my bronze tipped points and a question about pitch

[richardzane]

have a friend who does bronze casting and so I made these points for general hay bale target practice with option to hunt (points weigh about 12 grams )
they are sinew wrapped with hide glue and coated with hot pine pitch. they shoot great, and even split apples nicely on occasion when their mood is right.
problem, the pine pitch heats up on impact? and flakes of hay stick to it.
question:
is there a coating to put over the pitch? or is the pitch just too soft...need extra sap added?  wrong kind of target?

I know these aren't the most decorative arrows , just wildrose shoots  but they are the ones i use when i use a 48# hackberry bow with a powerful dogbane string.
man am i a believer in twisted dogbane! 
(hope these pics make it)

[Josh Wilson]

Good looking arrows! I like the points

[Dictionary]

Can't answer your question as i have never been good at getting the right mixture to make pine pitch but these are some nice arrows and points.

Can you share some info on your dogbane strings too? 

[richardzane]

I'd be glad to share about dogbane bowstrings , but should i talk STRING in the arrow section?  don't wanna break any rules!

[Scowler]

Those are some seriously cool looking points.

[richardzane]

drilled two holes on each side of the bronze point ,sinew passes through. so this is before I pitch cover the sinew.

the arrow is resting on my dogbane bowstring    and a pile of dogbane stalks.... so i'm sneakin the bowstring in here.

bragging in front of friends, my string broke as i was showing them how tough it was (the bow nocks had sharp edges)
but i was able to get some more dogbane fiber twist it in and repair the string to do some shooting in an hour.
I've shot it hundreds of times and its been months..(its finally getting a little thin at the arrow nock location.)

[Josh Wilson]

Did you base your arrowheads off of an original?

[richardzane]

these bronze tips are my own design. I looked at a lot of ancient bronze points (online),and this is just what i came up with. these are easy to set in a shaft slit.
Our Ohio ancestors used a copper triangular point (made from old kettles) with a single central hole and it gave me the idea. I also wanted a point that would be easy to withdraw from a haybale, so just went with the leaf shape. I'm also curious  as practice points how long they will last without a lot of excess rounding or dulling.
i weighed this latest point and it was actually closer to 10 grams.

[Dictionary]

How about making a thread in the bow section on the strings someday? I guarentee you someone else wants to know about them other than just me 


Excellent work

[JW_Halverson]

At 15.41 grains per gram your broadheads are coming in at 154 grains.  If the material is fairly hard, they could be sharpened up for hunting. 

I really like the way they look, mighty cool!  Got any extras you want to trade off?

[richardzane]

hmmm,
We'd somehow have to make it worthwhile for my bud. He's been hurting $-wise but has all the casting material and skills.
now that a mold is made of the original he COULD sprew up a bunch of waxes and cast quite a few at a time. I'll talk to him.

sure.. I could do a thread on bowstrings from twisted dogbane cord. nice knowing an extra bowstring is just out there waiting in the brush.
and winter is the time to harvest stalks!...cut the reddest waxiest looking ones fairly close to the ground. the greyer ones are already too old.
after thanksgiving! and by the way, happy thanksgiving to all of you.

[Pat B]

All of the turps haven't "cooked" off the pitch so it remains sticky.

[richardzane]

Pat,
Actually the pitch doesn't dry sticky. it dries pretty hard . the ones in the picture , i did use a torch and burned off the straw residue
and used my fingers to mold it all back into shape . but i guess the middle one does LOOK sticky.

[Pat B]

My point is that the pitch glue I use does not heat up and attrack debris when it hits the target. I use pitch glue on trade points and stone points alike to hold the point while I sinew wrap it. I then use pitch varnish to seal the whole union. Even with all this pitch being used it still doesn't hold debris after a shot. 
  If the pitch that is used for pitch glue is hard, brittle pitch(will crumble into a fine powder if crushed) it will not be sticky to the touch or with a little friction heat. I add bees wax to hard pitch to make it less brittle but this still doesn't make it sticky except when it is heated to the melting point. Just the friction heat of the arrow going into the target won't cause it to become sticky.
 

[markinengland]

What recipe/mix did you use for your Pitch?