If bad luck strikes and you get trapped in the middle of a jungle, having no clue where to head. You will need some survival skills to stay alive.
In this guide, we’ll discuss the making of arrowheads which is an essential skill to master.
If you know the use of bushes, you have an advantage over those survivors who don’t. Nothing is intriguing about making an arrowhead. You have to follow some steps to make an arrowhead and implement these steps carefully. This art needs to be learned in today’s world, too, because this art is not outdated or useless. Rather, these skills prove immensely helpful in situations where usually you fall short of advanced equipment and facilities.
Table of Contents
Prerequisites
Generally, the equipment which is a prerequisite for making arrowheads are:
- Survival Hammer
- Safety glasses
- Sandpaper
- Metal Spike
- Small Screw
Similarly, there are a lot of precautions that need to be taken into consideration while implementing this knowledge. For instance, making an arrowhead may involve breaking the rocks. So that sharp flakes do not fly in various directions and harm other surroundings. Moreover, the stones which are extremely suggested for making arrowheads include:
- Flint
- Chert
- Obsidian
- Jasper
- Quartzite
Besides, you can use any stone devoid of cracks and fractures while making arrowheads. The tools for cutting and shaping the stone are made of:
- Antler
- Soft metal
- Soft stone
- Bone
- Very Hardwood.
A large hammering tool can be useful for breaking and shaping the stone. This step is followed by pressure flaking, which primarily helps shape a flake into the finishing tool—the last step of making arrowheads entail notching. Notching is precisely an amalgamation of pressure flaking and abrading to carve out the gaps in arrowheads.
Here are three common household materials suitable for keeping your quiver full.
- Glass
- Spoon
- Motherboards
Glass
Another ubiquitous and sometimes overlooked material that is needed to make improvised arrowheads is Glass. The glass bottoms of wine or beer bottles or the Glass separated off an old flat-screen TV or monitor are good options, or any flat piece of glass will do.
To make arrowheads from Glass, you’ll need:
- Safety gloves
- Safety mask
- Leather pad
- Glass bottle with a flat bottom
- Pressure Flaker
- Round, smooth stone
- Large drilling bit
But in a survival situation, having prepared with all this equipment is not feasible. Glass is abundant but fragile material for creating arrowheads. Aside from tons of patience, you’re getting to need a gentle, strong hand and a fairly fine eye for detail. Making arrowheads in this manner isn’t as easy as it sounds.
So, let’s jump onto other methods of making arrowheads.
Spoons
Getting this type of staple shouldn’t be too difficult. Buy as many spoons as you want, whether they are handcrafted, store-bought souvenirs, or heirloom pieces (check, Grandma doesn’t panic, and other spoons aren’t often found).
Make sure they are made of metal strong enough and large enough to create an arrowhead. The small teaspoons may even be too small to provide enough material to calculate, so stick with regular-sized teaspoons and tablespoons.
To craft spoon arrowheads, prepare the following tools and materials:
- Spoons
- Small hammer or carpenter’s hammer
- Safety gloves
- Large hand file or steel rasp (of the type used to sharpen mower blades), either double-sided or two separate fine and coarse-grained tools
- Permanent marker
- Optional: Dremel or similar machine with grinder; plumber flashlight
Note that this method assumes that there are no power tools available or that there is no electricity to allow the use of power tools. Instead, you will need a lot of patience and energy. If there is power, the Dremel or a similar tool will speed up this project.
To make spoon arrowheads, follow these steps:
Step 1. Put on gloves.
Step 2. With the hammer, completely flatten the spoon. Perform this step preferably on an anvil or a suitable workbench, concrete floor, or pavement. Do not hit the spoon against hardwood floors, counters, or tables.
Step 3. Take the permanent marker and draw the shape of the arrowhead on the now flattened spoon.
Step 4. In addition to gloves, use the high strength steel file or rasp and file the excess material around the pattern. If you don’t have a file or rasp, you’ll reduce the arrowhead spoon by “grinding” it on rough rock, a masonry block wall, or maybe your sidewalk or sidewalk.
Step 5. Once the spoon has been ground enough into an arrowhead shape, run the file at an angle on all sides of the arrowhead to give it a sharp edge. You will also use a whetstone, fine-grit sandpaper, or an influence tool to polish the stinger.
Step 6. Stop about 3/4 of the handle of the spoon. You will need about an inch of the left handle to attach it to a tree when assembling the tree.
Motherboard
Also referred to as computer circuit boards, motherboards are the tough green fiberglass ‘sheet’ found in old computers (the tower or processor) (cell phones, digital tablets, monitors), even old phones. They will become DIY arrowheads.
Open up any unusable device and grab the flat green “sheet” that contains all the chips, plugs, and transistors. Your best bet is an old telephone or computer, and you’ll get to separate some components from possessing a “clean” flat sheet. You’ll also use the torch to get rid of stubborn weld bumps.
To make arrowheads from motherboards, you’ll need:
- “Clean” motherboard – one with connectors and cables removed, if applicable
- Hacksaw or band saw
- Safety gloves
- Electric grinder or fine-grit sandpaper
If you cannot find any metal but you’ve got some unusable electronics, this is often an honest thanks to making arrowheads. to form them from motherboards, follow these steps:
Step 1. Placed on gloves.
Step 2. Using the permanent marker, draw arrowhead patterns on the bottom plate. If you’ve got trouble deciding the size and shape of the arrowhead, put a true arrowhead on the motherboard and trace it with the marker.
Step 3. Carefully cut the outline of the arrowhead from the bottom plate with a band saw or hacksaw.
Step 4. If you’ve got an electrical grinder, carefully grind all sides of the arrowhead at a small angle to offer it a pointy edge. you’ll also use fine-grit sandpaper or, if nothing else is out there, scrape all sides of the arrowhead on coarse rock or rough pavement.