Only the 12D nails are used for the project, the screws and small nails are used for holding, and positioning templates and other the parts during cutting and assembly. For hardware I used Two 12D sized 3” long bright nails, about 6 small finishing nails, two deck screws 2.5” three drywall screws ½” long and one paper clip. Arrows or bolts were made from hardwood dowels 7/16 from the craft store. Some scraps of tempered Hardboard used for trigger and cam. The piece I found was schedule 80 which has twice the wall thickness of regular pipe found in the home centers.

Other materials were, one piece of “Bender Board” a strip of MDF ¼ thick and 4” wide sold in 10 foot lengths at home centers, also one piece of PVC pipe ¾ in OD thickness, and about as long as the crossbow. Besides, the templates can be modified to suit the builder as crossbows were sized and shaped according the intended use and user. This simplifies things and people can copy the design more accurately. The shape was drawn in SolidWorks and some PDF templates were generated. I used a piece of hard pine that was actually a 2X4 clean, and fairly free of knots or defects. Some nice designs and figuring can be obtained that way. Alternately it can be made of layers of wood or plywood glued together. Ideally some hard wood was used for the Body of the Crossbow sometimes called the “Tiller”. With a little planning ahead actually it can be made for free as all the materials for all the parts and pieces can be scavenged frequently from the scrap bins.

Although materials were provided, anybody can build this project for about $10.

Medieval crossbow