Well, who doesn’t love DIY stuff, I for sure love them, and here & there, we all sometimes appreciate the beauty of art & craft. It keeps our mind focused and productive, and even once the task is completed, it provides a certain sense of accomplishment.
And what’s more, is you can even build a crossbow all by yourself. Yes, you can get the best crossbow out there in the market by paying more, but the feeling that you get by building a crossbow that too from woods is just on the whole another level.
Crossbows have changed the tides in favor of those using them and even won them some wars; thus, creating this ancient weapon from scratch is going to be exhilarating, so get excited.
Here I have mentioned the most straightforward way you can build a powerful crossbow all from wood.
So without wasting more time here, let’s plunge right into it, shall we?
Tool Required
- Saw
- Sandpaper
- 7mm thick Oak Wood
- Oak Wood x2 – 34 cm
- Oak Wood x1 – 28 cm
- Oak Wood x1 – 80 cm
- Oak Wood x1 – 40 cm
- Screws
- Tape Measure
- Marker
- Driller
- Brickies String Line
How To Build a Crossbow From Woods
Alright, once you are ready with the tools mentioned above, let’s get started with the building process.
Creating the Upper Body
You will take two oak wood pieces of 34 cm and one 28 cm for the upper body. You would want to keep the 28 cm stock in between the two 34 cm stocks.
That said, make sure that the 28 cm stock is a little lower when you are placing it in between the two pieces. Once you’ve put them, drill them with screws to keep them steady; again, ensure that you have kept the 28 cm stock slightly lower in between the other stocks — it will later help rest the arrow nicely and perfectly over it.
After you have drilled the pieces of the woods, and the 28 cm wood is a bit lower in the middle, use sandpaper and sand the body slightly to smooth it out.
Creating the Trigger
For the trigger, you will have to hold the stock in your hands as if it were an accurate crossbow, and then mark the place where you feel the trigger would be naturally — if you were the one holding it.
After that, you’ll have to use a nail as a pivot point for your trigger, as well as to stop it once you’ve pulled the trigger. For that, you will first cut a nock point from 29cm up the crossbow, 1cm wide, and 7mm deep to hold your string, and below that, you’ll use a small-wood cut at a shorter length with three different pieces, and that will be your trigger.
Just in front of your trigger will be the pivot point, that is, the nail.
So for building, you will first cut the nock around some inches deep. No need to go crazy; you just need some inches deep enough to hold the string.
You will find a gap between the two 34 cm pieces; that’s where you will drill your trigger and secure it. Just ahead of your trigger, you will drill the pivot point with the nail.
Make sure to glue both sides of the nail and cut the nail so that it doesn’t stick out.
Once all set, your trigger will move upwards and push the string that will release the arrow.
Make sure that you also sandpaper the trigger, so it moves as smoothly as possible through the gap.
Creating the Limbs
Now it’s time to take the 80 cm and 40 cm oak wood piece for your limbs. You will have to attach a string on both tips of the 80 cm limb, and for that, you can use a brickies string line.
Once you have connected the string from one tip to the other on the 80cm limb, it will act as your main string to pull back and nock it.
Now you’ll have to cut a nock in front of the crossbow 2.5cm deep, and it will hold the limbs, and you can time them with the string by drilling a hole 1 inch after the 2.5 cm nock and placing a piece of wood that is filed.
Next, you have to put the 40 cm limb in the nock, and after that, you have to put the 80cm limb with the string on top of that.
After that, you have to use some string to secure them tightly by tying the limbs around the wood that you’ve filed. Keep looping around several times to keep it secure and rigid so that when you shoot, you don’t have to worry about the limbs.
While wrapping the limbs with the string, ensure that you are focusing on the pressure points so that it remains more stable.
Draw the String to the Nock Point
Once you have tied the string on the limbs securely, it is time to draw the string from the 80cm limb to the nock point.
For this, you’ll have to slowly pull the string back a few inches a couple of times and wait for a few seconds, and repeat it again by incrementing a few inches.
Always ensure that you are drawing the string slowly the first few times, and making sure to pre-flex the string so that it does not weaken the bow by stretching when you pull.
That’s all — Still, Stuck?
Hopefully, by now, you should have a solid and powerful crossbow ready to shoot. If you are stuck at a point or messed up with something, let me tell you one thing — it happens, and the best way to overcome such a situation is by watching a video.
Closing Views
Once you have all things set and good to go, it’s time to shoot your newly made crossbow, but for that, you’ll need good quality crossbow bolts. You can easily purchase them from your favorite store, or you can also make them by yourself. How? May you ask? Well, that’s a story for another day.
With all that being said, make sure that you also have an archery target ready to soak in all the damage from your bolt, and guess what, you can also make this one out by yourself.
Just make sure that if you are using a target, keep it away from people, places, or things that could possibly get damaged and aggravate the situation.
With all that in mind, if you’ve got any questions or qualms, make sure to leave them in the comment section below, and I’ll see you in the next article. Till then keep hunting, and keep shooting.