It’s a cool project Lamberto – you should run a weekend workshop for people on the Island – you and a small group could build a gun each over a weekend!;-)
To make an excellent gun take few hours…. to make it also pretty can take forever…
With a good piece of seasoned hardwood (teak) the gun would be finished almost at picture 7: just open the trigger hole, fit the hardware and go fishing… a layer of epoxy sealer or linseed oil would be enough then as finish if you can wait 24 hours before wetting it.
If the wood is a good cut and well seasoned it will not warp… problem is to find such piece of wood if you don’t have free access to a large timberyard and the forklift guy is not your best friend since childhood :S …. alternative is to take two pieces with the same ring pattern and glue them together with the concavity of the rings facing each other. Epoxy glue is great. Need 24 hours curing for commercial epoxy before it is ready to be handled.
Just in case someone want to try to make a traditional arbalete, there are very few points to remember:
1) rail should be straight.. if not familiar with a router, you can make a beautiful gun without any rail.
2) Extended rubbers should be as parallel as possible to the spear. If there is no rail to sustain the spear then invent a solution to keep the center of the rubbers totally parallel to the spear… a piece of 4-5mm stainless steel shaped as a Y may do the job decently if you have metal-working tools.
3) The handle should be comfortable for you… beautifully shaped or very simple is a matter of taste.
4) The barrel volume should be enough to hold the spear+hardware in the water so be careful if you use the hardwood for terraces… often it’s density is close to 0,9-1, is too heavy and will sink. Teak, lark, oak and ash is a good choice.
Tools needed: Jigsaw, wood file, chisel, hammer, drill. A router with hobby-table, angle-grinder and orbital grinder make the job MUCH faster.
Cheers!
