Making an Arrowhead
This is how the arrowheads are formed. to melt pewter, you need a melting pot that can reach temperatures of around 600 degrees Fahrenheit. Ensure you wear eye protection, break down larger pieces to fit into the pot, and gradually feed the processed pewter into the melting pot until it’s fully melted. Reverse molds were made using Smooth-On’s Mold Max 60- high heat resistant silicone rubber compound. These molds have been used for over 6 years and show no signs of wearing out, so its the perfect product for this application.
Once cooled, Arrowheads are then dremeled to remove flashing and indent for neck string, drilled for bolt hole, the bolt hole is then counter sunk for bolt head, then hole is threaded. A light machine sanding at this stage is done to remove mold process film, then I will give each arrowhead a filing by hand, progressively hand sanding (3x) from 80 grit wet/dry sand paper through 360 grit, then 1200 or higher grit, depending on how coarse surface is, or if any imperfections are still present. I keep going until I get the brilliant finish on the front face you see in the pictures.
Once final sanding is completed, leather backing (to protect bike fender finish) is added as well as a decorative leather neck string. From this point, arrowheads are then matched to orders, whether gun-blued, painted or polished, clear coated with several coats of clear sealer and topped off with choice of modified concho/pin. That modification includes removing all flashing from underside of pin, any connectors/bolt holes, etc., then a neodymium magnet is attached to underside of concho or pin with JB Weld.
Completed orders are then placed in decorative box for mailing. Approx. 3 day process from start to finish, depending on how much time I have to devote to each step of each arrowhead.
