Arrowhead: The armor-piercing bodkin point

This is the style of arrowhead that helped bring victory to the English at battles like Poitiers, Crecy, and Agincourt. A good solid hit with a head of this style will pierce plate armor.

One of the shoots often done in the SCA is the "Advancing Man Shoot". In it there are a number of man-sized targets depicting armored warriors running at you. At one point I looked at the drawings on the targets and I looked at the modern target points I was shooting and thought, "These things would just annoy that guy. I don't want him annoyed, I want him lying down. Out there." So I started trying to make arrows that would do just that: make a man in plate armor lie down. It took me many tries over about two years to get the process and techniques down. This is a design that works both for piercing plate and for target archery.

We will make a classic medieval bodkin point or two, maybe three.
The techniques are flattening, curling, cutting on the hardy, and drawing out.  There will be a strong focus on hammer control, symmetry in the work, and working in  very thin sections.

There will be a discussion and demo of techniques for weighting and mounting the heads for target archery use.

"A Taste of Blacksmithing" or equivalent hammerskill expected. 

Instructor: Carl West

 3.5 hours    one meeting    Fee: $120   4 students