Mild steel trade points?

[WhistlingBadger]

Morning!  I've been looking at using trade points on a new set of hunting arrows.  Most of the ones I can find are "mild steel," which I understand is low-carbon, easy to work but not very durable.  Are these sufficient for hunting?  Is there a realistic way to harden them?  I keep reading about putting them in a container with some charcoal and throwing them in the campfire coals for several hours...

[mmattockx]

If it's mild steel there simply isn't enough carbon to be able to significantly harden them. Putting them in a container with charcoal at temperature may carburize them a bit, but I wouldn't count on it. More than how durable they will be I would be concerned with putting a decent edge on them. I've never been able to get any non-hardened steel up to something I would call truly sharp.

Maybe others have had better experiences with them?


Mark

[Pat B]

I had a blacksmith friend try to add carbon to a piece of mild steel I was going to make a knife with. He even use carbon that is used fir it but it wasn't successful. If there are shipping or freight companies near you banding steel they use will work good and you can cut it with shears or a cold chisel then hammer it flat and sharpen it. It will hold an edge.

[WhistlingBadger]

Interesting!  Thanks for the insights.

[KHalverson]

7-1/4 inch circular saw blades without carbide tips are a great source of steel to make trade points..
most ive delt with will sharpen nicely.

[archeryrob]

I've used circular saw blades also and used this template in CAD to get 125 grain points. The hole is for wrapping sinew threw the and around the tang. Holds them in place with minimal glue.

That said, Indians used to make a lot of arrowheads out of wagon wheel steel and that was just mild. They killed a lot of settlers and soldiers with them. Mild steel wouldn't make a knife, but should hold an edge long enough to zip through a deer's rib cage.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lW1vidYJhc9aY7PIaHSMd_wDM2eQyEOz/view?usp=drive_link