Who else sells primitive arrows besides Ryan Gills. I know Ryan makes a good hunting arrow.

With stone heads.

The ones pictured are bone I think.

Those look like bone. Nicely done. >>>>------> Ken

I didn’t make those. Just stole the picture. Anybody ever use bone heads?

I see 3Rivers offers some in their new catalogue. Learning to knap (and also to nap) will have to be a retirement thing for me. But I would like to learn some primitive fletching techniques.

Boneheads? No, but I've met a few in my time. :)

I make trade points and hunt with them. Believe it or not I actually killed a deer with one using one of my selfbows. :)

Jawge

George your first line is funny . Got a good laugh out of it.Before trade points our natives used a certain part of the front leg of a Buffalo to make bone points. According to the natives it was the strongest bone point for hunting Buffalo. I have made bone point arrows, and horn point arrows. You can get them fairly sharp,and they are tougher than you might think, and so is bamboo.

Making good shooting primitive stone point arrows to a spine and weight is a considerable investment of time and knowledge.

They can make some very fine shooting arrows though. Bjrogg

I did for a few years before switching to carbon and all the fancy new traditional stuff these past 2 years. I’m going back to primitive this year but dunno about making more shoot shafts or just hand planing shafts. No river cane up here unfortunately. I need to put new practice/rabbit heads on my last half dozen shoots and get shooting. Trying for 100 grain heads which this one should be once it’s sharpened and final shaped.

Oh and I mostly only use obsidian, dacite, or Georgetown flint. Super easy working and I’ve got a bunch of it. Never tried bone or trade points.

I am with BJ on this. It takes some work to get a nice sharp stone hunting point. Not to mention the cost of the materials.

If you want one of the best hunting heads around contact Mike Cook or check out his website, Art of Ishi.

Here is some of Mike's work. Mike made the points and asked me to make the arrows because he didn't want to fool with them. None of the rock on these 3 arrows came from the U.S. the buyer picked out the feather combo. These 3 arrows sold for $225.00

I like cane for primitive shafts. It’s pretty tuff and stays straight. I’m not sure how primitive you want. I do use modern glues and sealers. They aren’t replicas but they are similar in construction.

See if I can find a picture

Bjrogg

I think mike cook may be the best knapper I’ve seen but dang, you did a great job turning those into functional art pieces! Did you stain the sinew or is that something else?

That is silk fly tying material.

I am very fortunate to have Mike as friend. He is a very patient teacher, lol. We live 60 miles apart and get together quite a bit.

I will post a point that mike knapped that will nock your socks off. He knaps Fire Opal from Africa. This rock sells by the gram. I was with him in Arizona one winter at the rock show and he was chasing down his African seller. We found him at 430 the last evening of the show. I won't tell you how much he spent,lol

photo in the next post.

Self notch and wild turkey fletch. Whitetail sinew wrap. And my Bjrogg markings.

Bjrogg

Jon makes some really fine arrows. I have one of his hanging in my man cave. Bjrogg

I think this is right picture

Nice arrow BJ. That's a great looking point. You sure like that Lace Obsidian.

Tracker: Those arrows were purchase by a women who bought them for her husband as a gift. She put them in a clear vase and he has them on his desk at work. The guy doesn't shoot a bow.

BJ: I forgot about that snake skin arrow.

Got a dandy from sticks-n- stones to

Bjrogg

Other end

GREAT LOOKING ARROWS! Hope there are MORE???

Barrel tapered black walnut, deer antler nock

I like those arrows Brian. It looks like a good hunting arrow. Jon those arrows are a work of art. To expensive for a hunting arrow though. ;)

“ To expensive for a hunting arrow though. “

I dunno.... $225 for all three sounds like pocket change for a lot of the BowSite fancy gear fan-boys...

Knapped Opal..... Wowzers! That’ll take some nerve, won’t it?

BJ & Jon those are some beautiful arrows. Thanks for sharing.

Always like threads,,very nice guys,,Thanks,,,,,,,,

Just finished another barrel tapered black walnut tonight, stone tip , deer antler nock

That fire opal grabbed me like a pair of barbed wire panies!

Yeah, me too. That thing's a beaut.

Never heard of walnut being used for shafting.

I used to make some really good walnut arrows. Only problem I had was a lot of the walnut was too weak but the ones of correct spine seemed to make better arrows than any of the other hardwoods I tried. Nice arrows Curt.

Spin test, pass

Beautiful work all around. The Spin test..I dunno if I would ever get the thing mounted and "passed" without breaking something.

Nice looking work all you knappers and arrowsmiths. I am interested in the same question and right now from this thread the answer is:

- Ryan Gill sells stone points for hunting on Gills Primitive Archery - Mike Cook sells his work at the website the Art of Ishi - 3Rivers sells stone points for hunting.

I have also seen points for sale made by a fella over on website called Primitive Pathways.

Not sure if anyone is making bone points.

Is that a pretty good summary - missing anyone? I am building out a set of arrows to hunt with in 2021 and purchased several 125 grain points from 3Rivers - I am still looking for others. JW

Its funny to sit down with raw material and "whip out" a couple arrows and think that wasnt so bad, I should do this all the time, than realize 4 hours has gone by and you only made 2.... dont get me wrong I love my primitive arrows. But just have to be in the groove to make em.... thanx for postin a pic for me Bj

Top arrow is bone nocked. The bottom arrow feathers from a Turkey I shot. Bamboo from Lowes, Tomatoe stake, and self nocked.

Don Gilson made these points. Very sharp. Each one is 141grains. Douglas fir shaft. I put it all together and adjusted till they spun true. Pearl Drums selfbow. JF

Nice looking set up Jeff. Good luck with it.

Don Gilson makes probably one of the better hunting heads. I know that a hunter used one to kill a buffalo. Not sure if Don is still selling heads or not. He lives just down the road a few miles from me and I tried to get a hold of him to ask for the OP but no answer. I will keep trying in case the OP is interested in talking to Don about hunting heads.

I remember Ryan Gill saying something about Stone heads not having to be to big for taking deer. Like 85 to 100 grain. He thinks they Actually work betterHe has killed a few deer with primitive gear

Made these for a friend that past Fall. Hope he got a deer with them

Another pic

OMG.

The devotion your crowd puts into making these arrows is wholly inspiring. if you lose or break one, do you hold a wake? With mourners and good Scotch?

beautiful work Brad. Points are outstanding.

That’s a great looking set Brad! Here’s my lucky point, only have taken small game and this is one of my surviving grouse arrows along with my latest selfbow.

I use artificial sinew to wrap my feathers and peel them off the quill.

Looks great tracker

Bjrogg

good looking set Tracker

how do you guys test these arrows without damaging the points? I would be terrified of putting a dent on them beauties .

I have only shot at and killed one deer with a stone point and I practiced on him. My arrows are straight, spined right and the point spins good so what can go wrong, lol.

Oh and I killed a dog fish with another stone point arrow and a self bow. Almost forgot about that ugly thing.

I use a dense styrofoam block. Glue them all together with hot glue no problem Don't shoot it into rubber targets may not get back out. JF

I bareshaft a target point arrow first and come up with the right combination of length, spine and point weight to get good arrow flight. Then either I make another shaft the same combination or remove the target point and halved my stone point the same weight.

I do shoot them into my black hole target, but not a lot. Basically the same way I do my steel points.

Bjrogg

The big obsidian heads aren’t the best choice for deer hunting. I like the small chert heads, they hold up. I wish they were heavier

Primitive fishing arrow hickory barbs , black walnut shaft

These are mounted on some vintage Acme tapered premiums from the 60s. I soak them in Watco Danish Oil for several weeks, wipe them off and hang them for 6 to 8 weeks. They pick up about 50 grains. Finished weight around 650 grains

Beautiful work . Forrest

Yeah I’ve taped the 2” foam together into a block like 8-10” thick, I’ve sifted sand and had a pile I shot at, My 3D target holds a few of my heads :( I like my points 1” wide just because I don’t want a warden dinging me if I’m too close to 7/8”. And I always pop a few flakes off before a hunt to sharpen up. Watching Ryan Gill and others use primitive set ups with like 60 grain points really messes with me. I read everything Ashby and shoot 250 grains up front with my regular arrows so 100 grains seems uber light.

Brad those points are great! Do you knap from slabs? They look identical.

Thanks everyone for the input on primitive arrows. Some really unique looking arrows here.

One of six I made a long time ago for a friend.

Practice into a sand hill with paper plates and stone points. John

MAGNIFICENT WORK PEOPLE! IS GOOT to see the OLD WAYS being kept ALIVE! (Might need them!) BLESSED BE!

waylon from swiftwood bows makes and sells selfbows and cane arrows, he won selfbow of the month in the latest issue of primative archer.,.

So the folks mentioned above plus

Echo archery Raptor archery last time I was there had them Ryan Gill Scott Stanberry who used to go by sticksandstones makes some real killers but I dunno if he still knaps. Billy Berger from primitive pathways Etsy is another place to sort through. I know the list should be bigger than this, just can’t remember everyone Go to flintknappers.com. Choose a knapper and look at what they have posted. Tons of great knappers out there, and you could buy the heads then make your own arrows or have another person make your arrows with the stone point.

Be weary though, some do wayyy better than others but charge same price. So when I was selling arrowheads I did $15-20 but Scott who did light years better than me was still only $25 a head.

Does anyone know who the knapper for 3rivers is? I think most other places list who their knapper is.

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