How to make a crossbow at home. Make a crossbow at home

Do you want to make a real crossbow that will not only look like it, but will also shoot? Then don’t pass by and read our article on the topic of how to make a crossbow with your own hands. In the article we will not only talk about the intricacies of this matter, but also show the whole process in the photo. The topic is especially relevant in the summer, when you can go out into nature and shoot at targets. And a thing made with your own hands will delight not only the eye, but also your friends or acquaintances, who, having seen such a product, will certainly set a goal and desire to own it!

How to make a crossbow with your own hands

Among simple tools created with one's own hands, the bow definitely wins. However, crossbows are also very popular. If you want to make a crossbow with your own hands, you just need to read the instructions below. A medieval design was chosen as an example due to its simplicity. Such a crossbow does not require metal welding; it can be made at home; it also does not require the presence of springs, as in its other, more advanced variations.

All that is needed to make a simple medieval crossbow is the desire to craft. Initially, you need to find a suitable stick for the base of the structure. It is recommended to use bird cherry, since after drying the wood retains good elasticity characteristics. When a suitable branch is found, you should carefully saw it off, completely remove the bark and leave it to dry in a warm place.
Typically the drying time is about 5-7 months.

Step by step instructions:

In addition, it is recommended to immediately bend the stick so that it does not crack during processing and fixation, as well as during use. If bird cherry is not available in the area, you can use elm or other alternative wood.

It should be remembered that for good strength, durability and elasticity of the launching part of a home crossbow, you need to stand it well. Moreover, in this case, the chances of a crack during operation of the crossbow will be significantly reduced.

To have the opportunity to practice and to avoid the need to wait again, it is recommended to prepare several sticks at once.

You can use any type of board or dry wood on the stock of a homemade crossbow. It all depends on how accurately you want to replicate the medieval model of the weapon.

Once the wood has been selected and processed, a notch needs to be made in the front of the wood to accommodate the crossbow bow. You can make a notch with any tool from a metal file to a regular knife.

The next step in making a crossbow with your own hands at home is to drill holes for the bow bolts. They are placed at a distance of 8-10 cm from the front of the bed. Previously, holes were made with red-hot metal, so you can also use this method if you don’t have the right tools at hand.

Moreover, if you don’t have bolts at hand, you can use the same wood.

The upper plane of the stock should have a groove in which the crossbow bolt will be placed. Often this groove is made round, but it is recommended to plan it triangular to increase the accuracy of the bolt.

When everything is ready, you can fix the bow. This is applied to the cutout made in the front of the stock and tied tightly with rope to the previously installed bolts or their wooden alternatives. This will be enough, but for a tighter fixation it is better to use glue.

The last element of a homemade crossbow is the organization of the trigger mechanism. Usually the simplest lever type is used. The crossbow drawing below shows how such a system works.

When the bracket-lever is lowered, the pin instantly launches, and it launches the bolt forward. It is important that this system does not have any safety mechanisms, so the bolt must be installed only before firing.

The created crossbow must have a tension force of about 40 kg, so the design will not be included in the list of edged weapons. The string is tensioned by hand, so additional mechanisms are also not required.

Drawings for making at home

The photo above schematically shows a crossbow with all the necessary dimensions. Its main value is to understand what size its parts should be in relation to each other. Its entire length is 732 mm, with a height at the sight mounting point of 223 mm. The drawing shows a “pistol” handle (shaped like a pistol), for a reliable and comfortable grip.

The second hole is made to facilitate the construction, since the total thickness of the plywood handle (can be made of wood) is 30 mm. The arms are 302 mm long and are a universal option; their total length is 532 mm. For the first time, it is enough to make exactly according to the dimensions indicated in the diagram, and after testing, make adjustments.

In addition, it will be interesting to shoot from such a weapon yourself. Everything is done quite simply; you can get by with hand tools. The crossbow turned out to be quite powerful, as for target practice. Double limbs are used here, which increases the rigidity of the bow and allows you to throw wooden arrows at high speed. The author uses self-tapping screws as arrowheads, but you can use your imagination and come up with something more interesting.

Materials and tools used

List of materials:
- timber;
- PVC pipe;
- two self-tapping screws;
- strong rope;
- wooden rods for arrows;
- adhesive tape (for feathers).

List of tools:
- hacksaw or pendulum saw;
- jigsaw;
- belt grinder;
- drill;
- marker;
- roulette;
- screwdriver;
- construction hair dryer;
- vice;
- oil for wood processing;
- paint for painting onions (optional).

Crossbow making process:

Step one. Cutting out blanks
First of all, let's cut the wooden beam, it will be used to make the base. We also need to cut the pipe. You should have two parts, long and short. See photos for dimensions.

Step two. Making a bed
We make the bed from a wooden beam. First of all, we will make the necessary markings using a marker. Well, then we cut out the extra parts using a jigsaw; a jigsaw will cope with this task perfectly.

Step three. Let's make a bow
Our bow consists of two parts, which increases its rigidity. Everything is made from PVC pipes that need to be made flat. To do this, we will need a vice with a wooden insert so that there are no marks left on the pipes. We heat the pipe with a hair dryer until it becomes soft, and then squeeze it in a vice. Step by step we heat the areas and compress them. Finally, we form the desired bow profile.

Step four. Bow mount
To attach the bow, look for its center, and then drill two holes, like the author. For fastening we use two self-tapping screws and washers. But don’t fasten the bow tightly yet, it still needs to be modified.

Step five. Finalizing the bow
The essence of the modification is to make grooves at the ends of the arms, to which the bowstring can be tied. We make markings and cut out excess parts using a jigsaw. As for the short arm, you need to make grooves at the ends so that the string does not fly off.

Step six. Installing the bowstring
We use synthetic strong rope as a bowstring. Cut two pieces of the required length and melt the ends using a lighter. Well, then we tie the main string to the ends of the shoulder with a slight tension. As for the additional shoulder, in order to use it, you will need another rope. You can see how everything connects in the photo.

Step seven. Arrangement of the trigger mechanism
The trigger mechanism is of the trigger type. It consists of two parts, one is the trigger, and the second is a part with teeth, one of which holds the bowstring, and the other rests against the trigger. These parts can be cut from plywood using a jigsaw.

Step eight. Making arrows
We make arrows from wooden rods. To stabilize the flight, make feathers for them; the author used adhesive tape for this. Well, you need to install some kind of weight on the end of the arrow; the author put a self-tapping screw there. If desired, you can cut off the head and sharpen the rod.

Retail outlets sell many different crossbows to suit every taste. But you can not only buy it, but also make it yourself, if you were inspired to create it by a movie or a visit to a museum. Of course, manufacturing requires certain skills in handling tools, but if you really want it, there are no barriers.

When making a crossbow, start with an arc. Since it was decided that it should be powerful, then for the arc you need to take a leaf from the spring of a UAZ car. Then, using a grinder, we cut out an arc from this petal. It should be 85 cm long, 3 cm wide in the center and 1.5 cm at the edges. Next, using a sharpener, give the thickness in the center 0.8 cm with a gradual transition to 0.4 cm at the edges. Further processing of the arc is done using files of different grain sizes and sandpaper. It is good to process the spring lengthwise; it is almost impossible to process it crosswise with a file. Then, using a pobedit-tipped drill, make holes for attaching the arc to the stock and for fixing the bowstring holders.

The next step will be making the stock. It is better to make it from ash. This is a fairly strong tree that does not splinter or crack. Take a board 90 cm long, 20 cm wide and 6 cm thick, plan it on a jointer until it is level. Then draw a drawing of the stock with a pencil; you can take a hunting rifle as a sample. Next, use a hand jigsaw to cut the bed out of the board. Using a woodworking rasp, finely process the stock, giving it the necessary and convenient shape. The process is long and quite labor-intensive. For finer sanding, use different types of sandpaper. The groove for the arrow must be made with a whetstone. Take a used soft abrasive stone, give it a round profile using a harder stone, and place it on a sharpener to make a cut. The groove will be smooth and of the same depth.

Next we will work on manufacturing the trigger mechanism. Using a chisel in the stock, make a recess for the “nut” and the spring. Make the “nut” that will hold the bowstring from a piece of iron without welding so that it is stronger, since it will bear the entire main load. On the stock, in the place where the “nut” is attached, install iron “cheeks” so that the force of tension does not tear it out of the wood. Place the return spring under it and connect it to the trigger guard with a rod. Next, cover the trigger mechanism with metal decorative plates. Screw the pads to the stock with powerful screws to make it stronger.

Then start making fastenings, with the help of which the arc is fixed to the stock. To do this, take two iron bars and bend them in an L-shape. Use a tire with a thickness of 6 mm and a width of 25 mm. Drill holes in them for attachment to the stock and to the arc. First, secure the L-shaped parts with two M6 bolts to the stock. Then make a “stirrup” for the leg and weld a tire to it, which was supposed to become an additional mount for the crossbow arc. Then secure the “stirrup” and the bow to the stock with two M8 bolts and nuts. To hold the arrow, make a piece of spring steel. Bend the iron bar into an L-shape and attach it to the stock with a bolt, and a piece of spring tape to the bar. As a bowstring, use an iron cable 4 mm thick. Paint all metal parts with black paint, and paint the wooden stock with stain and clear varnish, which will give the crossbow a rather elegant look.

Make arrows from pine. Use a circular saw to cut straight slats from a dry board. Then, using glass and sandpaper, give them a round shape of the required thickness. Make the feathering on the arrows from thin fiberglass, and the tips from old files. Attach the tips to the shaft with epoxy glue and thin wire. They will be light with the correct center of gravity and quite strong; they should be 40 cm long and 1 cm thick.

In general, it will turn out to be a great crossbow. The target combat range of such a device is about 70 meters, the arrow's flight range is close to 400 meters, it pierces a slate sheet from 10 meters, and if the arrow is driven into a tree, then it must be removed with a hammer and chisel. The accuracy is also quite good, and if you use a laser pointer as a sight, it becomes absolutely fantastic.

In order to assemble a real rapid-fire combat crossbow at home, which can be quickly and automatically reloaded without any extra effort, you need to have a lot of spare parts that you naturally won’t find at home (rollers for a nylon cable instead of a bowstring, a sight and a high-quality trigger). In this article, I’ll tell you how to assemble a simple crossbow in a home workshop or in the utility room; I’ll describe some practical basic subtleties that will make your toy crossbow a fighting machine!)

The shoulders of a crossbow can be made from the same material as for a bow: wood, iron or fiberglass (iron - a spring from a Moskvich car is good for this, and a polypropylene pipe, which you can buy, is good for fiberglass at any hardware store). The crossbow stock, the recess where the arrow will be inserted in the future, is perhaps the most difficult part to manufacture, which requires very precise processing and a lot of time spent.

In the absence of a well-processed metal stock on a factory machine, you can use a well-turned and then sanded wooden stock. Do not forget that the advantage of a combat crossbow over a wooden bow is not only in shooting power (although a homemade crossbow without rollers and a block system is unlikely to exceed a bow in this indicator), but primarily in its ease of design and the ability to conduct aimed fire.

To do this, you need to calculate the flight path of the arrow, adjust the stock so that it is located at an angle (average value 5-6 degrees), but I advise you to decide on the distance at which you are going to send the arrows, and what is called “shooting” the finished product , after each series of shots, changing the angle of the stock, until the crossbow made by your hands begins to shoot at the center of the bull's eye.

You can come up with your own trigger mechanism for a simple crossbow. Usually this is a lever that holds the bowstring, which can be removed by pressing the trigger. A necessary condition is that it fires exactly when you need it (with a high tension on the bowstring, a weak trigger can break and shoot on its own). The string should move so that when it is released it returns close to the stock, but without any friction. Below is a diagram and drawing of making a simple combat crossbow at home:

Attention! Manufacturing this type of weapon may be punishable by law! Information for peaceful purposes only. All responsibility falls on the shoulders of the person.

Below are more detailed drawings and diagrams (with indicated dimensions) that can be used to make a professional crossbow.

Despite the abundance of online stores selling throwing weapons, as well as a fantastic range of products, there are many who want to make a crossbow on their own. Most of them don't know where to start. Today we will tell you about the main design features of the crossbow. This knowledge will help you avoid manufacturing errors, as well as frustration and injury when using it.

Before starting work, there are two main points to know.

1. In our country, a crossbow is an entertaining and sporting weapon. Hunting with it is prohibited. Any throwing weapon with a tension force of more than 43 kilograms is considered a combat weapon, the right to use which is given by the licensing authorities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

2. A crossbow is a structure that experiences enormous loads during operation. Therefore, any carelessness in its manufacture will most likely lead to injury. Any part of it must have a multiple safety margin.

So, let's learn how to make a simple crossbow at home.

The video below will tell you how to make a crossbow at home:
Onion

The crossbow's energy source is the bow - an elastic plate of complex shape, having one main bend and, as an option, two additional ones at the ends. You need to start making a crossbow with this particular part and adjust everything else to it - choosing the type of tension (recurve or block), the size of the stock, the type of trigger.

Wood and composite

The urgent question is what to use as a material for the bow: wood, composite or metal?

· Wood is the worst choice. Available “pieces of wood” lying underfoot are garbage, suitable only for lighting stoves. Branches cut down in the forest lose their elasticity as they dry, crack and fall apart. From this material you can only make something for short-term entertainment in the country.

· A composite made from fiberglass and epoxy resin is very attractive and simple in appearance. But there is an obstacle - the need to scrupulously adhere to the technology of all work. Proportions of mixture, drying, aging. At home this is almost impossible.
Metal

There is only one option left - metal. If you have an old Moskvich with a set of leaf springs on hand, consider yourself lucky. One sheet is taken from the entire package - the second. If you are not too scared by the dimensions, then the first one will do. Moreover, it has tubes at the ends - an almost ready-made bracket for attaching blocks or bowstrings.

A block is used to attach the bow to the stock. This is a U-shaped design that wraps around the stock from the front. It can be welded tightly to the spring leaf, but in this case, when bending the bow, the welds will experience excessive pull-out stress. Therefore, it is better to attach the ball joint from the VAZ 2108 to the block. The bow is attached to its pin. This is also convenient because there is a hole on the spring leaf.

If you are very strong, then you can choose the recursive method of tensioning the bowstring. To attach the blocks to the bow, if you have chosen a second spring leaf, you need to attach brackets to its ends. A bolted (or even better, rivet) connection is preferable to welding, since this unit experiences strong vibration loads. As pulleys, use parts of the window lifting mechanism of the same Moskvich.

Regarding the bowstring, an obvious solution arises: a thin metal cable. But it is not entirely correct, since steel cables do not withstand variable loads well. It is better to choose a climbing cord with a diameter of 5-8 mm.

Once you've made your bow and attached the string to it, you can conduct full-scale bending tests. It’s great if you have a dynamometer of 100-150 kilograms. As a result, you will learn two parameters necessary for further work: the length of the bowstring stroke and the load.

Read below to learn how to make a stock for a powerful crossbow at home.
Lodge

For this part of a homemade crossbow, wood is the only option. But not everything. In any case, not aspen, alder, spruce or pine. Better beech, elm, oak. The product has been dried for twenty years. It is clear that you will never find something like this anywhere. Therefore, use moisture-resistant plywood with a thickness of 7-9 mm. 3 or 5 contours of the stock are cut out of it, and then this package is glued together with epoxy resin. Not very pretty, but extremely reliable.

· Regarding the shape - give up the semi-pistol style and use a straight English stock. It is not only easier to manufacture, but also stronger.

· When assembling the stock package, it is necessary to take into account both the stroke of the bowstring and the load. The first determines the distance from the block to the slot for the trigger mechanism. The second is the thickness of the stock walls at the place of its attachment. It is the straight English stock that will allow you to avoid excessive thinning when moving from the forearm to the butt.

· The most important part of a crossbow stock is the arrow guide. It should be smooth and durable. For it, you can use the plates framing the side windows of the Moskvich, furniture fittings, and other similar shaped parts.

· If you use a block type of bowstring tension, then there should be a groove in the forend under the guide for the cable system. This is another element that weakens the stock, so give up the idea of ​​making the forend dainty. High will protect your fingers from getting caught under the bowstring and traumatic amputation of the phalanges.

Typically crossbows have a plastic stock.

We will tell you below how to make a homemade trigger mechanism for a crossbow at home.

This video will tell you how to make a crossbow from wood (plywood) with your own hands:
Trigger

If you are not a sixth-class mechanic, then give up the idea of ​​making this element yourself. Make an effort and find the trigger for any spring-piston air rifle. In the most difficult case, you will only have to modify its tooth that holds the piston - it may be too small for a thick bowstring.

A casing with a height of 2 to 5 cm is placed above the trigger mechanism, which is necessary to protect it from moisture and dirt, and also serves as the basis for sighting devices - rails for optics or rear sights. Weaver, Picatinny or dovetail rails can be purchased at any online store that sells pneumatics.

The front part of the casing above the trigger mechanism is made in the form of a long (no more than 10 cm) elastic “tail”, which holds the back of the arrow on the guide.
Making arrows

Canonically correct crossbow ammunition is called a “bolt”. But many online stores sell crossbow arrows. For crossbows with a rifle stock, lengths of 14, 16, 20, 22 inches are suitable. To be completely honest, you won't find better magazine arrows. Unfortunately, none of them are worth less than 150 rubles. Therefore, it is worth trying to make them yourself.

They can be made from straight-layer wood without knots. As an option, use furniture parts - balusters from chairs, railings of cribs. Good arrows are made from aluminum tubes with a diameter of up to 2 cm. If desired, you can even use electrodes of the maximum diameter, but they bend hopelessly when hit and it is difficult to attach the feathers to them.

Thin plastic is used for the plumage. Natural bird feathers can give the unexpected effect of chaotic changes in flight direction, since they have natural bends that must be taken into account.

The main condition for a good, smooth flight is balancing. The center of gravity of a crossbow bolt should be after the first third of its length from the tip. If it is not metal, the end of the arrow can be loaded with lead wire wrapped around the shaft.

The issue of equipping an arrow with a tip must be treated without fanaticism. Sharpening metal on lathes, milling and polishing, giving it exquisite shapes - these operations are accessible to few. In addition, such a tip is extremely dangerous. If you do not need to pierce knight's armor, then a wooden bolt can simply be sharpened at an angle of 30 degrees using a regular knife.

There are classic models, they look like ancient ones, and their design is simple. There are also modern crossbows, they are called "block" crossbows. Such weapons have a more complex design due to blocks and other innovations that enhance their power. It will be much more difficult to make such a crossbow at home, but the description of this process and the drawings, which will be detailed in the article, will help you with this. A crossbow has many components: a bow; bed; trigger mechanism; bowstring; some modern models have blocks at the ends of the bow.

All of these rocks are dense enough to withstand the enormous stress that will be placed on the bow and crossbow stock. Material Preparation For a weapon to fire long and powerfully, its material must be properly dried for a year. Having cut the required trunk or branch, both cuts must be painted over. To do this, you can use any glue, paint or varnish. If you close the cuts in this way, moisture will not be able to quickly leave the workpiece, so the wood will dry more slowly and evenly. This way, internal cracks do not form in the material, and a crossbow made with your own hands at home will serve for a very long time. After this, the log is placed in a dry place where the sun's rays will not fall on it. It should remain like this for a year. After time, the bark is removed from the workpiece, so it dries for another week. The log is then sawn in half. It sits like that for another week, only after that you can start creating a crossbow. Tools for making a crossbow Knife. Saw. Plane. Sandpaper of different grits. Carpenter's cutter. Chisel. Drill. Making a bow On the workpiece, choose the side in which the annual rings of the tree are thinner.

This is the north side, the fibers on it are denser than in other parts. This is what we will use when creating a crossbow with our own hands at home. From this part you need to make a bow. Mark the middle, put about two centimeters on both sides of it, marking the part that will be clamped in the crossbow stock. This will be the thickest part of the onion. They begin to cut the material from it, gradually moving towards the edges. They chip the workpiece gradually on both sides, checking until it begins to bend at least a little. After this, you need to take a strong rope and make loops at its ends. This will be a test string. It is necessary to check the bow tension. It is very important that his shoulders bend evenly. By putting on an improvised bowstring and drawing the bow, you can see where to remove the material. They are marked and carefully cut with a knife. This must be continued until the product begins to bend evenly on both sides. Processing of knots Very often there are knots on the material: some are visible immediately, others can open during the processing of the material. What makes them dangerous is that they can cause chips. Therefore, you need to treat such places with a well-sharpened knife. If you don't have confidence or experience, it's better to tinker a little longer and sand them down with sandpaper.

You can also use a file for this purpose. Bed When the bow is ready, put it aside and begin making the stock. To begin with, they choose where there will be a groove through which the arrow will fly out, and make this place perfectly level. It will depend on him how accurately the crossbow will shoot. To understand everything, it is better to look at the drawing of the crossbow. How to make its stock is shown in detail here. After this, the gutter is cut to the required length. Usually it is about 30 cm. Then a recess is made for the bow and trigger mechanism. They are convenient to cut with a chisel and a carpenter's knife. Trigger As mentioned above, it can be made of dense wood or, if the crossbow is powerful, of metal. The simplest mechanism is the so-called “nut”. It consists of a cylinder, where on one side there is a hook for the bowstring, and on the other there is a stop for the trigger. In high-power crossbows, the trigger is more refined for an easier trigger pull when loaded. We looked in detail at how to make a crossbow with your own hands. A master class with drawings, we hope, will help you understand all the intricacies. This is a common medieval model. Now we’ll find out how to make the same weapon, only a modern model. Compound crossbow Such a device is much more difficult to make; it will require many more tools than a regular one. So, we create a crossbow with our own hands at home from fiberglass.

This material is ideal for making bows because it is tough and yet lightweight. It can be cut from a single piece of fiberglass 1 cm thick or you can make it yourself. If you’re not too lazy to tinker, it’s better to make it yourself. Making fiberglass shoulders for a crossbow You need to take fiberglass or Kevlar and cut it into strips. You need from 30 to 40 of them. In general, it is better to try everything experimentally. These strips are glued with epoxy resin so that everything becomes monolithic when it hardens. You also need to think about how to put this entire “sandwich” under the press. It is best to use boards, place the shoulders between them, and clamp everything with clamps. The epoxy adhesive should have less thickener than normal, ranging from 8 to 10%. Everything hardens within 24 hours, but if the room is cold, the time may increase. When everything has hardened, the shoulders are finalized by cutting off the protruding edges with a knife and sanding with sandpaper. Now we will look in detail at how to make a crossbow with your own hands at home and what additional elements of its design need to be made.

Making a figured stock To do this, you need to take a board at least 4 cm thick. Mark where the butt, handle, trigger mechanism and mounts for the arms of the bow will be. In general, everything is according to the drawings. After this, you need to drill all the necessary holes and cut them out. Blocks These can be made from aluminum. It would be better if they were on bearings. The middle parts of roller skate wheels are perfect. They are strong enough to withstand heavy loads and are the perfect size. The axles for them need to be 5 mm thick. You can take them from rollers or make them yourself. The fasteners are made of sheet steel or similar durable material. You can also make the ends of the bow arms thicker before pouring epoxy resin to install the blocks, in which case fastenings will not be needed. After this, you need to install a trigger mechanism with a trigger and an arrow holder on the crossbow you made yourself at home. In general, all parts are connected with bolts; washers are always used. They will allow you to twist everything more tightly without damaging the material. In compound crossbows, the bowstring is longer and is tensioned differently. It seems to cross, and when drawn, this system allows the arrow to give twice as much energy to flight as in the case of a conventional crossbow with the same bow. In powerful block models, the bowstring is a steel cable, only it is able to withstand enormous sharp pressure when fired. In crossbows whose power is no more than 40-50 kg, it can be woven from nylon threads.

Making a bowstring for a crossbow Using the described method, you can make a bowstring for both a recurve and a classic crossbow. It’s just that their length will be different due to the design features of both models. They take a board the length of the planned bowstring, drive in two pegs, onto which a nylon thread is wound in a circle. When the thickness of this long oval becomes 5 mm, it is wrapped, leaving a gap of 2-3 mm between the turns. Near the pegs you need to braid without gaps, because there will be loops for hooking. Regarding the bowstring, one can also say that if you make it too thick, the strength of the crossbow is reduced. However, thin ones can tear.

So in this case you need to choose an intermediate thickness. It is better to study similar sports models with the same tension and make a bowstring of their thickness. When this is done, the two halves are joined and wrapped together. Again, special care is needed near the hinges. Then they wrap the middle where the string will catch and push the arrow. This place is also done carefully, because it will be subject to a tremendous frictional force. All cut edges of the threads must be coated with glue. This will make them denser and more monolithic. This article presents drawings and a description of how to make a real crossbow at home. It's not that difficult, especially if you're making wooden weapons. If the product is manufactured for hunting in order to achieve enormous power, then you should choose a block model. Its design is a little more complicated; you may need a machine to make some parts.

The crossbow is an ancient throwing weapon that was invented by the Romans. Its characteristics are similar to that of a bow.

Currently, the crossbow is not used in any army in the world; it is sold in weapons stores as an exclusive rarity, the cost of which sometimes exceeds a thousand dollars. Therefore, such products are very often decorations.

However, you can make an imitation of such a weapon with your own hands, which will become excellent equipment for any boy. In addition, a toy crossbow can be made from almost any available materials. Also, do not forget about safety measures, since this product, although not professional, can cause significant injury to a person.

Homemade crossbow made of wood

In order to assemble a crossbow with your own hands, you need to make each of its parts separately:

The final stage in making a crossbow is tensioning the bowstring, which should be optimal. If the tension is weak, then the range of the arrow will be minimal, and if it is too high, there is a risk of deforming or breaking the bows of the crossbow.

Mini-crossbows from other scrap materials

If a wooden crossbow is a more professional product and can be used for sporting purposes by both adults and teenagers, then crossbows made from paper, pencils or Lego are intended for children from seven to twelve years old.

Also, do not forget that products made from seemingly safe materials can also cause harm to health if handled incorrectly.

Therefore, games with such homemade items should be supervised by adults.

Paper throwing weapons

To assemble such a toy with your own hands, you need to ensure that you have the following materials and tools:

• fifteen sheets of paper (A4 format);
• three wooden sticks (you can use ice cream);
• thread for the bowstring, nylon is best;
• pencil;
• stationery knife or scissors;
• scotch.

Step-by-step instructions for making a paper crossbow are as follows:

This crossbow can be equipped with a sight, trigger and arrow guides.

From pencils

To make such a crossbow you will need:

• four pencils;
• seven rubber bands for money;
• one ballpoint pen;
• scotch.

To make such a “pencil” weapon, you must perform the following steps:

1. Tie two pencils tightly together with rubber bands - you get two elements of a crossbow.
2. Next, connect these two elements perpendicularly to each other.
3. Place a pen case on top of the pencils. This will be the guide for the arrow.
4. The same elastic bands are used as bowstrings, which are attached to the sides of the arches and connected to each other with tape or thread.

You can use the shaft of a pen as an arrow.

From the Lego constructor

To make a Lego crossbow, the first thing you need to do is purchase a construction set that is sold in almost any children's goods store. After the designer has been purchased, you can begin assembling it, which is carried out according to the included instructions.

It is worth considering that the configuration of the designer can be different, and therefore the assembled crossbows may differ from each other in size and principle of operation.

When the crossbow is assembled, it is necessary to proceed to the manufacture of arrows, which should, first of all, be strong and reliable. To do this, you need to observe the following nuances:

• choose the right material. In this case, it is best to use well-dried pine, birch or spruce wood;
• avoid knots on arrow blanks;
• wood fibers should be located along the length of the future product;
• if the workpiece is uneven, you can try to level it; to do this, you need to first “heat” it over the fire;
• be sure to make fletching that gives the arrow stable and accurate flight;
• for plumage it is recommended to use the wing feathers of a goose, wood grouse, turkey or other large birds;
• it is very important that one arrow has feathers from one wing (right or left);
• You can use a metal plate or a nail as a tip, or you can do without it. But to do this, you need to carefully plan the end of the arrow (like sharpening a pencil);
• to store and transport arrows you need to use a quiver, which you can buy in a specialized store or make yourself;
• Arrows must be stored in an upright position in places with moderate humidity, otherwise the products will be deformed.

Well, well, searches on the Internet yielded results. I finally found normal drawings in compliance with GOST.

If you have available material and some equipment, it will not be difficult to make a real (or almost real) one.

At the end of the page there is photo of a homemade crossbow, made according to these drawings from scrap materials.

Naturally, it will not replace a purchased crossbow (after all, the build quality and structure of the material in the factory version are not much higher), but shoot at

So, here is a general diagram of a homemade crossbow.

What does this type of crossbow consist of:

Stock, shoulders, butt, trigger mechanism, sighting device, block system.

The stock is best made from natural hardwood, solid or laminated veneer lumber. Choose the size at your discretion, but

Shoulders and decks of a crossbow

If you have a small arms stock, then this would be an ideal solution, but you can try to plan “Pinocchio” yourself.

Block crossbow design makes it easier to cock the bowstring, but perfectly retains power and allows you to carry it cocked for a long time.

The processing of the guide boom must be carried out particularly precisely. The lines must be smooth and straight. The accuracy and

bowshot. It is best to do this on a milling machine, and then carefully process it with sandpaper. Then polish the groove.

It is better to make a crosspiece with shoulders installed at the end of the stock from an aluminum plate, but you can also make it from wood

Don't forget to make a sighting device consisting of a rear sight and a front sight. You can make a mount for an optical sight.

where you can order the execution of any drawings.

All that remains is to pick up the instrument, recharge yourself in a good mood and set about achieving your goal. Good luck!

P.S.

The article is a rewrite. The administrator is not responsible for the accuracy of the information. Everything you do, you do at your own peril and risk.