How to Make Arrow and Spearheads Out of Slate

Spearheads make for cool weapons and can be used as décor in a Native American-themed room. One of the best materials for making an arrow tip is slate, which can be found in rock or tile form. It is soft and malleable and sands easily into shape. Slate is commonly found among roof building materials and in rock quarries, and you can make your own arrow and spearheads.

Instructions

1. Buy some slate at any building materials store, or better yet, scavenge around demolition sites. Historical buildings used slate all the time for roofs. You can also find slate in granite quarries, where the slate is formed from the compression of other rocks such as shale, volcanic ash and clay. It is grayish in color and rough on the outside.

2. Draw the outline of your arrow on the piece of raw slate. Hold the slate still with one hand and hit the raw material with a rock or hammer to knock off the edges around the lines you've drawn.

3. Start farthest out from the line and work in, knocking of smaller bits of slate at a time. As you get closer to your marker, hold the piece of slate in your hand and tap off the excess.

4. Use a rock as a sanding station and rub the unfinished spearhead back and forth until you get to the desired shape. Blow off excess slate dust. To get grooves in the edges for decoration, lightly rub the edges on a sharp edge of very hard rock.

5. Paint the arrow for effect or just let it sit out in the sun for awhile. The color will lighten outside.