Galoots,

Last couple of evenings I've been working a bit on this crossbow.
Recall my tale of woe when the ash bow developed a twist, that
was resolved by a desperate attempt at wood-bending, and it
actually worked!  The bow bends just fine now, although my
idea of proper may not be what a bowyer would consider so.
I'm given to understand that tillering a bow is more art than
science, but that's what bending wood is like too, and I found
that that is not beyond my grasp. And so I trust that my first
attempt at tillering is at least good enough to function.

I went through the wood pile and found a nice bent piece of
mulberry for the trigger.  The grain flows nicely around the curve.
That'll make it plenty strong enough.

The bolt groove was made with a small plow followed by a #4
round plane. The whole thing was given a coat of orange shellac
to keep some of the dirt and weather off of it.

My work at splicing and serving the strap to hold the bow to the
stock is also somewhat unskilled. Downright ugly, but once
again I hope that it will be sufficient. My skills at fletching are
also somewhat suspect. Damn, with all the first-time, half-assed,
best-guess stuff involved in this project I'll be lucky if I can fire off
all three of the bolts I made before something self-destructs.
I guess this is more of that "workmanship of risk" eh?

I've added some more pictures to the groups.io album.
https://groups.io/g/oldtools/album?id=267353

Kathy and I are going to a local SCA archery practice on Sunday,
so I get to try shooting this thing. I will definitely get some photos
of that!

Darrell
-- 
Oakville ON
Wood Hoarder, Blade Sharpener, and Occasional Tool User