Author Topic: 16th century Spanish "ballesta" crossbow - with shooting videos and testing info (Read 60965 times)

darwin · « **Reply #60 on:** December 12, 2012, 10:54:19 am »

This is pretty neat stuff it inspires me to try something like it

Dane · « **Reply #61 on:** December 12, 2012, 08:22:04 pm »

Thanks, Darwin. I find these medieval weapons a lot of fun to build, and even more fun to shoot.

Dane · « **Reply #62 on:** December 12, 2012, 08:27:26 pm »

I just came in from the shop. The arrow groove is now pretty much done. It was easy enough to do. I measured very carefully and found the center line, then measured two lines, giving me a 3/8" wide groove. This is to accomidate the types of bolts I make, so you have some flexibility there. Some crossbows are made with a triangular bolt groove, but I like a rounded one, and it is easier to make. Being careful about finding your center line is critical, otherwise, you get a crossbow that is not accurate.

After drawing on my lines, I used chisels to start the groove, then used a file, and finally, sand paper wrapped around a bit of doweling. I had to extend the groove to the front bearing block. Note that I have a very nice glue line on that thing overall.

Then I got back to the front plating. I marked out where I want my four screw holes to be, driled them to accomidate the cross head machine screws I picked for this, and then used a 1/2" countersink for the four holes. Please note that the period crossbows had this plating riveted on. And later, I do plan on building others that I will rivet, giving it more authenticity, but for this one, I am happy to cheat a bit. I am using stainless steel screws, and that helped me make up my mind to keep the metalwork on this all in the white, ie not blued or browned.

And that is all for tonight. Tomorrow I will get the rest of the steel parts drilled and ready to screw down, and then I can file and fit the edges of the plating, and then begin finishing the trigger, which will be lots of filing, mostly. So, the weapon is getting pretty close to where I can get the tiller / stock finished and get in some shooting. I think my end of the year deadline is workable here, and hopefully, so will getting it done by my birthday. It's my 50th, so I expect some fun at the range will make it a little less difficult to take.

Dane

Dane · « **Reply #63 on:** December 13, 2012, 10:37:16 am »

No photos, but the four steel plates are fully inletted, and now creating an inlaid bone and horn design midway between the lock area and the butt on the top surface of the tiller, which I will inlet later this morning. Still a bit too early to be pounding away and sawing and sanding in the workshop. I have a 1.5 HP 12" disk sander that is great for this kind of work, but it is a bit loud.

Dane

darwin · « **Reply #64 on:** December 13, 2012, 11:40:55 am »

is there a advantage to the v notch over the rounded one?

Dane · « **Reply #65 on:** December 13, 2012, 07:47:05 pm »

I dont think so, Darwin. If there is any advantage I can think of, it is that you can use different sized bolts in the slot, but that doesnt seem enough to justify its use over a round one. Round ones are just easier to make, at least for me.

Got some inletting done. I decided to make a cross to keep in the spirit of the orginial Spanish bows. I had some bone that was the ideal width, and after marking out where I wanted to symbol to go, I chiseled out the opening and epoxied in the bone, then used a clamp and let it sit for a few hours to cure. I then used a handheld belt sander and finished up the area.

Note the gouge, which can happen, but I had more than enough depth of the bone pieces, coupled with the fact that I had left a bit more wood on the back two thirds of the tiller for this kind of situation.

The biggest lesson here is no matter how raggedy the inlaying looks are you work through the process, it is going to look great in the end.

And with that, I will go get some Chinese food.

Dane

M-P · « **Reply #66 on:** December 14, 2012, 08:18:38 pm »

Great work so far! Ron

_-Wulfgar-_ · « **Reply #67 on:** December 14, 2012, 08:29:12 pm »

''Ballista''? don't you mean Ballesta? it's spelled bash-eh-s-tah altogheter. Ballista is the bigger siege version, isn't it?
Pretty good work, though. I love it xD

Dane · « **Reply #68 on:** December 14, 2012, 08:30:07 pm »

Thanks, Ron!

Okay, got lots more done.

I concentrated on two areas, the rolling nut socket, and the steel plating.

Regarding the socket, since I took a presumably modern approach to boring it out, I had of course a side that is solid wood, and a side that is nothing wood. I had a cutoff piece from when I trimmed the butt area down a bit to make the weapon just a bit shorter, and so, I trimmed a thinnish piece with my bandsaw, and then made a little el-quickie template from paper, drew it on the thin piece of wood (with grain configuration running the same way as the tiller), and then trimmed it with mostly a disk sander and files. Once I had it where I wanted it to go, I glued it in place with Tightbond III and clamped. Please note that I did have to do some work with a Dremel tool to recess the area enough to glue in this plug (for lack of better term).

Dane · « **Reply #69 on:** December 14, 2012, 08:31:45 pm »

Quote from: _-Wulfgar-_ on December 14, 2012, 08:29:12 pm

''Ballista''? don't you mean Ballesta? it's spelled bash-eh-s-tah altogheter. Ballista is the bigger siege version, isn't it?
Pretty good work, though. I love it xD

Yeah, you got me man. Spanish is not my primary language, being an American lol. Noted, it is spelled ballesta.

Dane · « **Reply #70 on:** December 14, 2012, 08:35:07 pm »

Next, the plates were already inletted and ready to go from the other day. I found where I wanted my screws - riveting is the proper historical way of doing this, as I explained before - drilled the screw holes, countersunk them, and then sank in pilot holes for the screws. Not doing this will lead to a world of hurt.

Then, I screwed them on. No photos, as that would be entirely too boring.

Dane · « **Reply #71 on:** December 14, 2012, 08:43:09 pm »

Hold on, bring in the boring squad.

There I am, screwing in the screws.

Note that I had to factor in the depth of the wood behind the lock plate. The area in front of the lock plates had full depth wood, so I used #6 3/4" stainless screws, but because of the trigger recess, I used #6 1/2 inch screws, so there is no screw sticking all out and looking bad, and possibly laying in wait to poke me, and gum up the trigger.

Also, after fastening down one plate, drilled the plate out from the inside for the trigger axel. I then fastened the other lock plate down and drilled the axel hole for that side.

And that is all for tonight. I still have the task of filing the metal parts flush with the top and bottom surfaces of the tiller, and get to finishing the trigger bar so I can get that installed. Also, you may or may not have noticed the holes in the wood for the rolling nut axel. The lock plates will keep that in place, and the real purpose of the nut axel is simply to keep the nut from occilating and flying out of the crossbow when it is shot. It isn't a load bearing (or whatever the term really is) component at all. Earlier German and Central European crossbows simply had a cord that bound the nut in place and kept it from getting lost on the hunt or in battle.

Dane

Dane · « **Reply #72 on:** December 19, 2012, 08:25:45 am »

A lot of work has been done over the last few days.

The metal plating is filed down and ready to be finished now. I began scraping and sanding the tiller, and am doing fine tuning on the shape of the tiller with files and rasps, as well. I glued up a buttplate made of bone and then a thick piece of horn, which I will post photos of later.

I also wanted to do something special to this weapon, and came across the Spanish phrase "Obedezco pero no cumplo," which means I obey but do not comply. This was a common phrase used during the Spanish colonial and exploration period, and shows the disdain that the colonial personnel felt toward the crown, and it seemed almost American in it's cool arrogance. I was thinking also about battlefield art that comes from various conflicts like WWI and the Vietnam War, particularly the flak vests and helmets that were decorated in the field by individual soldiers against orders, and sometimes not something you would necessarily repeat in "polite company."

But how to do this? I have lousy penmanship, and really admire those who can do well executed art on bows. I toyed with the idea of making stencils, or using liquid frisket or some other masking material to make the letters, and then came across a very nifty way to do this.

Basically, you print out the letters at the size you want using a font of your choice. I found some Rennaisance fonts that seemed appropriate, messed about until I got the right size of the font, and printed it out.

I then turned it over and covered the area under the letters with pencil graphite using a standard ol' #2 pencil.

Then, I taped the "stencil" onto a piece of scrap red oak to test this idea out. I then drew over the letters as carefully as I could, pressing down really hard.

When I lifted up the stencil, I was left with this:

I wont show you the results of my painting over the letters, as I used red oak that was not sealed, but it should work great with the type of wood I am using (yellow heart), which is very close grained, plus I will be sealing the wood before painting on the letters. Since I want to get across the idea that a disgruntled soldier stuck on guard duty in some swamp in Florida decorated his crossbow out of boredom and frustration, it doesn't have to be perfect, but I do want the letters to look professional and be neat and tidy.

I may not even do this, but do think it will add a bit of fun to this crossbow.

More soon,

Dane

darwin · « **Reply #73 on:** December 19, 2012, 11:04:46 am »

One of my co-workers who is from Cuba offered a few other translations of that phrase but being such and old phrase the dialect could well have changed.

I obey but do not serve (like i will do what you said but not because you said it)

I obey but do not comply (meaning I will act like im doing what you want but i will really do whatever i want)

I just thought it was interesting and my Spanish is not that great

Onebowonder · « **Reply #74 on:** December 19, 2012, 12:17:12 pm »

Literal translation does not serve this phrase perfectly, which is oft wont to be the case. The phrase is a play on the similarity of the meanings of the two words. The first word focuses on the detailed meaning of the orders, the second focuses on the attitude of the one following the orders.

OneBow

Primitive Archer