Slate heads

[Harrifer]

Has anyone tried this before?

They won't hold up to much but they are easy to make and can be very sharp. Watch for the dust when shaping them.

My first set of arrows had slate heads, I used slate shingles, since many of them were shaped the right way anyway. I finished them off with a file and sandpaper. I looked at a few slate tiles, but they all seemed too rotten to hold up.

None of them hit anything more solid than a bale of straw or the earth, so I don't know how they would hold up against a tree stump. Not very well, I wouldnt think, but they ought to get through flesh if they can go through earth and straw.

They seemed to be about the easiest primitive-esque heads to make, but I've never heard anyone mention them, has anyone experimented?

[Kegan]

There's an old PA article on slate heads. I would make some (alot actually) if we had alot of slate, but most is a ways away, or in someone's front yard.

[DBernier]

Harrifer, many of the heads I have found in Connecticut years ago appear to be and some are slate. The state is over run with it. I tried years ago to make some heads but had no skills then. I was only 9 or 10 years old in the late 40's.

Dick

[cowboy]

Never tried slate - I believe some of the old celts were ground out of slate. Show us some pic's .

[Harrifer]

Well my slate came out of a sort of garden bit on a large pedestrian crossing in Croydon(greater south london). I experimented successfully with slate when I was about 11. Made a short spear, but I didn't tie it very well. I've still got my slate heads, I'd post a picture but I don't have my camera t the moment.

[mullet]

  I have half of a pool table and have made lots of slate points.It is real easy with a water hose and rubbing it on a concrete block.I have made a couple of Ulus also and they were sharp.I wouldn't hesitate to hunt with the points I made.