5 Crazy Different Medieval Crossbows

Oh hi it's Tod from Tod's Workshop and Tod Cutler here and we have a totally pointless and gratuitous film all about crossbows because for the first time ever I have got five of completely different scales and sizes in the workshop at one time. So if you can't make a film about this, what can you make a film about? So we have got a balustrino at the end here, so 17th century, all steel, probably Italian and it shoots teeny tiny little bolts drawing about 220 pounds. We've got a latchet bow here round about 1600 also drawing about 220 pounds, teeny tiny bolts as well, not quite so small. Goatsfoot bow drawing about 380 pounds, munition grade 15th century, kind of normal size bolts really. Then we've got a windlass bow drawing about 800-850 pounds, big chunky bolts. And then we've got a caspulter or a baluster at the end. I don't actually know what the draw weight is because it changes every time you set it up because you have to tension the bundles but it's going to be around about 450-500 pound in draw weight but a really really long power stroke shooting these. So the first thing that we have to do is to charge up our baluster there and once we've done that we can see what it does against, well, argyre and of course cabbages. Traditionally these things are melons but you know, cost of living, it's cabbages. See you in a minute. So this is a Roman baluster or catapulter from around about the birth of Christ. Now these rope bundles here you have to put in under tension right at the beginning, you don't just put them in slack, but then what you need to do is if you leave them all tense they will lose their ability to throw the arms back, so you need to slack them off. So the first thing you need to do when, you know, war is on the horizon is you tighten them up. I've got a very big spanner. I've also got it bolted, clamped, well to my trebuchet actually because this really really does take some force to get the thing rotating. Now what I want to do, it's not a lot of force yet but you'll see, is I want to get the bundles equal. So what I mean by that equal tension is you just do it by looking at the arms and getting the arms to balance. So when the arms look about right, which is not yet, then you're done and you turn it over and you do the other side. If you think you can get a bit more tension then you turn it over and you go again. So this is a bit of a slow process, it's not one that you can do in a hurry. So I'll be back in a little bit. I'm beginning to think I've got a bit too much tension on the other side. Oh hell, let's just go for it, come on, let's see what happens, be brave Todd. I've tightened this up as much as I can but also to allow the string to get into the trigger mechanism because if it's too tight against this I can't even get it to load. So there we go, so I can draw 180 pounds on a crossbow, this one is drawing 180 at about five centimeters, two inches, it'll have some poke. So our first bow today is going to be the balustrino and it is this thing here. Basically it's an executive toy, they're sometimes called assassin's bows, I really don't think they were, got a video on it and what you do is you set the trigger, you twist it. There's about 10 of them thereabouts in existence and they all seem to have this twist mechanism for loading it. So it's now spanned, it's not about killing, it's not about hunting, it's about, I don't know, shooting an apple off your friend's head at the end of the table. Let's see what it does. Oh I got him in the knee, how about that? So I'll do that again, so you unwind it, push the whole mechanism forward, engage the trigger, wind it back, so like I say it's about 220 pounds in draw weight, but this is the thing, the power stroke is really, really short, so because it's so short, it doesn't have the time to put the power into the bolt. Oh just to the left of the guy's head and just for the record, those targets out there, they're available as posters delivered to your door or as a download from the site. So that is the balustrino. Our next bow is the latchet bow, so this is round about 1600, border reavers bow, so northern England, lever action, lovely little thing, about 220 pounds in draw weight. Did a video on this one recently, it's got me on a mobility scooter, really have to go check it out. Top trigger, oh bounced off his helmet, I guess you heard that, just to the left of his head. So we're going to go again and into the shield, call it a day on that one. Our next bow is a munition bow, so it's around 380 pounds, something like that. Goat's foot goes on and draw back, trigger's engaged, nice and positive, got him there. Didn't penetrate the male in the gambeson, but then again, it's actually a target pile on that, it's not for war, so a needle bodkin or something would have behaved quite differently. Let's see if we can, let's go for his head. Oh right, well everyone to be disappointed, let's go again, touch the helmet, but again a little bit of a funny bolt that. Bolts are weird, you have to make them really, really carefully, so I always test shoot, but they're much harder to make than an arrow is. Right so our next up is a windlass bow. Set the nut, wind her up. It's a little bit slow, but don't forget the other crossbowmen you're facing have exactly the same problem as you do, but then you have to unwind it. If you don't, it really messes you up for the next shot. Nice, let's go again. So windlass goes on, it's always a problem trying not to tangle the ropes on these things. You've got to be quite careful really, but the thing is archery seems to be, from the records, a fairly subdued activity in war. It's not manic like you're so often seeing, well medieval films, but of course Lord of the Rings, it's nothing like that. There was a siege very near here in fact, where over a six hour period, about 150 archers shot a thousand arrows, about one bolt, it's about one per guy every minute. Nice, that'll do, and that is a case in point actually why crossbows are quite popular. You can be really accurate. Don't forget this is not my job, I only shoot these things occasionally. Anyway, enough of that guff, we're on to the big boy. Hi, I've just interrupted the film for another Todd Cutler related interesting fact and today we have the horn handled folding knife. Now they didn't invent lock back folders until round about 1600, something like that, so we had a thumb tack and that's how you hold the blade open. Sometimes a little stiff, sometimes it's loose as you like. Thumb tag does the job, but anyway you'll find this and all sorts of other amazing pieces on toddcutler.com. Back to the film. And now we're on to our ballista, catapulta, round about the birth of Christ, but this was a crew served weapon and I can't even get the string into the trigger without help. Adrian, so if I pull back and you do the trigger, that's it, we're in. Thank you and now we wind the thing back until the point that I get scared and that is going to do me. So needless to say neither Adrian or I are legionaries that have been training on this for years, but you get an idea of what this weapon is about and if you like look at this thing, have a look at the website, it's up for sale. Just past his head. So as you may have noticed this cabbage, very aggressive looking cabbage, is very close, but it's late in the day and I'm running out of light so I've got to be fast and I don't want to miss. So this thing packs a whopping couple of foot pounds, a couple of joules, very, very little power, but still wouldn't want to get hit by it. Now we have our latchet bow, so this has, I think from memory, round about 12 joules, something like that, which is for reference about the same as a paintball gun. Again, don't want to get hit by it and that's got a nice sharp broadhead on it. If you wonder how hard a Savoy cabbage is, this is quite unexpected. Anyway, harder than my tummy. Now we have a munitions bow and this is around 45 maybe 50 joules, it's dead. So our windlass now produces around 90 joules, but that depends massively on the weight of the bolt that you use. Now this is something that you might not have thought about. War bolts very often had wooden fletches on them, they last longer in storage, but also you can't quite see it, but that bolt passed all the way through, the fletches are intact. The same thing happens on ballistic gel, those flights actually create part of the wound channel as well, it's not just the shaft, you get effectively a broadhead result out of the fletchings. Does it on flesh, does it on cabbages. So let's see what the ballista does. Got it I think. Now of course the whole headstock actually obscures my view, so I've had to set the shot up beforehand and hopefully it'll be good. Yeah, so it's time for our traditional conclusion, but really what is there to conclude? Bows come in all sorts of different sizes, I love making them, I love shooting them, they're great fun. Different powers, cabbages are tougher than you'd think and this thing is going to be for sale on the website. But before you go, don't forget to subscribe and we've also got a Patreon page where we do loads of little films around the workshop and you can see what I get up to when I'm not doing this kind of stuff. See you again.