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Bone Arrowheads vs Antler Arrowheads

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Wildwood Survival has a topic on Bone vs Antler Arrowheads. Many people do not know that bone and antlers can be used to make arrowheads, spear points, and other survival gear of excellent quality.

In many areas flint or other hard, sharp rocks are not available. But bone and antlers can also be used to manufacture sharp tools and weapons. I prefer bone arrowheads as bone is usually more plentiful (you can often stumble upon bones or dead animals in the forest) and often splinters well into sharp points. Bone tends to be more easily worked by those who are less skilled, which certainly suits me well!

Because bone and antler tools tend to recycle back into nature much more quickly than their stone-made counterparts, we generally think of primitive tools and weapons always being made of stone. When we find ancient man-made artifacts, they are nearly always composed of stone. But this should not be taken as proof that primitive cultures exclusively worked with stone.

Usually when I find antlers and bones in the wild they have been chewed by predators and rodents. In little time the bones are entirely eaten. This is why the vast majority of Indian arrowheads we find in our fields and forests are made of stone and not bone when if fact they were likely made of both materials.

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Howie
AZ
Some of the local indians here have shown me how to make bone arrowheads. It is not that difficult and they are some of the best arrowheads you can make imho.
John T
The only thing with bone arrowheads is they may not last as long.
shaun
penna

Bone is easier to work and points better than antler and even stone and it does not flake off as it hits the animal.  But as you make  kills the white of the bone will turn red or even black. The tip can be shaped by animal tooth - run it over the edge and it kept it sharpness.  Bone is easier to find than flint, especially in the winter up here you can't get stones.

Chappy
NE Texas

I made a bone knife from a leg bone with three inches split off the top half that was easy to sharpen on a flat stone and, with a lace of leather wound around the tang end, had a nice grasping surface. The blade was about 2 1/2 inches long. I have had it for 29 years.

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