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I Forge Iron

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hi,
sorry if this is in the wrong place, i couldnt find a better place for it. i was wondering how to make arrow heads like a barbed broadhead, a crecent shaped one a forked one etc and others pictured in the attachment.
thanks all help welcome
monty

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First you learn to forge; then they are all pretty easy as it looks like those have lapped sockets and not forge welded ones.

May I commend to your attention "The Complete Modern Blacksmith" by Weygers and the British Artist Blacksmith Association AKA BABA http://www.baba.org.uk/

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Very cool,Monty,i really like all those.Especially together,they really give an indication of your correct,comfortable vision of the plasticity of iron(i don't know much about the technical ins and outs of arrowheads specifically,but am in a habit of perusing archeological information/examples,just to see the old ironwork.Yours create an identical impression of someone competently and plastically achieving the given goal in iron/steel).
Very pleasing to see something like that,good for you,and thanks for this photo.

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Monty,

I visited Elmer Roush's shop in Brasstown in the spring when I took a class from Dan Miller at Campbell Folkschool. Elmer demo'd doing a socketed arrowhead. About a dozen pictures are posted in my Flickr set for that class. I have included a link to a picture of his final arrowhead but you can see the full series if you follow the link. This was a viking style arrowhead forged in mild steel using charcoal.

https://secure.flick...157626535597712

Arrowheads are small and the socket is challenging. You'll know you have great hammer control when you can do these.

Good luck,
Doug

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  • 1 year later...

I liked the picture of all the different types as it reminded me a Japanese calender picture I saved from many, many years ago that showed some of the very fine arrow heads made for Samurai archers. If I disremember correctly it seems that all of them were tanged not socketed, really long tangs. I wonder why the difference in methods of attachment to the shaft?

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I liked the picture of all the different types as it reminded me a Japanese calender picture I saved from many, many years ago that showed some of the very fine arrow heads made for Samurai archers. If I disremember correctly it seems that all of them were tanged not socketed, really long tangs. I wonder why the difference in methods of attachment to the shaft?


For starters, Chris is right. Samurai used bamboo not only because it was cheaply available but also because the tang would split the shaft on impact. This would either cause serious trouble for a target because you couldn't pull the arrow out or push it through, but if you missed, your enemy couldn't shoot your arrow back at you!
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Sorry Thomas and Samcro, i was not sure what to start after the socket was formed, i got some answers, i make a bodkin and hammer with the head on the tips and draw out the blades and if i wanted a mid rib to hammer off to one side then do the same on the opposite side, correct me if im wrong P

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  • 1 month later...

I made this one.  Elsewhere in this section are two good videos on technique.  I used a scrap piece of small (3/8" 10mm) angle and flattened it out.  Then I necked it down about 2 cm from one end to about 1 cm width and peened the 2cm part out into a triangle.  After that I rolled that into a cone on a pointed 10mm dia mandrel.  After that I just cut it off about 2-3 cm from the necked down part and forged it out into a leaf.  A bit of filing and grinding and, as the French say, VAYOLA!  :rolleyes:

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I got a rare case of ambition this morning and forged a pair of tongs for handling socketed tanged tools. They should work for arrowheads as well.  I know it's wrong but I used 3/8" (10mm) construction re-bar.  I cut the pieces about 12" long (30 cm) and then drew the handles out on the anvil horn. (Hey, I said I felt ambitious!)  I hope the pics tell the rest of the story

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Here awhile back I was looking at an online auction of Roman artifacts from Bulgaria, iron spear and arrow heads, most all of them were tanged also. They were not the wonderful shapes we now associate with arrow heads but more angular diamonds, like they were all made in big hurry. They could have been fake but were supposedly found by "metal detectorist". Seems to be a popular hobby in Europe these days.

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