"You could do it yourself." That's where you're wrong Tod, you underestimate my incompetence. You should be glad that's so common, you'd be out of business if we could do stuff ourselves.
Sorry I simply don't believe that! on a serious note, we all spend too much time saying "I can't do that" but actually what we mean is "I don't know how to do that" and so we unknowingly lock ourselves into a thought of not doing things where actually what we really should mean "I don't know how to do that yet" - Solution; go find out and YT is great for that
I have to agree with Todd on this. You currently might not have the skills required to make a crossbow, but there's nothing stopping you from learning. You might make a crossbow or two that's not particularly good, but after a couple of tries, I'd imagine you'd be proficient. That's how it is though, you have to push your skills to learn, and it's intimidating and difficult to push your skills, and when you inevitably make mistakes it's really discouraging. The reason why people like Todd get so good at what they do is because they started, stuck with it, and continue to push themselves to do better. Nobody is born with an innate ability to build things, it all comes with practice.
@@deef631 Well for doing that at WW2 you MUST be 100 at least....She must have been between 23 and 24 when those V1 's where flying. But I would be surprised if you can shoot a flying bomb with only a standard crossbow. It must be very close to do that and you must hit some part of the steering system in that thing. I do not think they had explosive arrows at that time. And an arrow has not much energy left when shooting to a higher altitude.
@@onebackzach Correct , even my child has build a working (miniature, 1 meter in size) copy of a roman catapult, using strings. (no , not good for shooting game, but for demonstrating at school at the history subject about Romans.....he was 11 years old at that moment. I admit he had some help from his older brother.But that was not the building but how it should looking, with parts needed and how to construct it...in other words....the how do you do it knowledge. Not the work itself.
@@asdfg2560 yeah, but regardless of the era people also wanted to have fun. Getting on the mead with mates and bowfishing sounds like a right good time.
The chances of penetrating a fish with that bolt is very near to zero. The biggest chance of getting a fish with that is to hit one of those small ones in the video on the head so they get paralyzed. Fishing with bows, spears, etc. is hard enough but with that ancient crossbow it‘s nearly impossible. Sure there must have been people who tried it back then but not for a long time, that’s for sure 😁
In the US we've got rules by state; for example bow hunting a great White shark with a 60lb crossbow is illegal and silly (protected species, bow fishing in the open ocean doesn't seem to be covered...probably because...ocean deep 😄)
@@brianreddeman951 i would think the water would put lots of resistance on an arrow or bolt so it wouldn't penetrate enough but i don't know if that is true
@@gerardmcquade you'd be suprised a 60lbs crossbow will probably go 4-6 inches underwater which if your in a small pond that would be around the depth fish swim near the surface. My only problem is the so called mirror effect you have looking down at fish in the water so it would look its directly in front of you but actually its just slighty forward or to the left depending on how your standing
@@SasoriZert It's Refraction. The image of the fish is bent on the air to water boundary .so it is deeper that it seems. Not sure what the refractive index of water is.
That fishpond is unhealthy, too many roach, not enough food. They have developed into what we in Denmark call "Tusinbrødre" (Thousand Brothers) where there are so many fish that none of them individually get more food than for survival, not enough for growth. Far to many of them pooping and polluting the water for too many algea to grow. The pond needs a few pike. That should help.
>so many fish that none of them individually get more food than for survival >Far to many of them pooping and polluting the water That fishpond needs a Great Reset
The couch arrived in two boxes four days early, which was great because we'd just moved into a new house and needed places to sit. My son and I put it together pretty quickly ru-vid.comUgkxitRzxya-XugamYgLwa_2G1gxPg4MCJHa . Another reviewer suggested inserting the seat into the side and I'm glad they did as the instructions weren't clear on that matter. It's incredibly light and slides easily across the wood floor, making it easy to move. It's firm, but comfortable. It will even be great to nap on. I got the gray, which definitely has strong blue undertones, but I'm okay with that.
@@viridisxiv766 Flint isn't any sharper than anything else. Theoretically you could get wood just as sharp and steel can certainly have the same sharpness. However, it's much easier to get flint to that level of sharpness. Thus, if you need something sharp and aren't worried about holding the edge you go with flint, or more likely obsidian.
@@Seelenschmiede Sharpness is just the angle a solid object's atoms are at. Any object can get as sharp as the sharpest known edge. What makes obsidian special is that it's easier to get it that sharp than anything else.
I tried to buy a bauernwehr and couldn't complete my order because their website said no to my address. I contacted them, and pointed out that I had bought a stiletto previously without issue. Long story short, they didn't bother to sort it (I even offered to email my order and pay by PayPal), but my £300 wasn't worth their time.
@@ivanharlokin When was your trouble free stiletto purchase? My guess is that it was probably before brexit kicked in properly at beginning of 2020. There might be significant customs paperwork problems to export weapons from UK/import weapons to the EU that a small business just can't justify dealing with. Won't go on as it's a politically hot topic for the UK.
Great video as always. I hope I can impose for two very different questions: would the bolts for hunting fish have a string attached for easy retrieval? And why do European crossbows have a much lesser span than Oriental ones?
In the Orient they started by adapting the hand bow(usually composite) to a stock/tiller so it could be effectively shot with little training or skill for the Chinese militia. That way they kept largely the efficiency of the hand bow(thinner string, lighter limbs & much longer power stroke= much better mechanical efficiency). Because the bow weren't silly weights as European crossbows became, they could also be reloaded & shot quite quickly. Here in Europe we disappeared up a nonsensical blind alley with thick very heavy strings, tiny draw lengths giving very short power strokes, thick, short(so they could be shot from castle loopholes better)massive limbs(Even solid steel) which take a lot of the bows energy to shift requiring more & more heavy draw weights to get anywhere near hand warbow performance. That also required mechanical assistance to draw & load, so slowing the rate of shooting a lot. Also much more expensive & specialised to make. I'd say why make a bow that takes 1,000lb to draw to produce no better, much slower shooting than a 140/150lb longbow or a slightly lighter composite bow?
My grandfather, born in Norway 1915 told about how the made "arrowguns" when he was a youngster and shot salmon coming from the Atlantic into streams to spawn. As an arrowhead they used nails with the tip bent into a hookshape. The arrows were tied to a cord for retriving the catch
Hey Tod, just ordered a three piece eating lot from you as I start up my soft kit for medievalism activities. Thank you so much for everything you do for the hobby on screen, in the workshop, and behind the scenes
I don't know why this is but when you shoot your heavier steel bows, the bolts tend to wobble massively before they stabelize. But when you shoot lighter bows, the bolts fly straight as an I beam right from the get go. It can be seen in this videos slo mo and in your earlier videos of 11th and 12th century crossbows with bows made of yew. Bolts flew perfectly straight 💪
Bow and bolt tuning is tricky, but as a rule of thumb, longer bolts fly better and more powerful bows need longer bolts. Modern customers like their bolts to not over balance so really for the bigger bows another 1"/25mm on the length would be helpful, which is fine if you put your thumb on it and would stabilise much better
Love the scruff. Love the short practical on historical relevance and application. Don't be holding out on us if you have shorts this good in your back pocket.
Very interesting video. It would have been nice if you found some fish free water and shot at some underwater targets. This would have verified both the accuracy and the effective range in water.
Very nice crossbow. Tried to build 1 of these myself but unfortunately it broke instantly. My craftsmanship is poor. Your channel is 1 of the best I've seen you make great bows
Well done for trying, but don't be disheartened. The stock is straight forward enough, but making the bow takes practice and they do break - it happens, just have another go and make you r next one a bit longer
Thanks Luke and yes I do have a longbow simulator shooting into a pool and velocity is certainly lost fairly quickly, but at lets say 30cm down there would be very little loss
In my place in France ( mansle)they usually fished with similar crossbows from the bank of the river or wooden boats it was super common +50 years ago when it was super fishy, your thinking is just right
Suggested experiment: use a water tank or pool; tow a fish-shaped target (or even a fish from the market) through it, and see how the bolt penetrates. As mentioned before, a line attached to the bolt would certainly aid in retrieving both bolt and fish.
Problems that are easily overcome with practice. Modern bow fishing is not that uncommon a sport. And primitive bow fishing is well documented in South America.
Imagine if medieval Frenchmen (or late West Franks) knew about the skipping/bouncing arrows of Ugrofinnic hunters. It would be a waterfowl massacre with these C-a-C wooden crossbows and bouncing bolts, LOL. :-O :-)
seeing how the fish react, if you got overly stale bread, or some sort of grain/nut that wasn't great for people, drop some in to a pond and use it as bait. A couple of guys with crossbows, that could be a viable tactic.
I was wondering if you could borrow a mates pool or go to some pond somewhere and try shooting at a dead fish with it to see how well it works. I'm curious whether a 60lb bow with those light bolts would retain enough energy to skewer the fish.
One advantage is that you can use the crossbow to hunt rabbits and birds if there are no fish. Another advantage is that you can burn the hemp strings and inhale the smoke if you're bored and you wanna get high.
Also good training and practice for the lads. Same could be said for spears. In the Philippines, I watched young boys hunting birds with slings with good results.
Did lots of bowfishing when younger, penetration into water is surprisingly low, those bolts and that crossbow would only be effective in very shallow water.
I probably could try and make that crossbow. But that would require cleaning out the barn and re-wiring the equipment cause squirrels got into the ban saw and
Tod - I hope you obtained the Lord's permission before setting out. I'd hate for you to be flogged for poaching hay bales! Joking aside - another excellent video that make me think of what life may have been like for our ancestors.
They have banned spear fishing in most European countries. Originally because it is "too effective". Nowadays they ban various methods because of animal cruelty,.
@@TimoNoko Cruelty? I've only done normal fishing a few times when I was a kid, and easily half the fish would just swallow the hook. There's no way to get that out nicely. Even if they don't swallow the hook, their end will then come from getting clobbered with a wrench whilst suffocating... Getting a spear or an arrow seems far more humane to me. Politicians are funny.
@@BaggieReg63 Ah, so gun fishing! I can get on board with that! We'll need some kind of specific ammunition though, most regular rounds will dissipate after a couple feet in the water.
This is what experimental archaeology is all about, Tod. I'm sure there are some archaeological groups down in that area who'd want to give this a try. Is Tony Robinson still doing Time Team?
Time Team only survived one season without Mick Aston who was the archaeologist in charge and sadly he is now dead. Mr Robinson is fine to work with but he was just the presenter. Tim Taylor the producer the driving force behind it all the way from season 1, where i first meet him, has said he will revive it this year on youtube, without I think Mr Robinson but most of the old names.
I like doing some bone carving ,it's amazing looking at the bone harpoons and some of the intricate carving and functionality of the heads produced by Polynesian cultures
The hunting crossbow was around since the fall of the Roman Empire. But I've always been wondering if there was a crossbow that could be used as a substitute or competitor to a smooth-bore musket (Brown-Bess). This is a reflection on a Quip made by Benjamin Franklin that if the Colonial Rebels were low on arms why not use the Bow & Arrow. Well why not use a crossbow; it was still known about in that time.
No idea how common crossbows were then, but my guess would be probably not enough skilled craftsman to make enough of them in time to make a difference.
I admit that my knowledge is nothing compared to people who run channels like this, but when i search for various medieval stuff it is often disappointing compared to what we read in history class etc.....catapult could bring down walls....find someone who made a medieval catapult and see him launch a head size stone about 50 feet and they cheer....So soldiers standing on a wall with height advantages using bows/crossbows could not hit them when they moved up to the wall, standing 40 feet away to start throwing 2000 rocks before a crack in the wall appeared? I thought they were meant to be out of range from archers to pound the walls? So should they not be throwing 300meter or more? Considering the range of an archer on top of a high wall? Similar thing about crossbows, how we were taught that knight feared them because now a lowly peasant could end them....but then we see test of medieval crossbows that just bounce off a knights armor, some able to do a hole, but no damage to anything beneath....so are the history books wrong or are we making much inferior copies?
I wonder what the drag would be like if you attached a twine to the back of the harpoon headed bolt? Would it still have useful power as well as the ability retrieve the bolt and target from deeper water.
Excellent video as always. My thoughts on the whole deal, as a spearfisher - Yes, you could probably catch a fish with a crossbow, I'm fairly certain that somebody at someplace in time has done exactly that, but generally it's hard to hit a fish if you're shooting from above the surface, I'm sure bow fishers will chime in and explain something about refraction and so on. But, much in the same way it's a problem for bow fishers to retrieve their catch if they don't have a line connected to their arrows, it is a problem for us spearos to do the same, if we "free shaft". Now, most spearos go for center mass shots, and kill their prey once they have it under control, personally, I prefer to go for headshots in the hope that I'll either kill or immobilize, so the prey won't suffer a struggle to get free - a poorly placed shot low in the guts usually results in a fish ripping itself free with horrendous injuries, we don't want that. But to get back on track, unless you as a spearo or bow hunter can place your shot straight through the brain or spinal column of your prey, you will not be taking home any meat, if your projectile isn't connected to a line of some sort. So, although it is possible that someone at some point in time has shot a fish with a crossbow, I don't see it as a viable hunting method, and especially not if you plan on using it to keep a whole lot of people fed regularly. In that case a net would be the way to go.
I don't doubt that hunters may occasionally take a shot at a shallow fish, but when passive means like gill nets are far more effective, with much less effort and risk of equipment, I'd agree that waterfowl are the much more likely targets for these things.
Never tied a net have ya mate, a small Gill net of about 10' x 4' takes me up to a week to tie. Arrows take under an hour. And resources for arrow making are much easier to scrounge than enough material to make a net
I've always looked down on crossbows as being worse than regular bows, but this video gave me a new appreciation for them. Thanks for making another great video, as always.
Interesting to think about. I’d find it hard to believe people wouldn’t have taken a shot at fish or anything else that could make a meal. I really like this simple little crossbow, after watching your how to video I made some for my sons. Good fun.
Hey, Todd. Thank you for the video. I made one of these today out of a chunk of wood (I used half for the bow, half for the stock and a split for the trigger) I cut during our last Hema event and some linen string. It's absurdly fun to use despite being a bit rough around the edges.
What kind of a blister do you get on your thumb after a hundred shots? ;-) Of course, this is interesting only for us soft city-dwellers who don't do manual work.
I was quite impressed with that crossbow, and went back to find your ‘making of’ video. Very interesting! I’m an amateur woodworker, using mostly hand tools, so your video made perfect sense to me. And now I find myself making one of those crossbows. Madness!
I love the fact it was found at an archaeological site of a real world, early medieval equivalent of Tolkien's Lake-town. :-)) Though, from what I've read about the Colletiere-a-Charavines site near Lyon, it also had a palisade-fortified stilt-manor of sorts, in additions to parts of the village being on stilts in the same lake. So a bit of material culture of both rural peasants and the rural nobility. The fact that someone of them owned a little hunting crossbow like that is not as surprising when you factor in that social background, even though it's a very, very basic crossbow. More seriously, considering this is a simple, all-wooden hunting crossbow for shooting at small prey, I suppose there might have been occassional attempts at bow-fishing on the shores of the lake, or from a boat. Depends on the depth. Bowfishing isn't as practical if you can't see the fish in the water below you, so a shallower part of the lake in the 11th century would be one of the more ideal places to skewer a fish with a bolt. Unless you could find some preserved remnants of caught fish at the same digsite, ones with signs of arrow wounds - unlikely, given the easily decomposing soft tissues involved - it'll probably remain one of history's little mysteries. Could they have used it ? Possibly. With some skill, sure. Will we ever know for certain ? Unlikely. I like the harpoon-heads you've made for the bolts. :-) Even though bowfishing is not allowed in the UK, maybe you could put a rubber duck or a floating rubber fish in some fishless pond and try shooting at that as a target. Or... Buy a little floatation bladder that you can blow air into with a bike pump. Buy a fish on tha market (e.g. a trout), then place the little floatation bladder inside the cavity of the fish. Put the fish in the pond and let it float. Pretend it's just emerged for a few moments from under the surface and shoot it with a bolt. The conditions should be relatively similar enough to shooting a live fish.
Thanks for that and yes an interesting place. I have never bow fished so cant really comment, but I do see fish come to the surface sometimes and so it is possible. What I would add is that in parts of Asia, particularly Vietnam, they use crossbows for fishing, so it is certainly a subsistence thing
A crossbow for fish is unnecessarily complex. A regular bow would be simpler as fish don’t react to you pulling the string back. If you put me next to a pond with a crossbow I’d immediately think I’m geared up for ambush hunting waterfowl or whatever comes down to the waterline for a drink. I can poke holes in fish with a barbed stick more easily than using a bow. In open water a casting net would be my first choice.
Fair enough. I would have (erroneously) assumed that water could contain aqueous solutions that would be of greater concern and impact than atmospheric oxygen, and that oxygen is also carried in flowing water (in minute quantities).
What's the advantage of fishing with a crossbow over using a fishing rod? I imagine you need bait in both cases and the fishing rod doesn't have accuracy issues. Plus you get to keep your feet dry
I imagine that if the Land owner lets the peasants/serfs hunt pests and other small game and said peasant/serf was hungry with stag wondering about making a bigger crossbow around a 60 odd pound longbow would not be difficult and when the lord approaches easy to burn.
@@SuperFunkmachine What are the odds of just one of the peasants being hungry and the known snitches are likely to find arrows poorly hidden in his hovel.
I'm curious, how does the way you can't knock the bolts onto the string, combined with the way the string jumps up rather than just driving straight forward, effect the accuracy? I know it's not meant to be accurate of course, but I am curious if it is noticeable.
So many people saying that you would shoot at water foul before you shot at fish cause water causes problems. I don't necessarily disagree with this, however, when I was younger, I used to shoot catfish and carp in a river with a 40 pound recurve bow. Accuracy is sort of 50/50 predictable but when it works it's quite affective. Never lost an arrow, killed lots of fish. Anyway, off topic question here. What is the story behind your hat? Looks like felted wool.?
Really sucks that you can't bowhunt. In Canada we can, small or big game hunting with a bow is super fun. But it also sucks for us that we cannot hunt with pistols like our American brothers, even though we are allowed to own the pistols here too.
Looks like an easy(ish) way to expand your diet. You mentioned you are not allowed to fish with it. Were there any known restrictions in the period these were made?
What distances were armors proofed against pistols, arquebus, and muskets? I have found unverified sources stating distances from point blank(pistol) to 100 meters.
I think it would still be interesting to do a test with a bow like this to see how deeply it penetrates flesh. The natives of North America used very short bows. Plains, Great Basin, and west coast people often used bows as short or shorter than 36” though up to 44” was common. These bows could have draw weights of over 100 lbs and didn’t typically have a long draw length, often times it was very short. Yet they killed bears, bison, deer, and elk with these bows.
We don't consider it humane. I'm not a hunting or animal rights expert but I've read that an arrow cuts through and will leave the animal bleeding for a long time, unless you get the heart or the brain. A bullet sends concussive ripples through the body that kill instantly for a much wider target area.
@@chemistrykrang8065 Poaching, by definition is already illegal. Why would a poacher pay any attention to a prohibition on bowhunting? Isambardify's right.
@@riffhurricane yeah but stabbing people is illegal too and that didn't stop them restricting people carrying knives... sadly lawmakers often forget that criminals don't obey the law.
@@Isambardify Here in France bowhunting was legalised in the 1990s, after trials showed that it was probably no more or less humane than hunting with firearms. There is a separate training course you have to take, in addition to the hunting licence exam, before you can bow hunt, and the opportunities to actually hunt with a bow are quite limited. I have taken the course but have never hunted with a bow, mainly because it is so much harder than hunting with a gun. As for your "concussive ripples", it really depends on the projectiles. in France most roe deer are not hunted with rifles but with shotguns loaded with number 1 or number 2 shot, which are smaller than BBs and certainly don't kill instantly, except in rare cases. Most deer properly shot with a hunting broadhead seem to expire in 20 to 60 seconds, judging from the videos I've seen...
Bonefishing is pretty common in the US with most sporting goods stores carrying some equipment. Everything from carp to alligators taken with bow and crossbow. We don't use fletches, as it messes with trajectory in water, same reason we use heavy fiberglass arrows. Low draw weight bows are preferred, as you don't want to over penetrate the fish. And our arrows have a string attached to a reel. Here is a popular brand. www.amsbowfishing.com/
