This guy fired three shots in quick succession from the hip basically and hit the bull's-eye like it was nothing! Badass!

"I haven't made one of these for a few years." Modest understatement. Most of us could never dream of making one. You are a wonderful craftsman and a great presenter and explainer.

I don't understand how there's a single person who could thumb down these videos. Perhaps your competition?

@john-paulsilke893

4 жыл бұрын

Jack Baxter snowflakes who think words about weapons make people do harm to others. When I was a kid we sang dumb kid songs about killing our school teachers and groping girls. We did none of these things. Of course most of us weren’t from single parent homes and almost all of us had low self esteem forcing us to try harder for less.

@Aconitum_napellus

4 жыл бұрын

@@john-paulsilke893 My father died when I was 10, I was brought up from then in a 'single parent home'. You sound like a prick.

@Aconitum_napellus

4 жыл бұрын

I can't think of anyone who would be competition for Tod, the mans an artist.

@Escalusfr

4 жыл бұрын

@@Aconitum_napellus Statistically, children from single parent homes are more likely to exhibit violent behaviours However, this does NOT mean that all those children are violent pricks who'll stab you just because they feel like it

@mavoc3094

4 жыл бұрын

I saw 2 problems with the structure of the video that lead to me disliking it. First he referenced things that he realized we couldn't see and made no attempt to edit in a closeup image to allow us to see better. Second, he went into a long description of how and why the mechanisms work before letting us see how they move which is critical to understanding what you are looking at and what he is talking about.

4:41 - Starts loading the crossbow 4:52 - Shoots 4:54 - Starts reloading the crossbow 5:07 - Shoots 5:09 - Starts reloading the crossbow 5:21 - Shoots An average of around 12 seconds between shots. Impressive.

Video request: spanning and shooting various crossbows on horseback. This particular crossbow seems more suited to it than others.

@ryddragyn

4 жыл бұрын

Tod's Workshop Perhaps you could sit on an elevated barrel and simulate? I've got access to horses that are broke for archery, I'll see if I can convince the owners to let me experiment with it.

@mdstmouse7

4 жыл бұрын

yes i am very curious about this as well

@ryddragyn

4 жыл бұрын

kzread.info/dash/bejne/aKSo3M-wc9jgkcY.html Some of the historical depictions of mounted crossbowmen.

@sasasasa-lx6cl

4 жыл бұрын

Nope. Early composite crossbows could be spanned on horseback easy enough. They have huge bows but are surprisingly light and easy to handle. Check these guys: vk.com/citadel2003 . One of them did nice demo back in 2017 in full armour with replica of 14th century crossbow spanned with belt hook. I saved this picture: ic.pics.livejournal.com/sasa/5546580/48831/48831_original.jpg but was unable to find the thread :( This group vk.com/hraniteli.belgorod is also shooting crossbows from horseback and even have some videos of shooting (but not spanning :( ).

@weirdscience8341

4 жыл бұрын

I shall ask at the stables ive got my shooting permissions on 2 horses elle and belle they shoot them little horsebows there mongolian ones i think at targets pretty damn cool to see in action actually in real life they know who you are and would most probably let you have a wirl and they are a riding school so im sure they would make you learn to ride before attempting it tho and there insurance mad so we will have to make sure you get whatever insurance you will need first 👍👍

Mechanisms like this never fail to amaze me, especially when you think about how long ago they were created.

@ZemplinTemplar

3 жыл бұрын

People have always been skillful. There are some surprisingly sophisticated tools and weapons and clothing even as early as the Mesolithic, before there was much of any civilization anywhere. These clever late-medieval and Renaissance era inventions are not that surprising, when you look at the tech development of that era.

@boredgunner

2 жыл бұрын

Yeah, not to mention things like Chinese repeating crossbows dating back to 4th century BC.

May I suggest that next time you say ‘you probably can’t see that’ that you get the camera afterwards and shoot some close-up shots so we can actually, see that? Assuming you have a lens capable of focusing that close of course. Cheers!

@john-paulsilke893

4 жыл бұрын

Yes please. We appreciate that it requires a good deal of extra editing. Maybe even a white board and a couple coloured dry erase markers?

That crossbow is awesome! I love the simple way it reloads

I absolutely love all of your work and presentations. The Medieval time in history is so interesting. Thank you very much for all you do.

absolutely love these videos, always very pleased to see a new one keep em coming!

The cut and finish on those metal parts stirs something in me. It's wonderfully elegant.

very nice... love the simplicity and efficiency.

Excellent video thank you for sharing. Fine craftsmanship too!

Beautiful work as always.

Awesome crossbow. LOVE the engineering behind it! 😍

That craftsmanship AND marksmanship! You make these from scratch? Most impressive!

Absolutely love it.. 😍👍 probably my favourite out of all that I've seen..

Great music in the end to get this content to an even higher level 😊

Very nice job on the build..

As usual, great work Tod!

nice simple, but innovative bit of kit. i love it.

I would like to see an adaptation , based on that design with half the draw weight, but also twice the draw. It would probably need longer limbs to flex back farther, but would still remain compact and transportable,

I've read George Fraser MacDonald's The Steel Bonnets a few times and my impression was that it was common for a raiding party to leave an ambush to counter pursuits. Lack of muzzle flash may have been part of the allure of a crossbow in such situations.

@etelmo

4 жыл бұрын

Not just muzzle flash, the guns of the era were black powder, the smoke clouds would be a much bigger give away of your location :)

Thanks for sharing...I have loved that design since the first time you shared it. One day I am going to have to risk my face and make one. Thanks for going into more detail.

Neat little crossbow - thanks for sharing!

Tod will easily hit 1m subs....love this channel

Thank you- that was quite educational and nice shooting from the hip too.

Yet another crossbow spanning mechanism made familiar to me by way of your videos. I'd be very interested to see a "souped up" model with a bolt clip and spring system, to compare the rate of fire with the base model. Great video as always!

Thats a lovely bow Tod, nice work

I'd like to take a moment to tout his marksmanship, even if 'it's only close range'. From the hip I think I'd barely get them all in the center.

@rodneyjones4890

3 жыл бұрын

Its called natural ability & practise. :)

@FortWhenTeaThyme

3 жыл бұрын

@@rodneyjones4890 Nobody is naturally good at firing a crossbow lol. It's called practice.

@rodneyjones4890

3 жыл бұрын

@@FortWhenTeaThyme WANNA BET ?

@rodneyjones4890

3 жыл бұрын

Some ppl are mechanically minded = you`re naturally a better mechanic or you pick up driving a manual car easier than others. Understand ?

@rodneyjones4890

3 жыл бұрын

@@FortWhenTeaThyme WRONG. I dont use sights cause i dont need them. That is natural. A better manual gear driver = natural. Who are you to tell me no one is natural ? If its easier for you to pick up whatever = natiral.

Cool mechanism. Good job.

Could you do a video about chu ko nu's? I've seen them in a lot of video games, but I don't know anything about them.

@DSRVaW

4 жыл бұрын

^ this please

@5chr4pn3ll

4 жыл бұрын

From what I've seen of them, they are low power and unreliable. I suspect they were more a deterrent than amazing weapon. However I would also love a Tod video on it :D

@raics101

4 жыл бұрын

@@5chr4pn3ll If the bolts were laced with something nasty, and it is assumed they were, it could have worked as a hit and run weapon and it is a case where high volume of fire at the cost of power would make sense, I suppose.

@5chr4pn3ll

4 жыл бұрын

@@raics101 I've only heard of them used as defensive weapons, during sieges and the like. Raining down arrows on the attackers. I suspect the weapon would be not very useful as a personal weapon since they are so specialized, you can't hunt with them for example. As a military weapon that works better. Also why would it be *assumed* that the arrows would be laced with anything? Sounds like the old "assassin crossbow" stories all over again. Either way I look forward to hearing Tod's thoughts.

@harrybuttery2447

4 жыл бұрын

@@5chr4pn3ll They were civil defense weapons. The draw weight is very low and they don't have fetched bolts, it's advocated by contemporary sources for them to be laced with poison and that they would make good defensive weapons for women and Confucian scholars.

Big fan! Big love from Scotland!

Awesome little crossbow!

Beautiful piece !!!!

Excellent video!

Another good video, I really like your stuff

Oh my goodness me, your intro logo, it's _so smooth_

beautiful piece of work!!!!!!!!

This is so cool and intriguing.

Thank you Tod

This is on my bucket list.

Shoots from the hip, bullseye every time 😎👌

Thanks for making this video

first of all another masterpiece tod as usual many thx for sharing this and informing us about such very interesting weapons. ps, reading the wheel of times fantasy series and there they are talking about a fast reloading system for crossbows :D

Loving the use of John Dowland!!

Your intro is so good. Those file-over-bone, scissor-scraping and hammer-hitting-anvil sounds really evoke a sort of medieval artisan craftmanship sentiment. Granted, that's probably just because they remind me of playing Skyrim, but still.

Super interesting little crossbow

Recently learnt of a direct ancestor of mine who was a leader of a border reiving family/clan in Northern England in this exact period, so I can't help but wonder if he ever got his hands on one of these. Needless to say, it makes me wish I could get my hands on an awesome little crossbow this. Excellent work as always Tod, your reproduction of niche historical weapons like this (amongst all your other work) are second to none.

@koolaidblack7697

10 ай бұрын

What's stopping you?

@orfeo793

10 ай бұрын

@@koolaidblack7697 more pressing things to spend money on than a crossbow at the moment lol

Awesome ! Both the Video & crossbow .

Good work as always! Loading time seems to be not much faster than with goat-foot lever. Of course having two items to grab and carry (crossbow and quiver) is better than three (crossbow, quiver and spanning lever) and goat-foot lever will make a lot of additional noises during movement making it less fit for stealth and ambush :) Full steel German Schnepper stonebows were using similar integrated spanning levers since 16th century and there is a lot of them so principle is definitely valid. Fantastic stonebow 1051 in Wallace (the one where string goes into lion mouth) is the example of really posh version.

I'd love to see this crossbow revisited and tested.

A beautiful system, really. A bit of a shame about the lack of a spring, it would make it just that hair quicker, which seems to be it's primary thing, but it looks like a wonderful thing just for sport shooting, being in one neat package. And a beautiful craftsmanship, too! Looking forward to your next video!

"... Like I say, it's 280 pounds so it's got a bit of grunt in it." Ha! wonderful

@virgosintellect

4 жыл бұрын

Give a man a big enough lever and he can cock a crossbow, rightly.

@joelrebollar7055

4 жыл бұрын

@POOR PIRANO give a rightly a big enough cock and he can man.

@Kobolds_in_a_trenchcoat

4 жыл бұрын

280 lbs may sound like a lot but it's fairly low to mid power for a crossbow. I can't be bothered to do the full math for this specific crossbow but I think for most crossbows that would be near equivalent to a 60 to 70 lbs draw weight bow, useful in combat but hardly the most powerful example of the weapon.

@matthiuskoenig3378

4 жыл бұрын

@@Kobolds_in_a_trenchcoat from what I have read its roughly 1/3 for most crossbows of about 200-300 Ibs, so this is closer to 90 Ibs.

@Intranetusa

3 жыл бұрын

@@matthiuskoenig3378 This is much weaker than full sized crossbows of ~280lbs because this has an extremely short powerstroke. Medieval European crossbows typically have a 6-7 inch powerstroke, and this thing looks like it barely has a 3 inch powerstroke. Power is determined by Draw Weight X Powerstroke (assuming efficiency is equal, but in reality, organic material and longer powerstroke bows have better efficency than steel prods and lower powerstroke bows). So the power of a 280lb crossbow with a 3inch powerstroke is roughly equal to a 40 lb bow with a 28 inch draw. For comparison, Tod's 350lb goat's foot lever crossbow with a 6 inch powerstroke is roughly equal to a 75lb bow with a 28 inch draw if we assume efficiency is equal. This little crossbow is extremely weak.

Yes I can see this being a good defensive weapon during that time. Not the most powerful, but rapid reload helps make up for that. Nice bone work.

A quick and easy weapon, I can definitely see why the border reivers liked them!

Love to see a video on how to build it

Excellent video thank you!

Sweet. very nice.. want one. Well done.

Very impressed with your hip firing accuracy, even if it was very close range!

Looks cool, I'm curious to see it fired from a longer range to see how far before it becomes ineffective.

Impressive grouping shooting from the hip

That grouping was amazing for hip fire...very accurate.

@FlinnGaidin

4 жыл бұрын

@@tods_workshop you're most welcome. I first cam across you from a video on Matt Easton's channel, and I very much enjoy your work, and the history (or your educated guesswork) behind it.

88K subs? You blew up! Thats awesome! :)

Looks like this was the equivalent of today's "Glock 19 on the night stand" home defense weapon.

That latch sure is scary! Still a wonderful bow mechanically, has a real bolt-action feel to it with the self contained cocking lever.

The missing link between a club made out of bone and a machine gun. :D Joke aside, this is a very smart system, very compact, very impressive!

Beautiful piece of art👌,Can you please make a video on how to make it🛠️.

beautiful, love it

A question I've always been curious about is how long can you leave a medieval or renaissance crossbow loaded before it would start to become damaged? 45 seconds? 5 minutes? An hour? A day?

@Gunnar120

4 жыл бұрын

@@tods_workshop Good to know! Thank you!

@MartinGreywolf

4 жыл бұрын

Word of warning here, this is basically the patron saint of question aswerable with it depends. Spring creep is an excessively complicated thing, even when dealing with modern homogenous springs. Complicated enough that people with a lot of resources, like car maufacturers, prefer to just test the damn things as opposed to running simulations. Ambient temperature, material, shape of string, how often you shoot, all of these and more are a factor, and it's not easy to say which of these can be disregarded as unimportant. Wood is touchier still. I personally wouldn't keep any crossbow loaded for longer than you have to, not unless you bought it specifically to test its creep - but it will vary quite a bit from crossbow to crossbow. Then and again, all tools break down with use no matter what you do.

@mrcaboosevg6089

4 жыл бұрын

With modern steel it really doesn't matter but with what they had back in the day i wouldn't have risked leaving it for any longer than you had to.

@dr.castor1392

4 жыл бұрын

According to my uneducated gut-feeling, if using a newly made crossbow, 5 min aught to be fine, but an hour seems bad. So if you get to test it, I reckon your answer is going to be found in that range.

Beautiful work as always Tod. If you decide to make another would you consider doing a build video?

Great job! Thank you!

Thank you Todd. That is a very neat crossbow. Would you consider a video on how to make the string that is able to withstand the power of a crossbow, period correct of course. Thanks for the vids!

@pauljs75

4 жыл бұрын

Heavy cord braided from sinew, dressed with beeswax and some kind of rosin? May be some other options, but such seems reasonable enough.

Thats a good looking crossbow 👍

Nice work. You are highly skilled at your profession. One question, can you do a short video on the limb. Like what it is made of, how you recurved it, etc. Again, very nice work. Thanks

I must say that's some impressive shooting from the hip. You could reliably go for the faceplate with that grouping, or if you wanted to play it safe I guess you'd aim for the legs/groin to bypass an armored torso or arms

Nice little bow 🤠👍

It can be aimed from the shoulder in the rough direction of an enemy soldier. The foe is a vertical target. Room for error is mostly vertical so all you’ve got to do is miss the armored chest, leaving face inner thighs, and groin open to piercings.

For the longest time I feel like this was a early version of the pistol crossbows available today using a lever to draw back the string to fire the bow one handed,I know the 6.5 inch bolts those use are way lighter and shorter but the similarities are still there to me

Cool video sir

What I really like about this particular design (Also thank you so much for doing different crossbows, because so few do on KZread) is there's noting flopping about. A ratchet, cranequen, or worse windlass crossbow is just a pain with offset handles, gears, and sometimes pulleys sticking out. Some of the windlass ones had 4 block and tackle pulleys, 2 on each side (One on each end, of each side) and 2 crank handles that come off to shoulder, and fire. Then you have to put it back together again, without tangling the lines, and THEN you can start to draw it back for another shot. This just has a lever locked into the stock. For a civilian, that makes this a lot easier to carry around as a side-arm.

@Psiberzerker

4 жыл бұрын

@@tods_workshop I definitely see why your personal preference is the Goatsfoot Lever. Unless I need that much Mechanical Advantage for the draw weight (I'm only ever going to need to draw a crossbow for Hunting, and I don;t hunt Rhinos) the simple lever that tucks away in the stock is much better for me than a separate multiple lever system of claws that I have to drop, or hang on a pocket ever time I load, and shoot.

@Psiberzerker

4 жыл бұрын

@@tods_workshop With Archery, especially War bows, Rate of Fire is almost inverse to Pange/Power. Even if you can't penetrate their shields, they can't hold them up for protection, AND use them for blocking Pikes. (For example.) So, on the battlefield, while longbows were known for their power, and range, crossbows of the period could match them, at the expense of Fire rate. They weren't trained to split an arrow nock-to-tip, they were trained for distance, and getting arrows in the air until the Firing Lines of the Napoleonic era of Pike and Musket Warfare. Even then, we still fired up in firing lines on up to the (American) Civil War until practical repeaters were developed, with decent sites.

Crossbows were widely used by small vessels as well even for a good while after cannons started seeing naval applications, I imagine also latchet ones

Sir I love your videos very interesting would definitely like to see more thank you😁

@patrickmccrea3455

4 жыл бұрын

@@tods_workshop thank you sir looking forward ☺️

Sure there's a lack of raw power but armour is much declined as well, a jack of plate an steel bonnet is heavy armour. It would not piece a jack of plate but it doesn't have too, the "minor" wound of a bolt in arm or leg would make a reiver party think twice an sap there numbers quickly. Its also a place where attackers come too you, if your in a Bastle house then you don't need a vast range, the heavy door is bared an covered from a few feet away.

@FreeOfFantasy

4 жыл бұрын

I agree. You don't have to defeat them, you only have to make them think your home isn't worth it.

@mrkiky

4 жыл бұрын

Now that I think about it, isn't it weird that crossbows didn't make a comeback after plate armor usage declined because of guns? Everybody should have thought "hey, they ditched their armor, we can get'em with crossbows again!". You know, because crossbows still had advantages over firearms at the time like reload speed and easier to shoot without the big bang and huge cloud of smoke.

@mrkiky

4 жыл бұрын

@Honudes Gai Well crossbows take just as little training. And nobody was relying on sheer numbers alone. We wouldn't have had an arms race then.

@emil4156

4 жыл бұрын

@@mrkiky Bolts are expensive compared to bullets

@mrkiky

4 жыл бұрын

@@emil4156 I suppose that could be true before we had self contained cartridges but I never heard that argument be made in favor of firearms though. Surely, if they had the budget to construct bolts/arrows before, they kept that ability after firearms were introduced as well. And it seems to me they would have used bolts/arrows if indeed they would have offered any kind of advantage.

Awesome; im playing medieval 2 after watching this

very cool crossbow indeed

Heart video (like all of them). I would love to know the details of the inner workings on this crossbow.

My god that thing is real beauty.

I want to see something like this with modern carbon limbs. There are some versions with fast cocking but this lever here is so simple built in. Great invention this thing.

A _scrapper's crossbow._ Fascinating.

I had to read up on who the Reivers were. I'm a big fan now.

I'd love to see your take on the crossbows in Skyrim, which feature a very neat, but very historically innacurate inbuilt lever at the front, kindof like a reverse of this

@InSanic13

3 жыл бұрын

He actually made one in the past, and I think he used to have a video on it, too, but it's no longer on his website, and there's no longer any video of it on the channel. The main takeaway was that it was pathetically weak, so the Skyrim crossbow mechanism doesn't work very well in real life.

@whitewolf3051

3 жыл бұрын

So, is this the real life equivalent of the Skyrim crossbow then?

interesting that you were able to get a tight grouping even firing from the hip.

I would like to see your method of making the steel bow for such a weapon and of course the string

very clever device.

bulls eye from the hip? very nice shooting.

Parabens muita técnica Muito bom video

One of these was used as a prop in the opening of Michael Caine's comedy "Without A Clue". (Caine played Sherlock Holmes.)

Couple of thoughts on the no trigger spring thing. I don't know whether they bear out: 1 - the spring would add weight to the trigger pull, which is already a bit of a pain to get right on a small lever. 2 - since there isn't a lot of room the spring might be a bit dainty, so if it breaks you'd have a non-functional weapon which is supposed to be used for close range fairly quick fire. On that basis it might be safer to leave off the spring and just do it manually?

@benstoyles1297

4 жыл бұрын

Tod's Workshop thanks for replying. I wasn’t sure with the first point. In modern firearms design people will spend a lot of time tuning spring weights to finesse a trigger. Although in a modern pistol you might up to 5 springs to deal with, not one. I suppose for the crossbow trigger it would mainly mean adjusting the engagement surfaces for the trigger weight.

@voiceofraisin3778

4 жыл бұрын

It might be a more simple explanation. Most metal forging of the era is hammering big bits of metal in a forge to make nails, horse shoes, door hinges, blades and so on. The people making these weapons might simply be more familiar with shaping metal in a forge and not have any experience making springs so its not something they thought of using. Good springs are starting to become a familiar concept through gunsmiths and are going to start becoming a more common feature in later years but for now its more likely to be the village blacksmith making weapons.

@benstoyles1297

4 жыл бұрын

voice of raisin heat treating springs is a pain to get right

Thank you Todd that is awesome , so you make it from scratch pretty well? Do you have any close ups film of workings of it?