Thickness of Bone Points

[Andrea S]

I'm looking at making some cow bone arrowheads, and the bone I have is pretty much 1/4" thick. How much should I thin it down to be able to haft it? Should I flute it to retain some strength? I won't be using these points for hunting, just target practice, and the shafts I'm using are cane.

Thanks,
Andrea

[Andrea S]

Okay, if no one knows...for you knappers out there, how thick do you usually make your points?

[david w.]

i would make it a little thinner than 1/4"  it doesnt have to be much but i would thin it some

[recurve shooter]

id love to help but im still learning on that subject my self. sorry. and how old is ur bone? if its to old it will break easly.

[Pat B]

Andrew, I would guess to make it a bit thicker than a steel point. I haven't made any but on ones I have seen were thicker than a steel point.  I think that after I got the outline, I would work the bone down until it feels right, if you know what I mean. Where the thickness wasn't out of proportion with the width and length with a slightly arched sides.     Pat

[Andrea S]

Recurve,

I don't know how old it is, I got the bone from the pet store! Had to scrape some gristle off it.

Pat,

I figured it would probably come down to intuition and what "feels right" . By the way, it's Andrea, not Andrew...I'm one of the spare few gals who frequents these boards. 

[Dustybaer]

haven't done any myself (the designated cow bone is still waiting in the freezer ;o)  but i was planning to make mine between 1/8  and 1/4 (so about 3/16 ;o) or just go with half the shaft diameter.

[Hillbilly]

Just make them as thick as you can (for strength and weight-bone is light) and still have them easily mountable on the arrow shaft. I haven't tried cow bone, I've made a few from deer leg bones. They make tough, durable points. Not always fun to get pulled out of targets, though-if you're using them for target points make the shoulders rounded instead of square or barbed.

[Dustybaer]

hillbilly, you don't happen to have pictures of your bone points?

[Auggie]

Hi,Andrea I dont remember the thread,but PK has some nice bone points hes done. Send him a pm,Im sure he will give you lots of details. Auggie.

[Hillbilly]

Marius, I don't have any at the moment, I don't think. I've made several in the past, but they have all been sacrificed to the gods of rocks, treetop squirrels, dense briar patches, and foam 3D targets. 

[Pat B]

Sorry Andrea. I'm so used to all these guys I wasn't thinking about a woman. Welcome! Its nice to know there are a few women out there with the same passion as us guys.      Pat

[kayakfisher]

Welcome fellow bow Person,I would feel the thickness would depend on the diameter of the shafting material used,or better off make the size of the head according to the shafting material for example a 5/16 shaft and a 1/4 head would be kinda tuff
                                                                 Dennis

[cowboy]

Andrea: I've been making these stone points and a few arrows. I've discovered (at least with the bows I'm shooting) that I need to make the points a little bit thicker and heavier for the arras to fly truer. Don't know a thing about bone points, but being lighter than stone I would think leaving them a quarter inch thick and grinding a flute for hafting would be a good bet. I may be totally off, but that's the way I'd try it for starters.
  Ya know, I remember DBernier mentioning that he inserts different lengths of soldier (spelliing? that stuff used to sweat copper pipe together) into the ends of his cain arrows to get the same grain weight on all of them, hmm .

[kayakfisher]

Andrea S you going to post some pictures of them when you get them done
                                                                           Dennis