Arrowsmithing

The craft of arrowsmithing began long before metal, being worked with flint, obsidian, and bone. The most famous early example comes from Ötzi the Iceman (around 3,300 BC), whose quiver contained sophisticated arrows with flint heads glued with birch tar and lashed with animal sinew. At this time, the maker had to be a master of various materials, including stone and wood, and also chemistry.

As the Bronze and Iron Ages took hold, the craft shifted to the forge. By the medieval period and as warfare advanced in Europe, demand for arrows reached industrial scales. By the 14th century, the craft split into two professions: the Fletcher, who prepared the wooden shafts and fletching (feathers), and the Arrowsmith, who specialised in the forging of metal heads. In 1371, London fletchers petitioned the Lord Mayor to formally separate their trade from the Bowyers (bow makers) to ensure quality control.

Arrowsmithing became key as armour technology improved, leading to the development of heads for specific tactical needs, such as:

• Bodkins – short, heavy, square-sectioned spikes designed to punch through chainmail.
• Broadheads – large, barbed blades used for hunting or against unarmored horses.
• Barreled shafts – a pinnacle of pre-industrial design where the shaft was made thicker in the middle to improve aerodynamics and withstand the bow’s release.

The craft began to slowly decline through the 16th century with the rise of gunpowder. By the time of the sinking of the Tudor warship, Mary Rose, in 1545, which yielded thousands of preserved arrows, the longbow was reaching the end of its military dominance. The craft was kept alive through archery and royal statutes. In 1545, Roger Ascham also published Toxophilus, the first major English book on archery, which documented the technical standards for arrow woods and fletching that are still followed by traditional practitioners today.

The craft was revived in the twentieth century with the formation of re-enactment groups, and today these groups provide the market for the craft worldwide.

Specialist metalwork techniques and tools are required for the forging of arrowheads:

• Socket forging – unlike modern screw-on points, historical heads were ‘socketed’, requiring the smith to hammer a flat piece of iron into a thin, fan-shaped ‘skelp’, then wrap it around a tapered mandrel to create a hollow cone. This allowed the wooden shaft to be wedged tightly inside.

• Case hardening – for bodkin points (designed to pierce plate armour), smiths used a technique called case hardening; the iron head was packed in high-carbon material (such as charcoal or bone dust) and heated for hours, creating a high-carbon steel ‘skin’ that was hard enough to prevent the tip from curling upon impact with steel.

• ‘Shoulder’ alignment – a critical technique was ensuring that the transition from the socket to the blade was exactly symmetrical, as any imbalance would cause the arrow to veer off course during flight.

Fletching techniques would then be used to create the wooden shaft.

There are many variations in arrowheads, but they fall into two main groups: hunting and war.

• Market issues: This is a very niche market and there is not enough demand to make a living from it.
• Skills: The forging of simple bodkin arrowheads is within the capabilities of any good blacksmith but the forging of accurate arrowheads that are more complex requires specific skills over and above that of general blacksmithing
• Overseas competition: there has been an increase in hobby arrowsmiths working overseas making arrowheads based on a few photos as compared to actual examples, and selling them for much less,  flooding the market with inaccurate products.

• Craft Guild of Traditional Bowyers & Fletchers
• Worshipful Company of Fletchers
• Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths

• • Hector Cole MBE
  • John Beavis
  • Will Sherman
  • Adam Jenkins, Now Strike Archery

William Holland (Carmarthenshire) was funded through the Endangered Crafts Fund in 2023 to develop his arrowsmithing skills and master the reproduction of historically forged arrow heads, and to teach the craft to others.

• Hector Cole MBE
• The Society of Archer-Antiquaries
• The Worshipful Company of Fletchers 
• https://aprilmunday.wordpress.com/2020/03/15/medieval-bowyers-fletchers-stringers-and-arrowsmiths/#:~:text=In%201359%20850%2C000%20arrows%20were,the%20Baltic%20and%20the%20Adriatic.
• https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/History-of-Arrowheads/#:~:text=Archery%20thus%20became%20a%20significant,so%20the%20race%20went%20on.

Our thanks go to our 2025 reviewers:

• Hector Cole MBE FWCB, Master Arrowsmith and Archaeological Ironworker

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