Trilobate arrowheads at last!

[Robert]

Salve Omnes!

Well, the trilobate arrowheads are ready for public display. They are based on the arrowhead of Nijmegen and the many finds of this type in Xanten. Length is 7 cm or 2.5" , weight is around 9 grams max. They are hand forged, so there is a slight variation in weight. This is a bit heavier then the originals, but will go down by sharpening the cutting edges, if so desired. The oil blackening is not standard, the next bunch will be shiny!

I am very pleased with them, now on to a good socketed bodkin and some more types.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Nice work Robert!!
They must have been difficult!

[Medicus matt]

Oh, now they're lovely!

Will you or Suhel be selling these at all?

[Robert]

Hi Matt, I do not need 200 for myself, more like 12, so yes, I will be selling most of them. I will not be branching out, though, sticking to the commission work on spearheads and knives. Well, and forged arrowheads. I usualy research and often as not forge the first ones. Never get rich on that, but the money comes in handy for buying books and visiting musea to document finds.
Sales in the US will be handled by Matt, as he is also a weaponsmith.

Here's a preview of a new type, these are a bit later and from the Eastern theater.

[Cheyenne]

Hi Robert,

I would be interested in purchasing a few - but sharp ones rather than re-enactment ones. We don't loose arrows at each other in the Comitatus, but we do have a good display against a set of wooden targets - so I'd like the heads to be sharp enough.. also - I could do with making some more display arrows, so these would need to be sharp - preferably not oil blackened either...

Can this be done? I would like a dozen if the price is right

Cheers

Claire

[Robert]

Hi Claire,

The points are sharp enough, as are the bards. It's just the cutting edges which are dull. But these can be sharpened! I sent you a PM.

[Robert]

Salvete Omnes!

Well, here is what the heads look like mounted on arrows. I used the Duro type op fletching on these, did a wrapping on the upper and lower part of the fletch to account for damp Northern theater condictions, gave the arrowheads a sharpening and a wipe down with sandpaper to remove the non period blackening(oiled leather coated with fine sand does the job if you want to stick to fully period material), predrilled the hole with a thin borer and slipped in the heads. I did not wrap the pointy end of the arrows, as the surviving specimens from Duro did not have wrapping but did have a taper to allow the arrowshaft a passage into the resulting wound. I know it sounds gruesome, but just slotting the arrowheads into the bored holes with no glue or wrapping to bind them in tight causes this type to snag into the wound when trying to pull them out, leaving the arrowheads firmly lodged.

[jvrjenivs]

wow, these look very good Robert. Another nice job. Have you already tested them, or are they just for show? They look pretty scary.

[Robert]

These are just for show. I did not use correctly spined shafts for the arrows, just the correct thickness of DYS store dowel wood, I suppose I could shoot these, points are only about 7 grams, but then again, they could explode in a 50# plus bow. I therefore left the nocks too narrow to prevent me from making a mistake (I carry some fieldpointed and properly spined arrows for demonstration shooting in the same quiver).
Furthermore, with this kind of mounting of the heads, the chances of splitting the shaft on impact into anything more solid then flesh are about 100 %, so I would destroy an arrow every shot. If one looks at the surviving Duro trilobate point, it is rammed back into the shaft and bent. These will not bend readily, they are very sturdy points, but they will spit the shaft.

[richsc]

I'd be interested in some of the arrowheads, when you're ready to sell some off.

[M. Demetrius]

I'm no medical authority, but I think one of those in the gizzard would spoil your appetite.

I have a bronze one like the trilobate ones shown way below, but I think it was cast. I can't see an easy way to forge those deep curves on the three sides. I can envision how to make them just triangular, but I'm not sure what kind of strange swage would be needed to beat the heads out of iron rod.

[Johnny Shumate]

Nice looking arrows...
I thought river cane would be used instead of a solid shaft...
Great Job!

[Robert]

There are a couple of steps, but the part where you forge the flanged head is indeed the tricky one. You want a block of iron with a narrow V shaped groove cut into one side and then on the surface a triangular depression with the deep groove running down the middle of that. This gives you the needed cross section. Looking at is side on the three planes of the future flanges are evident.
You start by putting a triangular taper to the rod. Also thin the end where you will make the tang, leaving more metal up front then towards the back. You can use another side of the block to cut in a shallower V groove wider then the one to make the heads to do the triangular taper. You just need to get the metal nice and hot (well into yellow) and tapping the round taper into the V groove, as a onesided swage block. Use a hammer with a nice big head and keep it flat to the block. Rotate the rod to bang it into the groove and get a good triangular shape.
Then, move to the deep V groove and using the sharp peen of a hammer, tap the side of the triangular taper into the first V groove, the deep one in the triangular. Use the sides of the depression to spread the metal, rotate and repeat. You are not going to be able to force much metal down the V, so do the thinning on the face and use the V to allow the flanges that are being formed to be shielded when working on one or two of the other flanges. Rotate, and repeat, keep the metal well heated, you want it nice and soft. This is not a proces that requires much force, firm taps do the job. If one tries to hurry it, you get a lopsided arrowhead, with one flange shorter then the other two. Hope the above makes sense. I did the first ones, it's a lot of work, which is why I contracted them out. Still, given practice, I am sure production will spead up greatly and a head can be made in ten minutes. Then there is the filing of the edges and the cutting of the bards, also using a file.
I am still looking for archeological evidence for above way of making trilobate arrowheads, but this seems to be the easiest way of making them so far.

I hope the above gives you an idea, good luck and have fun!

Johnny, we don't have river cane of sufficent strength to make an arrow with in the Northern delta. So hazzel, willow, almost anything that produces nice straight shoots or woods with long straight grain like ash are used for local production of arrows here. Although I cheat for safety reasons and use spined Port Oxford ceddar for the replica arrows I shoot