A broadhead is a projectile point designed for use as the tip of an arrow or bolt, or as a projectile for other kinds of archery. 

Modern metal ones are typically triangular in cross-section with three cutting edges—

making them distinct from a field point which does not have cutting edges. 

The term comes from Old English brōd (“broad”) and hǣd (“head”), cognate to Old Norse broadi (“broad”).

Most modern heads are made of steel but other metals such as titanium and wood have been used.

 Less common are heads made of rubber. These use more of a barbed design and can cause damage to a target animal as they exit the body.

Broadheads 

can be classified into two different kinds: cutting heads and non-cutting heads. 

Cutting heads normally use a sharp point, while non-cutting heads usually have some blunt substance such as rubber to hold the shaft of the arrow in place. 

The cutting edges of broadheads are those that cut through an animal’s skin or tissue, which is not normally found in arrowpoints.

A wooden broadhead is known by several names including “arrowhead”, “arrow stake”, and simply “arrowhead”. 

There are many types with many variations. Most historical wooden broadheads were made from oak, but maple and ash wood are also commonly used.

The process of making wooden broadheads is categorized into two steps: ripsawing and drying. 

Historical texts 

on olympic archery state that the best practice by medieval bowyers was to leave the wooden stock in water over winter to keep it moist, 

allowing a good cut with a high yield of arrow shafts. In the springtime, wetted stock would be left to slowly dry in the sun. 

A freshly cut and split stave can be made into an arrow in one afternoon with proper tools; 

arrows were being produced as fast as four per hour when this process was perfected.

Cutting heads

 can be classified by their degree of sharpness, shape, and weight. 

Broadheads are designed for cutting through the thickest part of an animal’s body to maximise the damage inflicted upon it. 

Broadheads made from harder materials such as metal may penetrate a target animal’s body more deeply than those made from softer materials such as wood,

 which act more like probes that get stuck in the target and remain there until pulled out by other means. 

A broadhead may also be designed so that it does not cut all the way through an animal’s skin but instead makes a hole in it, 

allowing fluids to escape without inflicting serious damage if a broadhead is pulled out after hitting an animal.

The most common shape of broadheads is triangular, but they can also be square, circle, or diamond shaped. 

By far the most common point style is the two-bladed “slick”, 

which has two blades formed from the same piece of metal by stamping or forging and which are sharpened on both sides. 

Other styles include fixed blade for another option for a single blade with a notch in it and mechanical heads that open and close like scissors on the impact. 

Some broadheads have straight blades while others curve slightly to aid in cutting through tissue.

Metal broadheads 

are usually made from iron, steel, aluminium, or titanium. 

Other exotic materials such as steel coated with ceramic or plastic have been used for specialty broadheads made for hunting small game.

For use as a projectile in other kinds of archery, broadheads tend to be made from soft materials.

 These are designated as non-cutting heads. 

Non-cutting heads

 almost always contain some kind of blunt material to keep the target animal from

 being damaged during the arrow shaft’s passage through its body, although rubber and plastic are common exceptions.

 The most common non-cutting head is the plastic field point which resembles a wooden arrowhead. where should broadheads be kept while traveling to and from the field?

The first arrowheads were made from stone. 

The oldest known arrows were found in the Combe-Grenal cave in the Loire Valley, France and date to between 40,000 and 30,000 BCE.

 It has also been suggested that early arrows may have been tipped with flint or other rock fragments held in place with fletching. 

However, only limited testing was done to verify this idea as no organic matter remains intact after tens of thousands of years. 

The earliest evidence of actual shafts dates back to at least 10,000 BCE and are usually associated with East Asia (Japan). 

They have also found in many sites around the globe including Europe, Africa, North America and South America. 

The following are some examples:

In history, the use of broadheads have varied from culture to culture. Broadheads were used by early cultures for hunting as well as in battle. 

The Roman and Greek armies often used a variant of a spear which had an arrow tip on one end and a blade on the other.