Banding Steel Trade Points

[jonathan creason]

For those of you making trade points from banding steel, what style are you making and how big are you making them?  I ask because I cut one out this morning, a little over 2.5" long and 1" wide at its widest point, and it only came in at 98 grns.  I'm afraid to go too long since it's not very thick steel, and I'm afraid it would bend.  I've got a gob of the stuff, though, so if I can get a design that'll work I'll have points galore.

[JustinNC]

I may can dig you up and extra circular saw blade........I will say though, they love those heavy duty reinforced cutoff wheels for a dremel. I think they may come in a touch heavy for what you want. I need to finish one this weekend and let you weigh it for me if you don't mind.

Also, what did you sharpen that one you showed me with? That Lansky I have with the course then the medium, then fine stone put an awesome edge on that first one I made. I have extra course and extra fine, but neither are really needed.

[jonathan creason]

I'll give a circular saw blade a shot.  If nothing else it'll pack a punch.  Bring one over and we'll weight it out.

As for sharpening, I just did that one on my disk sander by hand.  I need to make me up a jig to get the angles correct, then touch them up with the Lansky.  I think mine has course, med., fine, and then 2 grades of extra fine.

[JustinNC]

I just wish I could get that back edge straight. No doubt that point you had will kill.


That course stone on the Lansky with straighten those edges up really nice.

[JW_Halverson]

Use the grinding stones to shape the cutting edges, dipping the point in water really often to keep it from loosing it's temper.  Then use your Lansky (or Gatco in my case) to put the scary sharp edge on it. 

At 98 grains, you could use some wire wraps around the tang/shaft to bump the weight.

[jonathan creason]

Thanks for the pointers, JW.  I need to go get my grandpa's old bench grinder, I know my brother's not using it.  Wire is a great idea, too.

I cut one this afternoon that was a straight 3:1 acute triangle, with notches cut in the side for hafting.  Before cleaning up the edges and sharpening it weighed in at 124 grns, so that model might be usable for some of my lighter spined arrows.  I've got a fair bit of this material, and I know where I can get gobs more if anybody would like to try some.

[JustinNC]

How wide is it originally? Will trade ya a circular saw blade for some!.....if not, you can still have the circular saw blade.

[jonathan creason]

It's a fuzz over an inch wide.  We'll make that swap, just bring one over the next time you come.  You can cut off as much as you want to tinker with.

[4est Trekker]

Here's a point I made for small game.  I used a Sawzall blade, which wasn't overly thick or heavy.  However, the steel was good.  To add weight, I added a brass sleeve about 1 inch long.  It weighs about 80-90 grains.  I simply cut the slot for the broadhead's tang, slid the brass sleeve down the shaft, inserted the tang, slid the sleeve up over it, and pinned it in place.  I used some epoxy as well.  Maybe this will work for you.

[Marc St Louis]

Circular saw blades make good arrow heads and I used to make a lot of them.  This is the design I settled, overall length of 2", width just under 1" with a finished point weight of about 100 grains, they worked quite well.  I filed the edge in the raw blank but found it to be a pain to do because they got too hot to hold onto.  I solved that problem by drilling a hole in them and just screwing them down on the edge of my workbench.  The steel can't be too hard as the head gets brittle and won't hold an edge.

[bow-toxo]

For those of you making trade points from banding steel, what style are you making and how big are you making them?  I ask because I cut one out this morning, a little over 2.5" long and 1" wide at its widest point, and it only came in at 98 grns.  I'm afraid to go too long since it's not very thick steel, and I'm afraid it would bend.  I've got a gob of the stuff, though, so if I can get a design that'll work I'll have points galore.

 I also went through the frustration of trying to get steel. The solution for me was a Japanese trowel.; properly temperd steel in the right thickness and dirt cheap.

                                                                                    Erik

[aznboi3644]

The bandsaw blade points I make are a hair under 1" wide...length depends on what kind of game point I want...I've made a few 2.5 - 3" long for larger game...1.5" or less for small game.

Nothing fancy just single bevel edges and tear drop shaped

[jonathan creason]

Thanks for the info, everybody.  I shot the 3:1, 124 grn head into a piece of 1/2" osb the other day.  It went clear through the board, all the way up to the shaft, but the tip did curl just a bit.  It wasn't too bad, though and could easily be cleaned up with a stone.

Nugget hooked me up with a chunk of steel this weekend to try out, so I'll see what I can come up with from it.

[Stingray45]

I'm just about to try making some points out of an edger blade. Seen a few build alongs for edger blade knives which I'm working on finishing up my first knife out of this stuff. I drew out some lines on a 2" x 7"  edger blade and I can get about 12 2" long by 7/8" blades (which is the minimum in the two states I hunt) so I'm gonna see how that goes tonight. Thinking of going with the single bevel blades. Let everyone know how it goes.

[Pat B]

Stingray, cut them out bigger than you want your finished points to be. grinding to shape and sharpen will reduce the width and length.