Make A Crossbow At Home

A fantasy crossbow build you say? I don't know. Seems pretty real to me. What is up fam? Welcome to SkilledTree where we learn how to do just about everything. Okay, I am crazy proud of today's project. So I've been playing this one D&D campaign for the last couple of years. Big ups to my Monday crew. In said campaign I play a halfling rogue whose weapon of choice is a spider themed crossbow named Lady Killer. Named so because he's good with the ladies not because he's like a psycho killer of ladies. Anyways, I made it. I made my fantasy crossbow. It's even spider shaped. It's got the mandibles up here and eight legs and a spider web theme. This thing is so epic. All right, this is going to be a long one fam. So let's just jump right into it and level up this skill. Getting started. As with any big project it all starts with a sketch. As you can see here my plan is to have the bow limbs and the stirrups form the legs of the spider. Happy with my plan. I roll out some paper and lay my plank of wood down. So my dimensions are exact. Now for my crossbow I am using one and a half inch by three and a half inch oak board. But you can use whatever lumber is easiest for you to get your hands on. I mark my stock length at 27 inches. Then my draw length at 16 inches. Now just to be clear what I mean on that. My stock length is going to be the overall length of the body of my bow and my draw length is going to be how far back my bow string actually draws. That's going to be important because that's where we're going to need to put our trigger mechanism here. With those measurements in place I can now lay out the rest of the body of my bow to match my drawing. Once I have the shape I like down I cut the whole thing out to make myself a pattern. Then I position it onto a length of board I already cut to size and trace my shape onto the wood. Now I have an easy visual guide to follow but I don't want to cut that shape out yet. This is mostly because I still need to cut out this hollow here for this little string catch and the trigger. If I go ahead and cut this shape out ahead of time then I'm going to have to fight with the fact that it's not going to be sitting straight and it's going to rock all over the place and I'd like to use the drill press to make this as straight as possible. So with that being said let's move on to trigger happy. So the trigger mechanism is made up of two parts a trigger and a notched out disc. The notch at the top of the disc holds the string while the trigger stops it from spinning. When the trigger is pulled the disc is free to spin and release the string and both parts are held into place with a piece of 5 16th dowel. Now that whole trigger assembly design is a la the king of random. I will leave a link to the video I got that from in the description below. Now to make these parts I use this length of three quarter by two and a half inch board that I just had laying around. Using a two inch hole saw I secured my oak into the drill press and cut out my disc. The result is a perfectly cut oak round. Now I used this press to save time but if you don't have one you can use a jigsaw or a handsaw or really whatever you can use to cut a circle out. Same goes with all the rest of the tools I use in here. Um, most of this can be done with just hand tools. It'll take you longer, but I had the actual mechanical tools so I used it to save me some time. Now we need to cut out those all important notches from our disc. I started by drawing a vertical line at the top directly over the center. Next I drew the bottom line making sure it's off center and in front of the first line. Then I drew my horizontal lines to section off the spaces that need to be removed. With those established I used my Japanese saw to cut my lines away. And that's it. That's the string catch portion of our trigger mechanism completed. Now to get the actual trigger measurements I had to refer back to the drawing that I had made on the stock piece of wood. Lining the notch up with that 16 inch draw length measurement I made, I realized I needed a little more meat to house my trigger. With that accounted for I used the bottom notch on the disc to mark out the top of my trigger. Then I drew in the rest of the shape. Now the only parts of that trigger shape that really matter is the top where it meets the disc and the placement of that hole. You want to make sure the hole is behind the disc. This way the trigger will be able to move out of the way if the hole was directly beneath the disc. When you go to turn it the trigger will actually just push against that disc really hard and won't actually turn out of the way. The rest of the trigger can look however you like whatever funky shape you want to put into the thing. Now with my shape all figured out I used some parchment paper to trace the trigger design. Then I positioned it upside down onto my wood and scribbled it all across the back transferring my image onto the board which I then went back over in pencil just to darken my lines up. Then I drilled out my center hole with a 5 16th drill bit and proceeded to cut the rest of the shape out with my jigsaw. Finally, I cleaned both pieces up on my belt sander. Then I ran a test just to make sure the whole thing worked. Now I did this later in the design once I realized it would be a problem but you're going to want to cut a little groove for your bolt to be able to fit through. To do this I just marked the width of my bolt on the top notch of my disc. Then I cut it with a pull saw removed the wood with a chisel and smoothed the whole thing out with a round file. So once I liked it and I was sure that whole assembly was working I positioned them onto the stock and marked where my dowel holes would go. Then I drilled them out using that same 5 16th drill bit. Using those holes to position my trigger unit I marked how wide the entire assembly was then I transferred those lines onto the top. I also marked the center line of the board just to use as a guide while drilling. So to cut out this cavity that that whole assembly lives in I basically just drill a whole bunch of holes along that center row. I do that with a three quarter inch spade bit as that will give my disc and trigger just enough room to move width wise. Simply staying within my lines and using that center line as a guide I was able to hollow out what I needed. Then I just went back in with my jigsaw to remove all the extra wood between the holes. Then cleaned it all up with a chisel. And with that the trigger is all set and we can move on to prepping the stock. All right, it's finally time to cut out the body of my crossbow. With the shape in place it was super simple to just follow my lines with the jigsaw. Then once it was free, I just shaped the butt end a little bit with my belt sander. And at this point I was already loving the feel of the design. It just like felt like a crossbow already, you know what I mean? The trigger area and the hand supports were all spaced out right and the overall grip was comfortable. Now after cleaning up any saw marks with my orbital sander and some good old-fashioned elbow grease I marked my center line along the top from the string catch all the way to the front of the stock. So I'm going to use that center line as a guide to cut in this bolt groove here. To start said groove I just use my Dremel's cutting wheel. Now this would probably be easier like if you have a table saw or something that you can just kind of run that groove through. I don't have a table saw so Dremel it is. So next I use the edge of a file to widen the groove and then finish it off with the edge of a board wrapped in some sandpaper. The end result is a smooth recess about a quarter of an inch deep. And that's just going to help guide that bolt nice and straight. And that's half the battle right there my friends. With that the body of our crossbow is all done. Now shake it out and get ready to build the limbs. Now you can make the limbs of a crossbow out of a bunch of different materials. You can use spring steel or wood. For this project though I am using common one inch schedule 40 PVC pipe. For this main limb here we need a length of pipe cut to 30 inches. And then for this top limb here we're going for one that's cut to 12 inches long. Now PVC will become really pliable once it's heated up to a certain temperature. So the plan here is to hit it with a heat gun until it gets really pliable and then smush it down between two boards using some clamps to apply pressure. I also decided to use some of this step flashing here to help reflect and retain some of that heat so I'm not losing it all off to the sides. Just make sure you keep the heat gun moving so as not to burn the PVC. Once sufficiently soft I positioned it between two two by fours and clamped them down flattening the pipe. I also did the same thing with our 12 inch front limb as well. The finished result are these flat smooth bars of plastic. These still need to be shaped into bow limbs though. To add extra power to the bow I wanted to add these recurves and I also need to add kind of a subtle bow to the whole thing. Now to make sure I bent those evenly I first made a mark four inches in from the tips. Then I hit from tip to my mark with my heat gun to soften the plastic. Once just melted enough to bend I shaped the tips into a smooth arc. Now an easy way to make sure that you bend both of them an even amount is to stand it up on a flat surface and measure the distance along the entire length. Here I was hitting an even two inches all across the bow. Now to add a little curve to the whole limb I simply heated the middle four inches of the bow until just malleable. Then I bent the curve into it. For this build I'm shooting for a two to two and a half inch curve overall. Then I did the same with my smaller 12 inch limb giving it the same amount of curve. So this single piece of PVC that makes up the main limb here won't be strong enough to make a very powerful bow. This little secondary limb that we're making along with the process is making opposing forces with this bow. So as this pulls down and these arc down this is trying to fight up there as well. So that's going to add a whole bunch of power to this bow. All right so next we're going to taper in the ends of our bow here and we're also going to cut the nocks into the main limb. Now because PVC can be brittle you want to make sure you keep as much meat on those ends as possible. To that end I only marked an inch down from the end of the limb and a half inch in from the edge. Then I connected my two marks and used it as a cut guide. Using my Dremel I cut away the corners leaving a fat taper, which I then sanded smooth. To stay consistent I did the same thing to the top limb as well. Now the nocks here are actually really simple to cut in. Just measure a half inch down from the end of the limb and make a mark. Then mark an eighth of an inch in from that line at a 45 degree angle. I cut along my line with this little tile saw, but you can use like a file if that's what you have. Just make sure you sand away any sharp edges or else it'll cut into your bow strings. And that's the limbs all done. With those done we can move on to assembly. All right, for those of you who are just looking to make a no frills simple crossbow this is the home stretch for you. On this step we're just going to attach those limbs and string the sucker up. First though we need to cut a little shelf for our limbs to sit on. To do this first measure the width of your limbs, two inches in my case, and mark it on the front of your stock. Then measure the depth of the two limbs together, which for me is three quarters of an inch, and add that mark to the side of your stock. These two measurements will dictate where you need to cut. I just used my jigsaw to remove the extraneous wood and sanded away saw marks with a bit of paper. Next I centered the main limb on the shelf and marked two screw holes across from each other. Then I pre-drilled those holes. Using them as a guide, I marked the holes on my stock as well as on the smaller limb. Then pre-drilled both. Now you want to pre-drill the holes in the limb obviously because you need to make sure you're aiming correctly. Everything really needs to be centered. But you always want to make sure you pre-drill your wood. You'd be crying if you did this much work and you go to drill in and it splits the wood. If you just happen to find a grain that's running along that edge or something, the force, the outward force of that screw going in will split that grain and you do not want to deal with that. So just pre-drill your wood. With my holes all in place, I secured all three pieces together with some two inch long screws. So at this point, all you have to do is string this mofo up. And for this purpose, I just used some basic paracord. So just bear in mind though, under tension your string will start to stretch out. So you're probably going to restring it a couple times if you decide to go with paracord. Just until it finds its final resting point. To connect your string to your limbs, start by making a bite about six inches from the end of your cord. Then tie that bite into a simple knot leaving a loop at the end. Now secure that loop into the nocks on one end of the limb and stretch the rest of the paracord over to the nocks on the other end, making sure to pull tightly. Right where your paracord meets the nocks on the other end, form another bite and tie the same loop knot as you did on the other side. Then cut away excess line. You should have to flex the limbs as you string the bow and there should be tension on the string at all times. Now to incorporate the string going across this top limb here, unstring your bow and tie some more paracord onto one of the loops using a bowline knot. Then restring the bow. Check out this vid here if you want to learn how to tie a bowline knot. Holding the cord taut, pass it over the upper limb and to the opposite loop, taking note of where on the string that falls. Then tie another bowline knot about an inch short of that length By doing that and making that top line shorter, it's going to make sure that this whole system here is under pressure and it's going to really increase the power of the bow. From here, all that's left to do is pull that string back and make sure everything holds together. I also scrambled together a couple makeshift bolts just using like a sharpened piece of wooden dowel and some duct tape. That being said, there is a video here on how to make arrows. You do the same thing. You just make it much shorter and you make sure that the fletching is kind of just flat. You don't need three feathers. These little guys work just fine for a test though. And there you have it, a fully functional crossbow you can make at home. It shoots with a decent amount of power and accuracy and even with the scrambled together bolt, it managed to shoot a pretty decent distance. So with that ends my tutorial on how I made a crossbow. Feel free to go forth and make your own creations. Now if you want to see how I transform that basic crossbow into this beauty snatched from the very caverns of my mind, keep watching to witness the birth of Lady Killer. Lady Killer is a plus three light crossbow that deals 3d8 poison damage on a failed save. For a full description on the weapon, look in the description. And once again, all good designs start with a sketch. Using my drawing here, I marked out all of the measurements for each length of the stirrup. By the way, a stirrup is this metal piece in the front and it's used to help pull the bowstring back. You just put your foot in this bad boy, and you can use that extra stability and strength to help pull the bowstring back. To make it, I decided to use this one inch steel flat stock. Using my drawing as a reference, I marked off where each bend needed to be. Then clamping the stock into place, I heated the sections that needed to be bent with a torch, then shaped the metal as needed. The drawing I made, by the way, was a really useful tool to make sure all of my bends were correct. Now to bend this kind of cool looping hand guard area right here, I just used the columns in my basement. Then I made all of the same bends on the opposite side. Happy with that, I moved on to the mandibles. To make that, I used some half inch flat stock that I had laying around from a prior build. Using a round bar and some wooden blocks, I was able to bend this tight hump into place. Then I just clamped and bent the ends until I had this lazy W shape. Or lazy M shape, depending on how you're holding it, I guess. To make them more intimidating, I decided to draw some sharpness into them. They are fangs after all. Then I proceeded to grind and shape them with my angle grinder and sand away any rough edges, leaving smooth and fierce looking spider fangs. While I was on a roll, I also decided to grind these stirrups to look like spider legs. Complete with bulbous joints and spindly looking legs And I could not have been happier with the end results. It perfectly pulls off that like spider vibe that I was picturing and when everything is laid out I can clearly see the eight legs and mandibles of my spider. So for something that I just kind of made up and pulled out of my head, I'm genuinely impressed with how smoothly everything just kind of pulled together. Now to wrap up that fabrication portion, I just had to drill my screw holes into the metal and pre-drill out my wood to see how everything would sit. And at this point, I'm over the freaking moon happy with this thing. So with everything fitting exactly how it should, it was time to add a bit of color. To add to its ferocity, I decided to paint all of the parts that make up the spider a flat black. So I hit them with a couple of coats of spray paint and then just set them aside to dry. And while they dried, I added a minwax mahogany stain to the stock to add some red tones and make the whole grain pattern pop. For a little extra spider action, I used my carving bit and my Dremel tool to lay down these web designs so that it looked like my spider was hanging onto a web. And once that was all carved in, I filled in the design with a little more stain to avoid any of that lighter color shining through. So as a bit of an experiment, I decided to try using black leather dye in my airbrush to add a gradient. This worked perfectly! The color took immediately and provided a nice fade from like a dark black into my mahogany stain. And with that black providing a little extra contrast, I whipped up this metallic green paint I had from another project and began filling in my web design. And that green color turned out to be the perfect nod to Lady Killer's poisonous personality. And to make everything pop even more and add a little bit of protection, I grabbed a can of this clear polyurethane and just sealed this bad boy up. And once that sealed dry, I decided that the pièce de résistance would be this piece of leather right here. For that, I started wrapping the butt of the crossbow with some plastic wrap to protect it. Then I soaked some leather and wet formed it around the piece. Now I decided to only let the leather dry enough so that it holds its shape. The thought being that if it's slightly moist when I put it on, it's going to be a little bit more stretchy so I can put it on really tight. And then as it dries, it starts to shrink a little bit making it even tighter. At that point, it should fit so form perfect. It just looks like it's a natural part of the bow. So I punched my stitch holes along the edge and using the same stain I used on the wood, dyed the leather. Now I really dug the symmetry of using my black leather dye to stain the front of the wood and using my wood stain to dye my leather. And by using that same stain, it's going to help make sure that I'm carrying some of the same color that's in my wood grain. And then using a baseball stitch, I just lock that leather into place. This stitch is perfect for this application as it makes the seam come together flush and flat. And I go over how to do this stitch in this video here. And with that last piece of the puzzle in place, I reassemble my crossbow and bask in the ferocious glory that is Lady Killer. Bam! This is by far the most involved build I've ever made on this channel and I could not be happier with how it came out. Like eventually I might replace the limbs and the the wheel lock and all that with metal bits, but for the overall design I freaking love this crossbow. And like with all the times that its D&D fantasy counterpart has built my character out of binds, I feel like I already have like a long and storied history with this crossbow. Like it just feels like I know it and it feels right in my hand and I love it. I love it so much. All that to say I'm extremely happy to add this to my collection. Now if you like how this came out or just enjoyed the show in general, why don't you hit me with some of that thumbs up love and do not forget to subscribe so you know when I release new content. Also, if you have a skill you'd like to see me cover, why don't you leave in the comment section and I will add it to the list. All right. Well, I better get going. There's still another primordial ring out there. My party needs my help to claim it. In the meantime, keep leveling up, you.