Tent pole crossbow bolts

[Timelord]

I have seen them for sale at medieval re-enactment shows. I have known people buy them. I will see what contact info I can rustle up. One of the blacksmiths who makes them is called Andy Kirkham. He has a superb reputation for quality kit and not at rip off prices either. I have purchased sword blades, a pollarm head & a large calibre arquebus off him in the past. I see he is now doing items for the movies and for historical/museum documentaries. There are other makers also. If you go on the Re-enactors web ring, you will eventually be able to track down makers - possibly. Also the info will easily be available on "Living history.com" You may have to ask a forum member or something like that?? Possibly there is a traders advert section? Don't know, as I can't be arsed with the constant message crap that reams off on there. There is some good info & links to be had though.

Andy Kirkham usually has a stall displaying his wares at the Tatton Medieval Fayre on the 16th & 17th June at Tatton Park in Cheshire. I will see him there at that time anyway if that is any use to anyone.

Bolts are available also from the same sources. They are actually much easier to make up oneself than a decent arrow would be. I don't have one to discuss detailed construction now myself, but you should be able to get the info online. Numerous sources inc museums and historical weapons books that show crossbows & their manufacture are to be found. Original historical crossbows are not complicated really - they just have to be done right. You are talking a hell of a lot of force being stored up & unleashed suddenly. A steel prod is much more durable than any fibreglass one. Serious amateur scientific trials have proved this & chapters of books dedicated to it. The only reason fibreglass can be used for the limbs of modern crossbows is because they are effectively a hybrid that has more in common with a traditional bow than an original thoroughbred crossbow - just held flat on and the arrow rested on a launching platform. see the original medieval hand held war crossbows and you will appreciate their devastating power. That is why the aristocracy leaned on the papacy to excommunicate crossbowmen if any were found in use. This holy order only lasted a very shortwhile and was unenforcable, because most Lords wanted crossbowmen in their armies when going to war and especially when defending any fortification. The reason this order came abot was because the Aristocracy, ie the nobles & lower knights were most displeased with the fact that they were no longer the invincible tide that had swept all before its lances for the last few hundred years. The thorn in their side was the fact that you could take an untrained conscript, put acrossbow in his hands and within a few days training, he could accurately shoot down a mounted knight with relative ease. The crossbowman had very very little invested in him, whereas the mounted knight had a sum invested that could easily be the amount of revenue a geographic Lordly domain brought in over afew years. A seriously considerable sum + a lifetime of training from being a boy and all the social & hierarchy & material wealth that backed this up. This equation was a serious imbalance in the traditional order of knight beats up peasant as & when he pleases and only really usually wanted to worry about fighting other knights etc for glory & reward.

The point of this narrative is -> The original true crossbow design is an awesome, tremendously powerful and to be much respected instrument of death. Not to be taken or used lightly.
Lighter versions were produced for hunting and these are probably more appropriate for survival use. They are built similar to the war bows but are of lighter construction and finer tuned for hunting accuracy. The zenith of this type of crossbow was in the 16th century, when guns had more or less taken over on the battlefield, but the crossbow was still desired off it for gentlemanly pursuits. there are some very very nice examples on display in museums, such as the Royal Armouries.
Happy hunting, TL.

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AN amendment -- Modern crossbows are not more like a normal bow than a crossbow. That is wrong. They are in fact similar in style & looks to a hunting 16th century crossbow. What is different (not talking about compound stuff here) is the materials used & modern engineering design of them. They are IMO overengineered, over complicated, of inferior materials and structural strength. The prods use fibregalss which is really acting the same as a bow. just a little shorter limbs. To compensate for the inherent weakness, they use a much longer distance launch of the projectile, which is one of the reasons I figure for using what is effectively an arrow. This ballistic theory of a longer launching distance is valid and is why longer barreled guns are more powerful & accurate (to a point) but it is a Compensatory design. You end up firing arrows instead of heavier bolts (on the commercial versions) & the overall weapon is weaker & more prone to damage from external & internal forces. It is not a design that would be easy to repair in the field. There is very little to go wrong on an original design - except for string breakage which is inherent in high power crossbows anyway. String making is an invaluable skill if you are a crossbowman + the need to keep spares & dry.

The English had a soft spot for an alternative design of bow that was very like a crossbow but fired stones or lead bullets/balls. IT was invariably known as a "Stonebow" and examples do survive. Recreations have proved inconsistant and hard to master the original design. The useful thing about the stonebow is that you can find or make the ammunition readily enough and bullets/stones fired from what is effectively a low velocity weapion, do not tend to pass straight through the prey and disappear into the undergrowth. If vital organs are missed, then the prey may not be incapacitated as one would like!! With a bullet (lead lump) firing bulletbow, then the damage & stopping power would have some similarities to a black powder smallarm - quite effective.... :-)