Category:Gaffe lever

This is a subcategory for images of gaffe levers, a form of crossbow spanning mechanism used for spanning post-medieval, early modern forms of crossbows (mostly hunting crossbows).

A member of a family of lever-based crossbow spanning tools known as gaffles, they are functionally similar to steel spanning levers used in later medieval crossbows, such as the goat's foot lever. Unlike the goat's foot levers of medieval crossbows, gaffe levers were wholly or mostly manufactured from wood and tended to be used in a pushing spanning motion, rather than a pulling spanning motion (the latter typical of the earlier "goat's foot" levers). The one metal part that was present in all gaffe levers was a metal hook at one end of the device, used for anchoring the lever to a smaller metal stirrup at the front of the crossbow (most of these early modern hunting crossbows lacked the larger stirrups used for foot-assisted spanning).

Gaffe levers are typical of early modern crossbows, mainly hunting crossbows for civilian use, that were used for recreational hunting in the 16th and 17th century, and in some cases, as late as the 18th and 19th century. Some modern variations on traditional gaffe levers are also used for spanning certain types of modern target crossbows.

Detailed video demonstration of an early modern, all-wooden 'Skåne lockbow' with gaffe lever spanning

Detailed video demonstration of an early modern 'Schnepper' hunting crossbow with gaffe lever spanning