Every once in a while, you'll come across a method of doing something that shows a truly beautiful amount of craftmanship and care.
This is not one of those times.
I've been trying for a while to figure out how to make my own arrow heads for target shooting.
I've looked at some of the posts on making trade points, and that's awesome, but with the skills I have, and my puny angle grinder, it takes too long.
Some of the stuff I've seen posted on using duplex nails as field points has been excellent, and when I switch to bamboo shafts, or get a drill press, that's the method I'm probably going to use.
But for me, now, here's what I've come up with.
I take my arrow shaft, and stick the tip in a pencil sharpener, and sharpen it until there's about 1/8 " left flat at the tip.
Then I whip out the angle grinder. (this is my new fave tool.) I've got a cutting disk on it that's 1/8 " thick. I use it to cut a groove about 1/16" deep and 1/8 " wide running along both sides of the shaft for about 5 ", and gently over the tip as well.
Then I cut a 10 " length of coat hanger wire. I believe the hangers I have are 14 gauge heat treated steel, which I'm pretty sure is normal coat hanger wire.
Using a nail pounded into a 2 x 4, and some pliers, I bend each piece of wire so that it comes to a point in the center, in a V shape, with the ends running parallel about 3/8" apart..
I snug this into the slot, and wrap duct tape over the ends of the wire. I put on enough so that there's a smooth transition from the end of the wire to the shaft; this way it doesn't mess things up when I draw.
I wrap another band of duct tape 2" back from the point.
Then, I put a grinding disk on my angle grinder. (all the experts at all the hardware stores I've gone to have said an angle grinder is exactly wrong for working with wood, but so far, it's awesome!)
I hold the shaft at an angle to the grinder, and take off just a wee bit of wood around the last 1" of the top, so that the metal wire is just barely sticking out over the surface of the wood.
The process of using a metal grinding wheel on a high speed tool, rather than an abrasive sand wheel on a slower speed tool that you'd normally use for wood, means that the wood gets hot and burns just a wee bit.
This ends up giving the wood part of the tip a nice, smooth, dark, hard surface. It seems like this is just the right temp to harden the wood.
I then use the grinding wheel to put a slight edge on the point of the metal, and the first inch or so of the head.
Like I said, it's not pretty, but of all the experiments I've done so far with making my own arrows, this has worked out the best.
For my shafts, this puts the balance point about 3" FOC, (if I'm using that right; 3 inches closer to the front for the center of the arrow), which made them a LOT more stable in flight then what I was shooting before.
I've taken this set of 12 arrows to the range 3 days in a row now, and for the first time, I haven't broken a single shaft, or lost a single head.
The arrows plunge into the hay bales to about 4 or 5 inches, and the wire protects the shaft.
Now, I did try stumping with the first 6 arrows I made like this; big mistake. The arrows penetrated a good way into the tree, and taking the shaft out destroyed the whole thing; also, the impact usually broke the tip. So, not good for stumping, but if you're shooting at a soft target, seems ideal.
As far as refinements, for the next batch, I"m going to try flattening the 2 ends of the wire where it meets the shaft, and putting a subtle indentation in the shaft at that point; I'd like to be able to bind this with thread or artificial sinew and have it recessed enough that the threading doesn't get messed up on impact.
One last thing, I haven't put these on a scale yet, but they feel heavier than any arrow I've made so far. You might want different amounts of wire; I'm shooting a bow that's 70 - 75 pounds, so these work right for me.
Wow, this turned into a novel; I'll update with pics if I find my camera. Any questions, suggestions, or ideas, let me know.
