Uploaded December 2021 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
For years I have wondered if I could make a survival bushcraft crossbow using just a knife and the hedges around my field; with the release of the new Tod Cutler bushcraft knives it seemed like the perfect moment to find out. The first film shows you exactly how I made this (rather ugly) crossbow using only my knives.https://youtu.be/ViQF11GPhtI
In this film I explain how to think about the bolts. what the parts do and how to make them work together, giving you the mental tools needed to make bolts out of whatever you can find. It is really simple to make bolts that work well - you just have to understand them.
Tod Cutler bushcraft knives can be found here todcutler.com
If you would like to support this channel, visiting my sites really helps as does signing up to the news letter on the websites, either one is fine
Production replica weapons are available here https://todcutler.com
And T shirts and Merch todsworkshop.creator-spring.com
Custom pieces are available here todsworkshop.com
For years I have wondered if I could make a survival bushcraft crossbow using just a knife and the hedges around my field; with the release of the new Tod Cutler bushcraft knives it seemed like the perfect moment to find out. The first film shows you exactly how I made this (rather ugly) crossbow using only my knives.https://youtu.be/ViQF11GPhtI
In this film I explain how to think about the bolts. what the parts do and how to make them work together, giving you the mental tools needed to make bolts out of whatever you can find. It is really simple to make bolts that work well - you just have to understand them.
Tod Cutler bushcraft knives can be found here todcutler.com
If you would like to support this channel, visiting my sites really helps as does signing up to the news letter on the websites, either one is fine
Production replica weapons are available here https://todcutler.com
And T shirts and Merch todsworkshop.creator-spring.com
Custom pieces are available here todsworkshop.com





![Flaming Trebuchet darts!!!
Incendiary trebuchet darts were real!!!!! (or at least I believe they were).
Trebuchets were the pinnacle of siege weapons in the 13thC and 14thC but we usually think of them as shooting rocks, baskets of rocks, rotting sheep etc, but the Islamic nations also shot darts. I have tried it before but with mixed success. But I have been sent a translation of a Mameluke text where they say where the hook should be placed and that they threw inflammable mixtures attached to the darts.
Time to revisit - with very mixed and somewhat dangerous results...........
For pilum heads https://todcutler.com/products/roman-pilum
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PAUL E. CHEVEDDEN
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF SHARJAH
Black Camels and Blazing Bolts: The Bolt-Projecting Trebuchet
in the Mamluk Army pp235-7
If you want to shoot bolts (nushsha_b)—some of which are filled with inflammable material (al-na_r) and sticky gums (or resins) (liza_qa_t) and others are not—from a trebuchet (manjan|q) [do as follows]. If you want that [i.e., to shoot bolts], put a hook (kulla_b)14 at the center of gravity (‘idl) of the bolt (al-nushsha_b). Flaming Trebuchet darts!!!](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ohq3a5bShR0/mqdefault.jpg)




