5 crazy different medieval crossbows 

"I have a ballista bolted to my trebuchet " is the coolest thing I'll hear all day

Dear Tod, everyone uses modern bowstrings. It would be interesting to watch a video of how these bowstrings were made before, how they were taken out of animals, how they were preserved so that they would not break and see the difference between archery with modern and medieval bowstrings.

I foresee a scene in the near future where a sheepish bloke has to say to his wife; "I know we had decided on buying a new kitchen but..." before showing off his new ballista.

NOOOOOO! MY CABBAGES!

Me: "Uh, one of your limbs is hanging lower than the other" Catapulta: "Babe that's just how I'm set up when I'm relaxed"

That "assassin's crossbow" reminds me of a parlor pistol. Something to gather the lads in the smoking room after supper and plink at targets set up across the room. Imagine playing a game of darts with crossbows.

Opening shot 'this crossbow is very small, but that one is faaar awaaay'

Thank goodness for Todd saving us from the evil Savoy cabbage!

All these windup mechanisms for the more powerful crossbows make me think of mounting a powerful crossbow to a tricycle (or bicycle with outriggers), with a clutch to switch between using the pedals to drive the wheels and using the pedals to draw the crossbow. Anachronistic self-propelled artillery.

one thing I've always appreciated about these films is your insistence on putting gopros in peril. The SOUND of various medieval projectiles coming straight at the camera is truly something to behold.

Conclusion : for Cabages, use a kitchenknife... crossbows are not suitable equipment in the kitchen..

the medieval equivalent to 'kentucky ballistics' lol love it! *'cutlers trajectoria'*

So that's how Roman chefs prepared shredded cabbage for the legionaries' supper.

Imagine having a profession where you sometimes just end up randomly having 5 crossbows lying around to play with. And they go from from the funny, proverbial pea-shooter to an industrial-strength piece of siege equipment.

i used to be an guard like you until i took a bolt to the knee

I laughed out loud at the sight of Tod aiming his ballista at a cabbage.

Just to second Tod's advert from personal experience: Outstanding craftsmanship AND value for money. Genuinely wasn't expecting so much for the price.... 10/10

The new Tod Cutler daggers are amazing! Never in my wildest dreams thought you would include a hammerhead dagger.

My cabbages!

Can you create the rapid-fire crossbow designed by Da Vinci in the codex atlanticus? This is a crossbow in which the loading system is speeded up compared to the traditional one. The crossbowman, by opening and closing the tiller could load the crossbow without ever touching the bowstring and without using external tools, thus speeding up the charging process considerably.

"its dead" .. got me xD

Alway fun to see, and that little 'assassin's bow' really is tiny and more effective on cabbages than I'd expected. Be interesting to see something like that scaled up a bit in power - with a halfway decent quality screw and nut with the right thread pitch I'd think you could still operate a much more powerful version. It might even just about become plausible as an assassins weapon over toy - shoot heavy lathe turned all steel bolts for as much momentum and precision as you can get with a heavy limb high draw weight and it might just fly far enough, accurately enough and with some serious poke even though its tiny. And being all metal construction by the looks of it shouldn't be too hard to scale the moving parts up enough that it survives being shot a fair few times.

I have a idea! Lead ball projectile!! For the ballista Joerg love that!

Always handy to have a trebuchet around as a base to torsion your balista with.

150 archers shooting 1000 arrows in six hours would make it one arrow an hour a guy, not every minute. Am I miscalculating something?

For a massive background about the actual role archery in the Medieval Art of war I strongly recommend Schwerpunkt's videos series.

I'll take 1 of each!

"Bolts are much more finnicky to make than arrows" Wait what? Can you elaborate on that please? I've never heard that and would be fascinated to hear why. I figured they might be easier since less material, and possibly cheaper too. They tend to be the same cost if not cheaper in games as a result, so I'd love to see or hear why they're tricker to make

I enjoy all of Tod’s Workshop videos

Hi Tod. I always imagined that crossbowmen and bowmen would use cover when it made sense. Like ambushing some enemies from behind trees or shooting out of bushes. Or taking cover behind those low stone walls the farmers build. Would really love to see a video about shooting from behind cover. Like the great video about the pros and cons of shooting from a tower.

at 8:21 lockback fodlers were invented 15th century spain accordingt o Bill Claussen, i had a viking era folder when doing reenactment, and then there was the roman swiss army knife....

“Cabbages are tougher than you think”. Not what I expected to learn from this video. Love all that you do Tod

Great, I made a crossbow in metal work at school....40 years ago, had to get a letter from my parents.It had springs and didn't really work.Goats foot lever. Love the Joules numbers. Nice work.

"very aggressive looking cabbage" is officially my favorite thing I've heard today

Great video. Are Roman ballistas still considered crossbows if they are torsion weapons instead of tension weapons? (Eg. They don't use a bow prod to store energy)

Another Tods video, thank you Tod🎉

"So Bob, that's the bass boat....but Janie tells me you bought a Ballista?"

Very good video. Thank you.

Absolutely wonderful video Tod

Awesome video as always!

Awesome thanks

Ballista maintenance looks eerily Harley-like.

Lovely video.

Badass, as always!

8:16 I'm sure I speak for many by saying that I'd be very interested in seeing an early example of a locking folding blade. Even if you don't have an example to hand, if you just wanted to show a picture and talk about them, that would be a great video! Perhaps an idea for some time in the future. Like what kind of mechanism did they use? What are some of the earliest types like? What kind of blades and handles were used? That little thing you mentioned in passing sent my imagination wild.

Another great video Tom I very much enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up

Man, you have no idea how much I'd like to see the ballista tested against some plate armour.

Gracias

that cabbage looked quite scary indeed, luckily it was taken care of

I'd like to hear more about why bolts are harder to make than arrows? I would think the longer shaft of an arrow would be more difficult to craft.

So this test concludes that the ballista is the ultimate personal defence weapon when faced by angry cabbages at close range.

Great video

Never underestimate the savagely threatening cabbage.

I'd love to have that ballista if I had the money. I don't even have enough space in my yard to shoot it, but still. I'm honestly jealous of whoever ends up buying that beauty.

"it'll have some poke" Love it

Hey Tod, love your videos! Have you ever thought about filming an episode about the affect a wet/muddy field has on someones fighting ability when wearing full/heavy armour? I would love to understand just how disadvanted the French Nobles were in the Battle of Agincourt

Once again, Toddy great work. You’re having just far too much fun

Farmer walks up to adventurer: I used to be an adventurer like you, until I took an arrow to my cabbage. Adventurer kicks Farmer. Farmer: My Knee!

I wonder how often those windlases get dryfired as the loading mechinism swings into the trigger by accident.

I like the tiny one.

Lovely.

Sorry, this is already my third comment on this video, but I'm just commenting as I'm watching. Todd, you should definitely consider reaching out to Scott at the Kentucky Ballistics channel here on youtube. He LOVES owning, testing and having fun with big, rare, and expensive weapons. I already mentioned you to him, and he liked my comment, so if he wasn't aware of you already, then he probably is now. If you haven't already sold the ballista, there's a very real chance he'd jump right on that. And he might want to get some other weapons as well.

Awesome, the cabbages deserve it really. Cheers!

I had a look at a small crossbow about 2 feet long with the steel prod about 18 inches wide. Northwest Military Academy in Wisconsin. Most likely a windlass system to draw it as they estimated the draw with the 1-inch diameter string at 1,500-pound draw weight with 6-inch-long bolts that they had for it. Unknown age unfortunately as it was donated to the school by the family of a collector who had died who had been a student there long ago.

It’s funny how this kinda changes my perspective on old crossbows. I always thought they were a powerhouse and the draw weights make them sound insane. But I got a cheap 60lb compound bow about 12 years back (oh god I’m old) and we wanted to see what it could do. So I shot it through the door of an old ford falcon, and I mean through the door, it was right in there But these crossbows seem comparatively under powered, I’m guessing it has to do with the length of stroke/pull/whatever he mentioned

Bro, that cabbage was badass.

Those wooden fletchs on the bolt look like they could create a lot of additional damage on both entry and exit from the body - nasty!

I'd really like to see how different a ballista with sinew bundles rather than rope preforms. Its probably an impossible thing given the cost of sinew and the amount of effort you need to just clean and separate the fibers, but given how strong the stuff is, I wonder how much better it would be. If they were using something as hard to procure and process as tendon, there must have been some significant advantage that it provided over rope, at least in dry weather.

epic as always

Jo Tod, you should try getting some balistic gel. In most EU countries it is dirt cheap, especially if you buy a whole lot. And on top, it would serve as a much better showcase what such a weapon does to a human. You could also cast your own balistic gel around organ alternatives or your traditional fruits / vegetables, which is usually even cheaper and even more representative, but come obviously with the draw back of extra work.

The first target "I was a adventurer like you. But then I got a bolt in my knee"

I have a maille sleeveless shirt and its really cool. I found it in a house I rented with my son and his mother, the guy that lived there before us left a bunch of cool stuff behind including a 5 gallon pail full of honey from bees he kept and sone real handcuffs. The shirt used to fit me but there is absolutely no stretch and I have gotten bigger, maybe someone could adjust the size IDK it is still super cool and my son likes to wear it sometimes so its all good.

Very fun video.

Nice video. Good that you noticed that you were filming against the sun and changed the position of the camera.

I loved the knee reference :)

Hi mate, I am modding total war Warhammer 3, and making the weapons more realistic is 1 of my main goals, your videos are great my friend thankyou

I think we can reach one very definite conclusion from this video... *that cabbage is dead.* Even if we have learnt nothing else here, we can definitively say that cabbage is no more. It has expired and gone to meet its maker. Fun video!

"Cabbages are tougher than you think." Words of wisdom, if I say so myself.

I found Tod's off hand comment of how crossbow bolts are more difficult to make then arrows.

Using your own trebuchet as a workbench is wild

The ballista has always been my favourate seige weapon, got to fire one as a kid in Caerphilly castle, unfortunaly can't afford one right now.... in unrelated news my birthday is in about a month's time 😂😂😂

Tod: "Today we have a totally pointless and gratuitous..." Internet: "CROSSBOWS!"

4:05 : "i was an adventurer like you once, until i took a balestrino bolt to the knee"

Hi Tod, have you ever considerd having a mass longbow shot to find out how bows could and couldnt be used in battle formation?

My Balestrino just arrived recently from your Workshop. It's a lot of fun to shoot. I wonder if it is the one you used here.

I'd love to see your take on a laminated horn crossbow arm.

I would be interested in the evolution of trigger mechanisms, or how we got away from these huge levers.

The best chanel

Very nice video. I was thinking about getting into cabbage-hunting myself given that I often see a pretty big group of these just sitting around my neighbours farm all day long. So the ballista is definitely the way to go for this job?

Would be fun to see the tiny crossbow design scaled up to something being impactful.

12:13 thank you, but I feel like the only thing I can afford nowadays is the cabbage...

Me in about 2min after I finish my lunch break: "Hey boss, we need a ballista...don't we?"

I would like to see a video of the difference in range between warbow and crossbow 😊

Wait, why are you selling the ballista? It's one of the coolest things you have and I'm always excited to see it in your videos.

Still curious if there are some impact force sensors out there that you could adapt to measure the force of bolts hitting your targets. BTW it was nice to see you on a recent episode from History Hit on archery!

I'm wondering if we are excluding some Specialist/hunting crossbows. To my modern brain it seems odd not to have crossbows which are just equivalent to a shortbow/mid sized bow strapped to a crossbow frame that one can hand draw like a bow, while gaining the simplicity and accuracy of shooting a crossbow with only a minor delay.

When you said bolts are much harder to make than arrows. I am very curious how so?

So cool, fascinating. Is there a small crossbow, called a an arbalest?

So if I want to pick cabbages with a crossbow I shouldn't get one too powerful or the bolt will pass straight trough?

ooo, 5:54 did you get that bodkin / 'modkin' point from RichardHeadLongbows? Used a bunch for arrow making they're great.