This is our interpretation of the ballista, an ancient siege weapon used by the Greeks and Romans. Essentially, it is a huge crossbow that hurls 4 foot projectiles up to about 100 yards. While the ancient civilizations may have used torsion springs made of wound rope, we opted for a more modern approach consisting of an old leaf spring from a junkyard. This spring was attached to the end of a 4" by 6" stock and strung with steel cable. This was then drawn back by means of a hand cranked come-along winch. There are 3 hand crafted projectiles we created; one made of a wooden post with a 3 inch metal point at the tip, one of a copper tube plugged at the end with a deadly railroad spike, and the last a cumbersome iron tube with a huge bolt attached which acts as a bludgeon, lovingly called "The Demolisher". The device is fired by means of a crowbar bolted to a piece of wood which then pops up the steel cable from behind a catch in the stock. All in all, this is a simple device, but its destructive capabilities speak for themselves. The victim in this firing was a sad old scrap stove that was just asking to be put out of its misery. We proceeded to destroy the stove by pummeling it with our copper spike projectile and the Demolisher. We kept the stove close to the ballista in order to provide maximum destruction and obliteration. Hope you enjoy the wreckage. (less info)