Medieval crossbow parts and assembly - full process

Full video description of all the parts of crossbowm which I had made recently. The video of making the crossbow can be seen on my channel, as well as the shooting video!
The crossbow stock is pice of cherry, the prod is yew. All the parts are handmade. The total draw weight comes at around 100-110 lbs on 4 inches draw length.
Music - Minstrelosity (from Stronghold by Robert Euvino)

[@rogerjoesbury9410]

very good camera work, instructions and crossbow. thank you....

[@JJChWorkshop]

Thanks!

[@tonyc3806]

Crossbows are my favorite

[@JJChWorkshop]

Same here!

[@imanactualduckneck1668]

This is awesome.! I love how you do everything very close to how people would’ve originally made this weapon!

[@Sean--]

Beautiful work!

[@JJChWorkshop]

Thank you!

[@imager09tube]

Excellent effort JJ - Thanks!

[@tumbo1984]

Very good work,I like that you kept it simple👍🏻

[@erics745]

Highly educational. Thanks you

[@xapile]

beau travail , bien expliqué , merci

[@rivenmain2175]

very elegant thank you!

[@JJChWorkshop]

You are welcome, thanks!

[@plipertyplap4899]

Great build 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👍🏻

[@MrSolnishkin]

Thank you! Your video is pretty useful!!!

[@JJChWorkshop]

Glad it was helpful!

[@williamjhunter5714]

Very nice, thanks for the demo. Im going to make one from all black palm with a bone trigger barrel. The trigger pull may be holly or tamarind wood.

[@JJChWorkshop]

Hope it turns out well mate!

[@ekhles104]

Very excellent

[@roberto-vh8xp]

Hello there! I am a 10 year old and I love making tools and weapons. I will make this in my basement. I also have a blueprint bolted in my mind. Great video! 😃😃 Edit: I don’t have iron to make the iron things. I will be using wood to make all the parts.

[@JJChWorkshop]

Thanks, good luck with your crossbow!

[@nilavansinnathamby9150]

Did u make the wooden trigger? Cos i am planning on making one

[@HWWCWhales]

I am 10 to and i love medevil stuff my i am alexander

[@sadradehbashi3598]

That stronghold 2 sound track at the end reminds me of the old days:)

[@jankr2404]

Kingdom Come: Deliverance

[@sadradehbashi3598]

@@jankr2404 you are wrong my friend

[@jimhemmer3956]

Cant place that there m’lord

[@aleksadimitrijevic6674]

I really wanted to make a crossbow im gonna use your video thank you!

[@JJChWorkshop]

Спасибо Aleksa, glad I could help!

[@ruteress6826]

Fantastic:) love it

[@JJChWorkshop]

Thanks mate!

[@user-pl5lk5iw5l]

Great crossbow and very well presented, but I was wondering what is the distance from the front of the bow to the trigger wheel .?

[@rodriguezmi74]

Exelente, saludos desde Chile

[@salvatorei9611]

L'eccezionale bravo

[@lordlen8972]

ok i love the idea you had for a built in bow stringer. very clever. but you never bound the bow?

[@JJChWorkshop]

Hello there my friend, the built-in stringer is indeed very handy. I actually did bound the bow, but it would take very long time to show on video and it wouldn¨t be interesting to watch. Check my video of crossbow shooting (also on my channel) where I shoot this crossbow with finished string binding, all the best! JJCh

[@rustymeadows3482]

Dam good job

[@JJChWorkshop]

Thanks mate, make sure to check it in action as well!

[@miguelcamarero]

porque no probas de hacer el arco de hierro??

[@hinterland_official]

I like your channell!

[@JJChWorkshop]

Thanks!

[@user-et3wn7tv2m]

what are the crossbow's shoulders made of?

[@DogsaladSalad]

when i hear stronghold music i must sub

[@AGRIMOVIEemi]

OTTIMO video 👍👍👍

[@JJChWorkshop]

Grazie!

[@duncandemicoli1951]

Very well done, good job. Next time get a horn billet for the nut 😊

[@JJChWorkshop]

Thanks a lot! Yes, horn or brass nut would fit the crossbow nicely for sure.

[@stoneddragon5400]

Nice

[@wrongturnarchery2337]

Thats cool

[@JJChWorkshop]

Thanks!

[@undecidedgenius]

Now that i seen it put together for the first time, i have 2 questions. 1st, were there lots of people literally shooting themselves in the foot? I watching you load that and i see on obvious issue. 2nd, were there devices to protect themselve for if the bolt went off while trying to load it?

[@RikobaadillaBaadilla-jh1kn]

Good bro

[@richardtornblom6399]

Fasinating piece of work may I say, i plan to make one myself but wonder i bit of wich wood to use. I dont have any ash on my farm but i have white oak. Whould i be a good choice for the proad if i make the prod a bit thicker about 3-4 CM thick and about 4-5 cm high/whide. I plan to make a preaty heavy one so il be using a goat foot lever or an windlas. Have a great day :)

[@JJChWorkshop]

Hi there, yes white oak should work fine. In case you go for thicker and wider prod you should make it also slightly longer. Remeber that you can´t make the prod thicker indefinetly. Depending on your material, there is going to be a sweet spot of thickeness, width and length of the prod. Making it thicker will make it little bit stronger, but at the same time make the bow too heavy and slow on the release, making the crossbow actually weaker in the end. So my two cents would be don´t overdo it, if you want the crossbow powerful and fast you gonna have to make it also quite long, which may make it little clumsy. Try to optimize all the factors, good luck! PS: Another way of making the prod stronger is to add sinew backing, this will add some bonus strength, but the procces is kinda complicated.

[@richardtornblom6399]

JJCh Workshop sorry my foult i mean europen oak But they should act similar. Thanks for the answer and keep up the amazing work you do :)

[@sisterlavender1188]

Hi do you sell a book? You're a great teacher in all your videos

[@rubenchristensen596]

Nice boots.

[@JJChWorkshop]

Thanks - army boots!

[@MarkMuddFreak]

Is there a place that sells the kit for this crossbow?

[@miguelcamarero]

genio, traducilo al español!! :)

[@sasasasa-lx6cl]

1. you can shave up to 70% of wood from the tiller without loosing strength. 2. in this design, nut axle is overloaded. In proper design axle is not needed- nut is rotating inside cylindrical hole which is close in size to the nut dimension, so all tension is transferred to the front of the hole. It is impossible to carve such enclosure it in the tiller, so rectangular hole was carved and bone (or wooded, or brass) inserts were used to make proper cylindrical enclosure (like axle-box, only with nut instead of axle). Check Paine-Gallwey, he has this covered for "14 century crossbow" (which is in fact 17 century Flemish one) . You can cut axle box from plywood, fit the nut and then insert into tiller. Just do not make it tight fit, in that case any change in moisture may jam the nut

[@JJChWorkshop]

1. That is true, you can. But there is not really any benefit to it, except making the crossbow lighter. Many military style crossbows had thick stocks. Of course, the elegant thinner ones were used as well. 2. This is true and also interesting fact, but it doesn´t apply to this crossbow. This mechanism wasn´t really used on earlier crossbows (12th century style). These early crossbows use the simple system i show here (sometimes they haven´t used steel axle for the nut, but just string lashing, but in the end it works the same). The mechanism you describe was used on later crossbows, using steel axle and nut too. You have to use bronze/brass/steel for this. Wood, bone or antler will not work, as any change in the air humidity will make materials increase volume and the mechanism will jam. Or if you leave too much space, the mechanism will not work again, as the nut won´t hold in place very reliably.

[@toompyfloyd4074]

coooollll

[@firufirose8023]

Super broo😘😘😘😘

[@JJChWorkshop]

Thank you mate!

[@terrycastleman4037]

Hi i would like to make a crossbow for my self but can you give me all the measurements please many thanks Terry

[@abonfire88]

Can the leaver be made of wood or is that to weak

[@JJChWorkshop]

Hi, hardwood can be used, if you make the lever thick enough and the prod is not too strong.

[@edwardeatme]

add a clip at the end to pinch in the bolt than you can shoot down and the bolt won't slip down

[@JJChWorkshop]

Hello there, kinda late, but I actually did that not long after making the video. You are right about the downward shooting, it is also way more practical when moving with the cocked crossbow.

[@sacriptex5870]

try to reinforce the trigger wheel with steel! will last for a life time

[@JJChWorkshop]

I did - you can see the steel plate at 0:39

[@jasonbarkin3778]

Crossbows are awesome. Just be nice if they didn't lose energy efficiency. Short draw length, higher draw weight to help with power.

[@guanyulien9886]

Trigger is so long, it's hard to hold.

[@edwardfrostickblois4191]

Nevertheless they were long.

[@airgungarage9941]

Hi, what are these strings made up of? Can you make a tutorial too

[@JJChWorkshop]

Hi, the string is made of several strands of raw linen fiber, with some extra beeswax to make it stronger and waterproof.

[@sanclertojal917]

10..LAKE 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@toompyfloyd4074]

If you don't mind my asking where are you from?

[@JJChWorkshop]

Sure, I am from Czech Republic

[@toompyfloyd4074]

@@JJChWorkshop Cool! I couldn't place your accent!😁

[@Hwaigon]

@@toompyfloyd4074 I'm from the Crech Republic too. I could :D Superb English, nonetheless.

[@tommcdavid9917]

Beautiful....but she wouldn stop a feather

[@taligado4786]

which wood, used as a bow?

[@JJChWorkshop]

The bow is made out of yew. You can see it in action here - studio.kzbin.infofJRKKhEH81M/edit

[@CoriSantagate-yd8bi]

Fantastic! Would you be interested in taking commissions?

[@JJChWorkshop]

Hello there, you can contact me on jirichovanec[at ]protonmail.com and we can discuss this, JJCh

[@evaldoramiro7935]

Show mais tradução em Tupy Guarani 😂

[@gautomdutta2384]

Plz make a flintlock pistol

[@JJChWorkshop]

Working on a pistol-project right now. Gonna take a while to finish though. Still not decided if I should go for flintlock or percussion pistol, opinions gentlemen?

[@gautomdutta2384]

@@JJChWorkshop plz flintlock sir plz

[@gautomdutta2384]

@@JJChWorkshop I like ur work too much

[@rebelbiker9956]

That trigger hangs way to low

[@jimhemmer3956]

Crossbows ready sire

[@JJChWorkshop]

Quick march!

[@user-et3wn7tv2m]

Из чего плечи??

[@JJChWorkshop]

плечи сделаны из тиса

[@user-et3wn7tv2m]

@@JJChWorkshop а плечи сразу делал или подготавливал древесину? Сушил? Какой длинны плечи?

[@user-et3wn7tv2m]

did you make the shoulders immediately or prepare the wood? Dried? How long are the shoulders?

[@fabiobertarelli6793]

Il nocciolo va posto più indietro, così non havpotenza.

[@user-se6jy2oc8w]

It's a waste of kinetic energy with that little pull 9:23

[@user-zi2ry9fy2d]

Орех, центральной осью никогда не крепился.

[@user-cx9mb7cs9n]

Крепился, он закрепил и я закрепил. И арбалет стреляет!

[@user-zi2ry9fy2d]

@@user-cx9mb7cs9n я не про ваш арбалет говорю, а про средневековый.

[@kusukacolaylowlee1611]

Wood will snap and if soaked in rain will lose power!

[@JJChWorkshop]

It hasn´t snapped so far, so no problem there mate. Soaking in rain is easily prevented by applying coat of oil+beeswax finish.