was quite enough filing to do with the rest of it and filing a piece of 15mm stock was a job I decided to avoid. The screws I could have hand made, but really what is the point, so I modified some existing ones to make them medieval style. Interestingly if we made a cranequin now, the screws would have been put on the bottom and so be invisible in normal use, but I guess as they were so damn difficult back then, having a piece of kit screwed together is a statement of wealth in its own right, so they were shown off. It does look a little incongruous on a medieval reproduction, but is period correct. Every other part was made by me.

The cranequin has a reduction ratio of 94:1, giving a maximum force required of just under 5lbs, if you include friction losses this will increase a bit; but whatever, it is easily done.

Matthew Bunker wrote

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Lovely as a lovely thing. I hope it drove you mad.

Thank you.

Yes it did. I kept waking up thinking excellent, this will be the last day. I did that a few times as you are aware, projects like this just suck time.

Scott Hrouda wrote

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The cranequin is deceivingly simple looking device

And actually they are quite simple and the gear cutting was not as hard as I expected, just like the rest of it - time hungry. The real problem with cranequins is that the tolerances have to be quite tight, but yet loose enough and there are many many assembling, disassembling and fettling operations to get them to work right. I lost track of this one, but the simpler closed box ones I make, take a little over two days and half the time is making it and half the time to fettle.

Again, many thanks for the compliments.

Tod

What a crazy project, the beer after finishing this one must have tasted good... That cranequin is a joy to behold, what a beauty!

That's an incredible piece of work, I can't even think of anything else I would compare it to. With all the close detail work required you must have god-like patience.

I can't say I care for the pom poms but as you said - it would definitely get you noticed!

Tod ,
I am very used to seeing your work.
It's become normal to me.
however. as everybody els has said WOW comes to mind and was exactly what I thought seeing this.

It has been a great pleasure watching your work develop Tod.

You have a unique ability to undertake and pull off some amazingly complicated projects .....among the talented craftsmen that I am lucky enough to have as friends this ability stands out.

Jack of all trades and master of none .....I don't bloody think so..........

Bravo Tod, you are a true renascence artist, bringing it all together like that is quite a skill.

You should be proud.

I am proud of you.

Absolutely MARVELOUS!

I could compare your outstanding work, which makes me speechless, only with this

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Perfect,absolutly great work.

Thank you once again everybody - very kind.

Owen that was a really nice thing to say and genuinely touched me; I really appreciate it.

Tod

And here is a youtube of it being shot - not the best filming I am afraid but hopefully enlightening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjYQEyC4m10&feature=youtu.be

Tod

Fan-flipping-tastic! It made such a satisfying thud when it was fired. So cool to see the cranequin working too. Thanks for posting that Tod!

Hi Tod,

Sorry but its just not ostentatious enough for me. With finer decoration I might be tempted... :-)

Yours,

Griff

(happy owner of 4 of Tod's crossbows plus much other stuff!)

That, sir, is a beautiful and wonderfully-executed piece of work.