What are crossbows made of?

Answer 1

They were typically made from a wooden stock, which was afixted to one of three different bows. the earliest bows for crossbows were called self-bows and were simply wooden bows attached to the stock. After that, the saracens developed making a crossbow with a composite bow made from a combination of horn and wood. Finally, the bows were made out of steel.

Answer 2

Bows even today are listed in # different sections, the top limb, bottom limb, riser (handle area), and string. In a medieval bow, the only difference in that respect is that the entire bow stave is made from a single piece of wood. This is called a "self bow" these days.

The core idea of a bow is that its elastic power stores energy and then transfers it to the string and into the arrow, making someone of the same strength able to deliver much more lethality and range than, say, throwing a spear.

The tools used to make a bow would include files, wood chisels, saws and most importantly, the drawknife. The bow is shaped more crudely and basically at first with plenty of wood left to shave off, then in the more fine-tuning stages there is room to shave off more wood and make the bow perfect. This process is called "tillering".

As the bowyer (person who makes bows) shapes the bow, they often use the sapwood (softer elastic section in the outer wood) to make the half of the bow facing away from the archer, as it can be stretched more without snapping. The heartwood (tougher, inner wood) is used for the part of the bow facing towards the archer, as it resists compression and doesn't cause that bumpy, wrinkly effect from soft woods when bending in.

A bowyer will choose the wood for how fast-grown it is and the type, as slower-grown denser trees like northern Yew make stronger war bows, whereas faster grown softer trees like ash make for bows that are still very deadly and quite powerful, but not too unwieldy for someone who is less skilled or is after a less overkill approach (such as hunting small game). Of course cost can factor in too.

Overall, a bow was historically not made to a general strength and sold en-masse. Bows were actually specifically tailored to the end user, matching their strength and the intended usage of the bow. For example, a slow-grown powerful Yew English Longbow would not be sold to someone just after a bit of Sunday practice.

Answer 3

In early medieval times (c.13th to end of 14th century) the maker who maked a crossbow is quite unknown. But if is a 15th century German crossbow ,it can be easily founded author's name by it's mark or sign.

Answer 4

with wood and a metal tip.

The medieval bow and arrow were made of different types of wood. The best was probably Oak. The stringon the bowwas made out of either silk or hemp. The arrows were made of wood and metal. The wood was probably Oak too. The metal was most likely steel.

-Qwar

Answer 5

- Bolt shafts were always made from wood, usually straight grained woods like Ash carved with knives into the length, size and shape needed.

- The flights were made of feathers or leather strips cut by knife into the required shape and size.

- The piles (heads) were usually made from iron or steel and forged into the correct shape and weight for the intended purpose.

Answer 6

Medieval catapults were made out of wood and steel. Sometimes sections of the catapults were covered in brass to protect them.

Answer 7

iron and bronze depending on the particular time period you are asking about.

Answer 8

MY precious answer is gone :( Ah well, might as well answer it.
Cross bows are made of wood, metal, and meat (sinew)

Answer 9

depends on what kind of cross bow some were made of lether, bone hair and string in more modern times but not present now its made of plastic coverd me metal