xbow1

Did you heat treat the bow?  What did you use for the nut?

For the bow portion, or prod, I didn't forge this one, because two years ago, I wasn't good enough at heat treating to make a decent spring. I probably will on the next one, especially since I'd like to make one with more of a recurve. It's cut down and ground from a leaf spring.

I did at least forge the trigger parts, but that was early into my forging. I also made a stirrup for it, and it cracked under stress (see, I told you I was bad at heat treating back then). The nut is a piece of hickory, with mild steel pins driven in where the trigger meets the pawl. I tried metal wedges, but they tended to come out or split the nut. They might have worked better with more pre-drilling before driving them in.

I used some elements of earlier, primitive crossbows, like the lashing for the bow, and the tied in nut. Doing it again, would definitely add a proper lockplate with pins for the nut and maybe make a block to enclose most of the top. It was definitely the hardest part to make work right without slipping or breaking.