This sounds like a very worthy project - I live in the UK so if anything post apocalyptic occurred I would be much more likely to see such low tech weapons around, rather than boatloads of firearms.
Please post up more pics of your figures, that first one looks very good! There are a few Pig Iron sets that you might be able to use for this work too - feral and rebel command packs have figs with removable hands and ragged clothing. If you sourced some close combat weapons and bow arms they could be easily converted. Hmmm that's quite a fun idea actually.... ;P