Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Arrows => Topic started by: Prarie Bowyer on December 04, 2012, 01:44:34 am
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I'm looking to score some clean bone for making arrow heads.
Local place has cow bones but it's stuffed witih dog snack treats.
There is a game butcher. If I boil and bleach (peroxide) the bones will it hurt the durability of the bone?
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Petsmart has bleached white cow bone. You can order online. That's what I do. ;D
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Check out Moscow Fur and Hide.
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I built a bow for a guy last year and made him a 1/2 dozzen heads also. Cut (carved)out of moose antler with a drimel. Moose antlers not properous like deer antler. Meaning it's solid all the way through. Sharpen and tempered them with fire. They came out really well. Give moose antler a go it's the cleanest bone I know of.
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Most fo teh bone I boil gets boiled for about ten minutes. Scrape it and let it air out some and the i simmer it in the peroxide (half a cup with enough water to cover the bone) for about ten minutes. Usually it does not take that long for teh bone to bleach out. I have not noticed any adverse effects from the boiling. Its just as strong as raw bone.
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Most of the pet stores have bleached bones, without the stuffing. You can get some pretty good sized ones too. I used to do a lot of bone carving, and used to go out in the dairy pastures, and get the bones of the cows that died. I would boil them, and then bleach them for a day, and and saw them in half, and then carve them. The will polish up really nice, almost look like ivory, or plastic. I have not noticed any difference from the raw bone, or dried bone, or boiled bone. Once it dried, it was the same as the others, as far as I could tell, from a carving point. I used to buy leg shanks till they got as expensive as the pricier cuts of meats. I would cut the meat off for stew, and use the bone for the marrow, in the stew, and then clean off the bone, and carve it. I would select the thickest shank bone for that. Also those big raw hide chew bones, when soaked, will untie, and make good practice pieces for brain tanning. ;) Usually there are a couple of pieces in there, of various sizes.
If you use a grinder of any sort, wear glasses, and a dust mask. ;) Good luck.
Wayne
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I second what stickbender said about wearing proper protection when working with bone. I always wear a dustmask and eye protection when cutting and/or sanding bone.
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I recently made arrows out of the thigh bones from last years doe. I left the bones under the leaf litter all year with a pallet on top of them to keep the coons from dragging them off. I was able to get about 6 or 8 arrowheads from perhaps 4 bones, can't really remember for sure how many. They seem stiff enough, most of them are about 7/8" wide at widest point. I believe GA law says broadheads need to be 3/4" wide but I have to double check that.
FWIW, paul