If I wanted to forge a broadhead for an arrow??: Could I forge a simple four-sided tapered Bodkin and flatten it? Has anyone done this before? I guess I could just try it and get back to you, but I'm just trying to save some coal.

I've hammered out arrow heads and then soldered them onto hollow shanks. For a broad head you could make a tapered shank ( for the wood to go into) cut a notch in the skinny end and just solder or braze the broad head into it.

It's funny, but I always made bodkins.

Broad heads can be made easily enough out of tempered sheet metal. I like shim stock personally, but I've taken to just buying the points. As I became a better archer the weight and balance became much more crucial, and it's just easier to buy the points than make an accurate one.

Fix

the starting point for a small broadhead is a bodkin so, yes, you can forge a square tapered point and flatten it

Use a cross peen to draw out the blades and start the flattening on the corners (ie have the 'bodkin' balanced on its corners not it's flats) that way it produces the blades more easily. This will give you a diamond/leaf shaped head, for barbs you can cut them in after on a sort barbed one, but once you start making long barbs (or even a swallowtail!!!) then you won't have enough metal in the right place most of the time from a bodkin.

Yep, that is the way I do it. I recommend trying things out with play dough first.

Thanks for the information. I'll give it a go this weekend. Maybe post some pictures when I'm done.

Leo33-

just need to make sure your bevels are very steep, other wise they will bend when they hit the target.

There is a much easier way of making a broadhead and that is to start with a triangular piece of metal about 3 mm thick (long triangle about 2 cm at the base and 5 cm high). Thin the metal at the base of the triangle to about 1.5 mm using first a peen and last the flat of the hammer to work out the bumps, expanding the base to about 4 cm. This creates a flange, with 3/5 of the triangle untouched and the lower part expanded. Then, roll the flattened flange into a socket by crimping the head of the socket at yellow heat (about 2 cm up from the base of the triangle) and tapping the sides of the flange inward to form the socket. Roll on the anvil, closing and overlapping and the finish the shaping on a spike. Then all you need to do is thin both sides of the triangle above the socket to form the cutting edges. Forming a socket this way takes a bit of practice, but once you get the hang of it, you can move on to spearheads, javelins, socketed pila, ballista bolts and what have you. For a more peacefull use, make a shovel, same way of shaping the socket!

I have made some arrow heads before try first making trade points. Trade point are easy to make.Google search for trade points some of them are helpful.

how do you make swallowtail arrowheads?