Crossbow is an old fashioned weapon, but it can come handy in lots of situation especially hunting birds and small animals. It can also be used for defense purpose. This weapon is not as effective as the pistol, but it’s inexpensive and easy to use. The best part is that you can make crossbow in your home without using any special tools or technique. To figure out how to build a crossbow you should follow below mentioned points carefully.

Building the Body

A crossbow is as strong as its body, so it is good to pick the best quality wood to make the body. The length of the crossbow should be according to your arm length. The average size of the main body log should be one meter (almost 3 feet) but you can adjust it according to your arm size. The body of the crossbow should be of T-shaped. The wooden block on one end will be used to give support to crossbow from the shoulder of the shooter.  At the center of the frame, you have to make a rectangular hole. This hole will be used to adjust the trigger of the crossbow. The hole should be 4 inches long and 1 inch wide. The best way to make the hole is to draw it with pencil and then use the tools. After that, you will need to gouge out some wood right at the center of the frame. This point will also make the center of the rectangular hole. This is the tricky part because a slight mistake can break the frame into two halves. This groove should be 3 millimeters deep, and it will give support to the string of the crossbow.

Making the bow

The bow of the crossbow defines the power and precision of the arrow. If the bow is too much flexible, then it will disturb the accuracy of the shooter, and if the bow is too tough, then it will be hard to stretch it. Hard bows give very hard time to the shooter especially when they use the crossbows frequently. On the professional level, industries use the specially designed material to make the bow but you can use PVC pipe for that purpose. PVC is flexible enough to get stretch easily and hard enough to provide reasonable power and accuracy. The length of the bow should not be very long because it will reduce the reliability of bow. The length of the bow should be around 30 to 35 inches. You can select any length in this range according to the length of crossbow’s frame. Make the holes at both ends of the pipe to tie string. Attach the center of the pipe on one end of the frame. You have to make a deep groove on that end to fit the pipe in. The size of the groove should be according to the size of pipe. After fitting in the pipe fix it with glue.

Building the trigger

The making of the trigger is the most difficult part but if you keep things simple and follow the instructions carefully, then you can do it easily. Take an L-shaped piece of wood to fit in the rectangular hole of the frame.  The basic purpose of the trigger is to remove the string from its groove at the center of the frame. You need to attach the frame to the hole in such a way that when you press it, it displaces the string. This is the tricky part and before fixing the trigger permanently, you must try it several times because small misplacement can ruin the trigger system. You can use a bolt to fix it but make sure it can move with the bold. After that level, the crossbow to dry the glue and after few hours of drying the crossbow is ready to use.

If you have figured out how to build a crossbow with a trigger, then it’s time to give yourself a chance to build a customized crossbow. To perform all the aforementioned steps, you will require wooden pieces, PVC pipe, nails, bolts, flexible string, hammer, nails, saw, wood rasp, drill, and chisel. All these tools and materials are easily available, and method is also not very difficult to comprehend.