Crossbow Prod Mount

The prod and mount is coming along nicely, my little mill is proving very useful and it's also good to still have the pillar drill on the other end of the workbench.
I'm getting it built up slowly, it will obviously have the corners rounded , decent hex head bolts, chunky washers, rubber wear strips etc, but the pics give the general idea. There will also be vertical angle bracing to the side of the stock, so plenty to do yet.
The prod is maybe a tad long at the moment, but it's been made such that the limbs can be shortened at the mounting end by about 1/2" an new holes drilled, if I want to shorten the bow and increase the draw weight a tad. Conversely, if I want to reduce the draw weight I can machine wedges to go between the mount and the limb to angle them into a slight deflex position. Having individual limbs gives a lot more room for manoeuvre, it also makes it a bit simpler to get matched limbs.

I might have it all mounted up by the end of the day, but I haven't cut nocks in the limbs yet, they will require some thought as I don't want them splitting. I'll probably add a little sliver of wood to the back to allow a nice rounded shape and also bind some carbon fibre and epoxy round for security. There is also the issue of string catchers/buffers.

Crossbow Limb Glue Up

I got the clear glass laminations and EA40 epoxy from 1066archery shop
I did the glue up very carefully as the laminations can slip and move as clamps are applied. You can never have too many clamps but even so it's a relief when they are removed and the masking tape taken off the glass and you can see if the glue line is good (it's clear glass).
It grieves me deeply when I see people gluing up laminated bows with great gaps between the clamps... if you don't have enough and can't afford more, scrounge some old inner tubes and use rubber strapping between the clamps. It's daft to scrimp on the early stages, a bit like building a house but not using any cement between the blocks in the foundation.

Once cured I took off the clamps and peeled off the masking tape which I'd applied to protect the glass. The glue up looks great, I was amazed how clear the glue and glass was, it just looks like polished maple... which reminds me of one guy on FB who got upset when I laughed at his indignant claim that his bow was Yew when it was a Yew core with clear glass laminations on back and belly, he didn't like me calling it a glass bow, but it's the glass that's doing all the work, ok, some core woods are better than others, but a glass faced Yew bow ... isn't a "Yew bow".

I've run the first limb through the bandsaw to put a slight taper on it, sawing away the lower edge and leaving the top edge straight. I clamped it up in the vice and gave it a gentle flex, it seems suitably stiff, but it's all guess work.
I tried a bend test on the triangular off-cut, clamping it in the vice... blimey, it bent a hell of a way back and showed no sign of breaking, it seemed to recover too, which is very encouraging!
(Note:- I put masking tape on the limb for sawing, to protect the faces)

Meanwhile, I took a sunny stroll over to the woods where they have been opening up a corridor alongside the brook, to let more light in and promote some young growth. There is a great variety of trees and some had been cut and roughly piled as a dead hedge. I looked in it for some curved timber to make levers/siyahs for the Elder primitive. I found a couple of bits, but I'm not sure if the lighter stuff is Willow or Ash. Willow is
rated as useless for bows, but seeing as how the siyahs just want to be light and stiff, it might be suitable. Anyhow, they will not be long levers. I found three pieces and suspect I have Ash, Willow and Blackthorn. I've reduced the wood substantially so it can be seasoned quickly on a radiator and tested to see if it is tough enough.

Onwards and Upwards

I was a bit miffed that the monster warbow exploded, but I had my suspicions about the wood as there was a good deal of discolouration between heart and sapwood also some areas that were neither one thing nor the other. I do wish more people understood how to season wood. Get it off the ground, somewhere dry and airy and don't drape a tarpaulin over it. I'd paid reasonable cash for the Yew and spent a deal of time collecting and sawing it up... but hey ho, I get given some too.
I took down another stave from that same tree and reduced the sapwood and roughed it out. Not enough width for a warbow and with the slightly suspect timber, I'll use it for a 50# bow.

While I was rummaging through the staves, I had a look at the Elder I cut in December 2016 and roughed that out, removing the bark and sawing away the belly side. It's got the makings of a nice bow, and I may add little levers like on Monkey bow.
I didn't want to rush into too much work, so it's good to rough out a couple of bows so that when I'm in the mood I can pick them up and get onto the fun bits. It also allows me to ponder the possibilities at my leisure.
I've started doing a dry run jigging up the crossbow prod limbs ready for glue up. Preparation is the key with any glue up, so I'm taking it slow, especially as it's stonking down with rain, more conducive to armchair bowmaking.

Damn it Exploded!

I'd fitted horn side nocks nocks and carefully videoed it pulling to 110#.
It looked a little stiff in the right (upper ) limb, so I eased that a tad, put it on the tiller for a quick look, which looked good, so I took it to 120# at which point it exploded.
It didn't go at the big knot, but maybe I'd left that a tad stiff?
I can't tell where the break started, possibly (but unlikely) at the side nock, anyhow I'm not a fan of side nocks and I can see no merit in them other than authenticity so I probably won't make 'em again, simply not worth the risk... of course some people will say they are fine and if it failed it was my fault... but why risk it? I know I can make 'em, but they are just a poor design, which is probably why they fell out of favour. A conventional nock doesn't cut into the wood at all, where the side nock does.

On the plus side, at least I hadn't wasted time making a decent string for it.

I did get a win the other day though, I bought a nice 10 draw cabinet off E-bay only £12.50, perfect for tools. I've got my small files in the top draw, big files below that, then rasps... much more convenient.

I did an autopsy on the horn nock, and in fact the string groove barely touches the wood (indicated by yellow arrow) and the split doesn't go as far as that point. So I don't think I can blame the side nock






Update:- I have another stave from the same tree, it has a poor heart/sap boundary and some ambiguous wood (is it heart is it sap?) I can't decide if I should have another try, to see if it is just dodgy wood or save that for a lighter poundage bow.
I've got the crossbow project waiting for my attention too. It would prob' be a mistake to jump into anything so I'll probably have a quiet day until I can't hold back any longer (that'll be about an hour then ;-) )

Update 3/5/2019:-
Another bow from the same batch of timber also exploded, so I'm pretty convinced it is the sapwood. This was confirmed by making a third bow with the sapwood stripped off and replaced with clean Yew sapwood that I had in my stash, it turned out fine... well better than fine, it was glorious :-)

Started on a Warbow

I've got a lovely stave of English Yew, but it has a massive knot in the centre. I'm just starting to get it flexing on the tiller.
Video here:-
https://youtu.be/foOmJAIXaHM
Part 2 added:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y18do99n-G0&t=7s

Sorting the Man Cave

Since I've got the mini mill I have found I just don't have enough space. I wanted to reinstate the pillar drill as it has a bigger chuck capacity and longer throw than the mill. It's also handy to have both, the mill can have a collet chuck fitted for milling and the drill can have a 3 jaw chuck.
Anyhow I cut back the racking at the far end of the garage, throwing away vast loads of stuff that hasn't been used for over 20 years, like car ramps that you can't actually driver a modern car onto ('cos the bumpers are too low these days). I remade the racking about a foot shallower and a few inches narrower, added some shelves and it's vastly better now. I trimmed half an inch of the height and width of my apple scratter so that fits in better (no cider making this year as the harvest round here has been V poor). I added an extra 9 1/2" to the end of the bench to mount the pillar drill and wired in a new pair of power points behind it.
I sorted all my stock of sheet material, pipes/poles/rod/tube etc and the wood corner. Whilst I was at it I sealed the concrete floor with PVA to help keep the dust down. Also added a row of pegs to stop my various laminations and boo poles from slithering about, it also lets me hang up the shooting machine which is a rather ungainly beast.
It was a bigger task than I anticipated, but having started I felt I might as well do a thorough job, which is still somewhat ongoing as I work slowly along to the other end.
All in all I've got a much cleaner tidier garage and a bit more floor space, ready for the next project which is going to be a warbow with a dirty great knot at the grip. Mind having said that the materials for the ongoing crossbow project have just arrived, but as that's a longer term project it can wait another couple of weeks.

Character Primitive Collected

The bow has been collected and I took some video of it being shot. Here's a still showing it at full draw, it's a slightly odd angle as we tried it outside to get a better pic so it's V short range.
My usual shot into the garage doesn't show the upper limb on sunny days due to the light sky abover the fence line... I keep meaning to rig up a backdrop that I can easily
put up/take down.

Character Yew Finished

Stats 55# @ 28"
69"tip to tip 1 5/8" at its widest.

It's always hard to get decent pics of bows, but I found an old shower curtain that seems to make a nice backdrop and lets the camera focus on the bow. I should really take more trouble trying for better pics, but I just can't muster the enthusiasm for arseing around with cameras in manual mode, when often the pics get compressed when published online anyway.
The belly is slightly concave in places which looks really good especially on the lower limb where it undulates.
I've had a couple of dozen shots through it include one left handed which flew particularly clean, as the grip is shaped for a left hander.

(I've given up trying to arrange the pics sensibly on the page as the editor in blogger is bloody useless. It wont let you move the pics easily)

Full Draw

I still haven't shot the bow and I was slightly worried that one of the shakes (cracks) near the lower tip could possibly run out and split with the shock of actual shooting. So... I pre-repaired it!
I added a binding of fine linen thread soaked in low viscosity superglue.
It's been on the tiller at full brace up to full draw, it's a tad over weight, (about 60#).

I may add a matching binding to the other limb, as there are some shakes there too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPlGkvp2zno&t=4s