so recently ive been making some basic bodkin points but im not entirely sure if the edges of the socket should overlap or not...any ideas? and for making swallowtail broadheads i have several ideas about how to make them but do you guys know the historically accurate way of making them?

I think, being a disposable item, the edges may have just been butted, and not overlapped.

But I am no expert.

When they are overlapped they were welded---I have an original renaissance quarrel point with a welded socket along the edges. The corrosion shows it very well.

or to put it differently: pretty much any way you can think of was used sometime somewhere.

i wouldnt worry too much
if they overlap just thin them out to be even with the rest, i dont think that it is necessary to weld.

Google "Hector Cole Arrowsmith". I think that he does the best work that I've seen with arrowheads. I'm sure his reproductions are historically accurate too. He is a true master. There is some stuff on youtube, but most of it is not good quality work.

This link might work as well.

http://www.evado.co.uk/Hector%20Cole/index.html

Leo33-

Visited the site that Leo33 linked to.
I was more facinated with the arrow head extractor than the arrow heads.

Visited the site that Leo33 linked to.
I was more facinated with the arrow head extractor than the arrow heads.

I read the article about the extractor... was there a photo? I couldn't seem to find it

Yeah, here is the image for the "Arrowhead extractor" from Hector Cole's site.

I have been doing some looking around on the web (not that it's the most reliable source ever) and on this forum, and I can't seem to find how medieval arrowheads were attached to the shafts. There are plenty of resources on forging the heads, but not much on attaching them. Could I pin them like a hilt for a knife?

ive read that pitch was used to secure the heads, but also that wax would sometimes be used so that the arrowheads would release from the shaft when the enemy tried to pull it out. i would think resin or pitch was used. although if you want to use them nowadays, i'd use epoxy, super glue, or even gorilla glue.
the place i would look is primitivearcher.com
i would think it would be something easy to make and use, since arrows needed to be made in volumes and fairly cheaply.

Ed Steinkirchner

I wrote to Hector and asked about the socket. He says they were overlapped but not welded. Just said it was too thin, and I would guess too time consuming for mass production.

Still haven't heard a good answer about how the broadpoints were constructed. All that Hector said is that they were 2 parts and forge welded, but no description of how they went together. Just welded from one side? Split and the broadhead slid in and welded? Any knowledge about this?

I have a Kekoman calender form the 70's and it has some very fine photographs of Japanese armour and one of the months has arrrowheads and it seems the Japanese smiths used mostly tanged arrowheads. I also have a book that has a couple of pages of Roman era arrowheads and it seems that a good many of them were also tanged except those from the Greeks. It seems that the one or two that were from the north of France or the south of Germany were socketed.