What the hell... The comment section on this video is seriously glitched, at least on my end. I keep trying to copy and paste what Tod said via email and pin it but it disappears every time. And Tod's comments are invisible to me, so I wonder if there are others I can't see either. There was one comment of his that I was able to find, so I asked him to edit it so I can pin it. Immediately after he edited it, gone. Can't see it anymore. Has anyone encountered a weird glitch like that before? [Update] Since this post is still here I tried once again to post what Tod said about the crossbows. And guess what? It immediately disappeared. There must be some broken algorithm that picks up something in his message that causes it to delete it. Makes zero sense, there is nothing "bad" in there. Ok, so I'll sum it up in my own words: Tod pointed out the age of the crossbow (around 4 years by now) and thinks that the trigger is worn and needs to be re-built. It's a simple trigger system that needs to hold a very high load, and the main difference is that medieval objects require much more maintenance than we're used to from modern materials. Changes in moisture in the wood can affect the seating of the parts and cause problems. Tod offered to repair the crossbow if I sent it back to him. He also thinks that the goat's foot crossbow has dropped in power as well, and the string needs replacing or tightening. In other words, he has been quick to respond and offer fixing the issue, which I appreciate. There, hopefully that works now.

Skall: “I wouldn’t want to shoot this in the rain” Genoese crossbowmen who were defeated by the English longbow-men because of the rain: *sadness noises*

"When the wood swells so much, that the nut cant move freely"

This is kind of like the [old gun] v. AR15 discussion. Some people will say "well, its not fair because the AR15 uses 30 round magazines, has better sights, can take an optic and night-vision equipment, has provisions for mounting all kinds of accessories like grips and bi-pods, can easily take flashlights..." Yeah, kind of the point. The modern thing is better. The old thing is cool, and in it's time it was hot shit, but time has moved on. Should we forget about the old? Never. But should we pretend that it's still the best thing? No.

I heard they're reforming the Dawnguard. Vampire hunters, or something.

Why not contact Tod about the crossbow failure? If I recall, that's his product. Pretty sure he'd try to help you.

Next episode: How to repair a crossbow.

Nice! For future reference, it does have "iron sights". If you remove the red dot, the red V on the rear and the three dots on the bridge at the front are the iron sights :)

the traditional arrows probably weigh a good bit more than modern arrows that's probably another area where you lose alot of speed on the shot

We are at 40 meters. Skall: points directly up at the sky.

Alright then, how can I get my Rhodok Sharpshooters to be equipped with the Cold Steel Cheapshot?

*”Hahahahahaha”* ”You hear that?” *”Hohohoho”* ”What was that?” *”Let me SHOW you it’s FEATURES”*

Shooting crossbows at a target, missing and hitting a workshop door, is this joerg sprave Canadian dub

This dudes looking like he’s about to join the dawngaurd

This is why I prefer to use Pommels instead

With the glasses and the coat it kinda makes you look like "Professor Skall" :D

A modern crossbow in medieval times would be like a target tracing bullet in our time, OP as hell.

Do you think 'Shooting yourself in the foot' came from someone trying to reload a loaded crossbow?

I'm Genoese and i'm weirdly fascinated by this video

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 kzfaq.infoUgkxitRzxya-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.

Long-term product reviews are so underrepresented, thanks Skall. The true quality/characteristics of a product only tells after a certain amount of time, espcecially when it has moving parts like the crossbow.

Skallagrim: Crossbows!! Everone else: Skallchion?!?!

I still would like to see the lemon and pommel crossbow

The light crossbow and its arrow drop when compared to the modern one remind me when I played Battlefield 4 and was out snipping snippets with a Mares Leg 40x Zoom at 1500m+

Thanks for the great video, I like the comparison and it's interesting to see how the subtle differences make a huge impact.

Great video, hope you and yours are well!

I've watched this before but enjoyed watching it again. Like you I'm into crossbows and find them fascinating 👍🏻😏

Red dot sight on medieval crossbow. I dare you

Wow this is super helpful for balancing the range of crossbows in my game. Having only used modern ones I thought they always had a high velocity. Good to know!

"Undesirable, but safe". That gave me a big laugh. My shed knows the feeling.

Awesome video Skall! The modern crossbows are definetly better in most ways but the historical ones are way cooler and fun. Also I'm still sometimes not getting notified of your videos even though I have your notifications turned on. Just wanted to let you know. I always check in though.

I'm going to be honest being a crossbowmen in the midieval times must've really sucked.

0:38 that looks like way more damage than the 1d8 for light crossbow!

Wouldn't have thought of a lot of medieval crossbow issues, hmm. I always assumed they hit harder than bows without needing as much strength, but never thought of their own issues. Between modern bowguns and compound bows, a bit of engineering and modern materials do make archery accessible in an age of hunting with guns.

Skall, when you change aim high or low, you also change the direction the point travels, it is ideal to be perpendicular and hence misjudging the fall can mean the negative effect on penetration is increased even more due to inefficient energy transfer to the target.

You are absolutely correct about medieval crossbow failures. But, put yourself in a time period before the first printing press was invented. Crossbow usage was as regular as with anything else in the medieval period. Not only the well-to-do but, the middle class (if there was ever such a class in feudalism) had the means and access to the practice, fabrication, and maintenance of crossbows. As previously mentioned, crossbows were a way of life. It was second nature to shoot and to repair crossbows because, at the time, there was nothing else to do or to shoot with (maybe the occasional RPG rolled in).

Skall's beard gives me Varg Vikernes vibes, in its length :p

Given what Tod's mentioned about crossbows, it sounds like the nut needs replacing. He's mentioned that the metal sear present in crossbow nuts make it stronger, but also makes it wear faster. Wouldn't surprise me if that's the problem, especially given how high the draw weight of that beast is.

Every time I've seen a goat's foot lever being used, the thing that comes to mind is: why doesn't the user have a leash on it to hang it on their shoulder, so they don't need to look for a place to set it down?

I'd like to see part 2 of this

Interesting topic. I like that kind of stuff.

I love my bent stick longbow. It's fun and challenging and when I get a good group, it makes me very happy. If it's about putting food on the table, give me as modern as you got...

Should do a video like this one but focusing on the maintenance different for a medieval crossbowman vs bowman vs earliest arquebusiers. Alot of media doesn't appropriately show all the work you had to do (and still do) to maintain weapons in the old times.

That design is not cold steel's. It was engineered by Jorge Sprave from the slingshot channel. He has a bunch of videos on how he made it. Go check it out.

With the medieval crossbow you can use the thumb of your trigger hand as a rearshight. In combination with markings on the stock for different distances

Dude, when are you and Jorge Sprave going to do a collab?! I would love to see the two of you traipsing around the woods messing with different projectile weaponry!

"There is something wrong with my crossbow´s trigger" *Allied Crossbowmen sweats profusely*

your "unconventional but still halfway accurate" way of measuring the crossbow's draw weight had me dead

Skall has that NCR Veteran Ranger coat going on.

The sound of that modern crossbow is super satisfying.

It'd be interesting to see the relationship of draw weight vs powerstroke by comparing different designs. Ancient East Asian crossbows had a different design of lower draw weight but much longer powerstroke. The average Qin-Han era infantry crossbow had a 6 stone (387lbs) draw weight with an 18-20 inch powerstroke. Crossbows ranged from 1 stone to 10+ stones (the lightest ones were for training while the heaviest ones were for large mechanically aided versions used as field artillery). The Qin-Han era crossbowman would draw the crossbow in a sitting position where they would use their leg, torso, and arm muscles all at once to draw the string. I've read that the crossbowmen might even had laid on their backs for the heavier crossbows so they didn't have to deal with the weight of their torsos when drawing the crossbow. The Han Dynasty had an excellent training program where they would physically condition and train the new recruits for 1 year before sending them into combat, so even skinny city folks who don't do manual labor would have sufficient time to beef up and become strong enough to repeatedly draw heavy crossbows.

In all fairnes, medeivil bolts are way heavier too

I tend to lose power if my nuts twist so I can't relate

Amazing video 🍻🍻

Just as I'm working on building my own 100 lbs crossbow. The perfect video for a break :D

I would send 900 lbs crossbow to tods workshop. I know, across the pond but... He knows his stuff.

You should sen one of your crossbows or bows to Joersparve & do a collab videos. Maybe like his new repeating crossbows or Instant legolas bows ideas.

Would be interesting to see a comparison between the fly times of the modern and medieval projectile. Looks like the modern crossbow has more draw and I asume that a modern bolt (or would you call that an arrow?) is lighter. This would result in a flatter trejectory i think and that is of course a benefit.

A word on the arrow Backstop net - you got to have it free swinging like a curtain. The net has to grab around arrow and head before the arrow and pierce thru, that what stopping them.

I have seen a version of the crossbow in the museum of one of the Loire castles (either Angers or Amboise, don't remember) that was nearly as tall as the armor it was displayed next to. If elephants were flying animals, this crossbow looked like it would be the perfect tool to hunt them

Hey, he's got that shirt on again! Love that shirt, wish I knew where I could get it

Wtf? I just now got a bell notification for this xD

Skall, you need to get your hand on of Joerg's improved magazine fed version of your modern light crossbow.

5:29 have you seen that squirrel ?

Have you considered getting a version of that red dot with a bullet drop compensator? Also if you get a higher mount for the reddot you'll be able to shoot farther without having to compensate at the cost of having to aim high at close range too.

one thing to keep in mind, is that while crossbow had problems, so did bows. I read an old historical document on bows and archery, and the author went in great details about bow exploding.

You probably won't see this considering the glitch in the matrix with the comments section and the fact that you lead a busy life and probably won't care, but a gaming KZfaqr ESO started a playthrough on the new Mount and Blade game Bannerlord and his character bares quite a resemblance to you minus the hair and beard models. Just thought that you would find that tidbit of information fun. I love your vids man. 💯

I feel like that stray bolt is the first of many that will hit the wall 😁 Hope you're doing well, Skal

I am curious about poisons how often they used on medieval wepons.

Rockin' that "Don't come to school tomorrow" trenchcoat with a crossbow

you have made me want a cross bow

Hey skalla love the vids! I wanted to ask, how realistic would a crossbow from the Witcher 3 be? It is a one handed, seems to be pretty easy to pull back crossbow and I always wondered wether its something that could have possibly been used by some obscure military group.

Skall looking more n more like a nuclear wastelander in each video, I'm digging it

You should make a belt strap or some such for that loading lever :P

sounds to me as if the sear has burred on the big crossbow. or its got some play in its pivot point. I have every confidence that tod will sort him out with a fix. a friend of my old boss has one of tod's crossbows and sent it back for servicing some time back. when I got to have a look at it when it came back it look like it was new.

Would have been very interesting also a comparison with the earlier crossbows, which the charge was manual and the bow was in wood. Technically, in this video the medieval crossbow is an arbalest.

I would like to see a video about sword staff

6:42 when the dungeon master tells you he won the fight, but you are not allowed to check his roll...

Greetings, Good video. Informative. Would you be interested in recommending a traditional/medieval (European) reproduction available for purchase anywhere? I've looked around a little bit (just internet browsing), but I don't know if any of them are very good or not. I appreciate your recommendations on production swords available for purchase, but was wondering if you prefer any makers over others, with regards to crossbows.

Draw weight is not the only measurement for power because the kinetic energy of a projectile is roughly equal to the work a bow/crossbow does which is equal to the force applied multiplied by the distance that they apply this force to the projectile. Not to mention poor materials for the string means that towards the end of the force-applying distance, the force is substantially lower than the maximum draw weight that was measured.

hmmm what if you hear joerg in the distance saying "Let me show you its features!"

You look like you should be hunting vampires and you'd be totally kicking ass doing it too. Really good job with comparing the modern do the medieval crossbows.

I would really like to see what would happen if you use the 900 pound medieval crossbow compared to the 150 pound modern crossbow. Also are you planning to get more bolts for both? Id kind of like to see the grouping you can pull off.

I hope one day they make it with a magazine, like on the slingshot channel

At 4 minutes: "Sometimes the wood swells up" I think this is just modern design trying to "improve" the old. Lemme give you an example. So in Finland we have something of a sauna culture, and long before we could afford metal or other fancy things to the point we'd (gasp) make a bucket out of it for *water*, we used wood. Wood buckets. Okay, not nearly as exciting as I thought but there is an interesting thing: None of these buckets are actually water proof. There are massive gaps between the wood pieces. You fill this bucket up with water, it will retain 0% of the contents. So clearly the bucket is bad! Right? Nope. What you're SUPPOSED TO DO is stick this bucket into the water and hold it down with something (a rock perhaps) and while you're working the sauna up (takes 30-40 minutes) the wood will absorb water and the gaps disappear. You have a long-term usable water container, hooray! Enter modern wood bucket things that chip after a few months or a year depending on how much you use them, because modern industrial design has to be perfect. I think (though don't know) the same is true of these modern replicas. They look at the metal bit and the wood and think "huh there shouldn't be a gap there, clearly the wood is damaged or aged, that's okay I'll just make everything nice and snug, make it look pretty" And then you go out for a few hours or leave the crossbow out for that time, decide to go shooting and it stops working because of course it will, because the original was designed the be able to absorb the humidity. The same is most likely true of many modern replica longbows. And even if you make the replica "correctly" and to the right measurements, you're still hosed when it comes to materials. Modern materials are "clean" and "efficient" and "pure" which is all well and good, but the same thing that caused a spike in colon cancer (pure white flour) is probably to blame for a lot of problems we might see in replica creations.

Show us the beast modern crossbow!!!!

you should try the most powerful crossbow Scorpyd Aculeus long power strokes make high velocity.

Skall is gaining weight

Are these crossbows from Tod's workshop? I saw a video with a 1250lbs one which looked remarkably identical to your heavy bow (albeit with a few repair modifications and heavier draw weight))

It could be that there is a bit of metal worn from the nock on that broken crossbow. Where the trigger engages the nock. Could happen over time when it's not straight horizontally or if it doesn't spin freely. Or if there's metal worn off of the trigger itself.. I would have someone remove that rivet pin so you can see what's going on. It might either need a new trigger or nock. It would be one of the downsides of a crossbow vs a bow for a soldier in history. While neither would be able to get repairs on the fly in battle, it would be easier to patch up a bow then to disassemble a crossbow between battles. It's also feasible to simply fashion a makeshift bow if a regiment of soldiers is traveling through woodlands. Something that can't really be done with a crossbow

Have you ever tried a shepherd's sling? It would be interesting to see a video from you to talk or even try out them. I made one out of paracord (there's a bunch of videos about how to make one on youtube) and trained with it to be quite accurate. It's a cheap and interesting weapon.

on your heavier crossbow, have you tried engaging the nut and pushing the lever "down" to ensure that it isnt something like the lever sticking?

Hello Skallagrim could you test out a Kusarigama or any sickle with chain?

If I had to guess (mind you I'm no historian or craftsman) I'd suspect that the mechanism that's holding the nut in place against the bowstring has become weaker thus is engages and holds against pushing on it by hand but is too weaker to keep the bow "loaded". To fix it after disassembly might be as simple as replacing the faulty spring or much, much worse depending on the exact mechanism.

Skallagrim, crossbow 1000lb vs longbow test! Please.

Have you ever done a video on the German Zweihander? I was just playing Skyrim and using the Steel Greatsword which is based on the Zweihander and wanted to see if you ever did a video on it but I don't think you have.

It's too bad you couldn't get the heavier crossbow to work. I would really have loved to see, and hear, that thing fire (and also see the resulting connection to the target). Nice video.

What was the modern best crossbow you didnt show? I want to aquire a modern crossbow, but not sure wich model I should go for.

Wish I could shoot in my yard! Nice job...I'll shoot my cheap shot too with no sight but being in my garage it's not a challenge lol.

Is there a significant weight different between the two bolts that might be partially to blame? Also is there a significant difference in impact force between the two? Would be interested in the follow up video measuring kinetic force.