I have just finished this bow made in the style of late 15thC German hunting bows.

These bows were usually very ornately decorated with carved bone or ivory panels and often came with pompoms and braid and all manner of big money details.

The steels were always bound on with cord and the bows were loaded with a cranequin and had an ivory or antler nut, cord bound. The stocks were always quite short and rather bulky and have the triangular section for the rear of the stock. The bows almost always made use of bone for the table and often also incorporated horn for the cheeks and for further detailing. Bolt clips generally came in after this time.

I have tried to capture the essence of these bows here although skimping a little on the level of detail.

This bow is 550mm long and 600mm wide and draws to 400lb and uses a cranequin to span the bow.

I have shot the bow with armour piercing bolts and it goes well and puts about 80mm (3") through the back of the boss (which is a little old). I am waiting for the broad heads that will be shipped with the bow so I will not have a proper shoot until I have made these up, but I expect it to perform well.

I hope you like it

Tod

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Beautifull piece of work. What a pity that crossbows are illegal in Poland without a licence :(

That is pretty and cool! :D

Beautiful Work, I had always admired the craftsman ship that was put into the original crossbows but never expected to see new bows of the same level.

Well Done Sir.

Wow!!! You have done it again. That is an amazing crossbow.

There you go, raising the bar again. The cranequin alone boggles my feeble little mind. :lol:

Thank you everyone.

T.Arndt wrote

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Beautiful! What kind of bone did you use? I am vary curious, how long does the weapon take to be made ready once fired?

The bone on the top deck is camel. it is denser than ox or cow and works a little more like ivory and gives a better finish.

I don't shoot cranequin bows that often so I find them a little ungainly and I am clumsy, but I would think about 35-45 seconds. I would get faster with practice.

Some European countries do licence them and I think often the ones where lots of people hunt. In the UK there is no licence required, but also it is illegal for anyone to hunt with any type of bow - period. Personally I think it will not be long before they will be licenced; the next psycho who goes a rampage and uses one will see to that. I also think that when a .22LR rifle requires a very tightly controlled licence and a top end compound bow delivering the same impact energy does not, something will get brought in line.

For the curious I have also included a shot of the boss, from front and rear to illustrate the impact. The bolt is about 13mm (1/2") thick and 360mm long (15")

Tod

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Beautiful and deadly, very nice work Tod. As always :)

I saw this Bow in person a couple of evenings ago and I really like it , probably my favourite so far .
It almost has the feel of a bullpup rifle ...

the mixture of metal wood string and leather (not to mention chequered bone and horn) really make the piece have a presence as a crafted object quite aside from its working role as a weapon...

good job Tod.......

Thanks Owen.

I have just finished a boarskin quiver for the bow and the hunting and war bolts to go with it and here is an ensemble shot.

A nice finished set.

Tod

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This is absolutely beautiful, the photo is like a medieval still life.