Introduction
Fletching is a members only skill that allows you to make Ranged weapons, including bows, arrows, crossbows and throwing weapons.
The most important item here is a knife. You can get this at the respawn just south of Lumbridge Castle, and there's also a respawn in Seers' Village, in a house just east from the bank. Also, there is a knife respawn in Rellekka by the rock crabs just above the mining pit.
Guide links:
Arrows
To make arrows, follow these steps:
1. Use a knife on normal logs to get 15 arrow shafts
2. Use feathers on the arrow shafts to get headless arrows
3. Add arrow heads of your choice to the headless arrows (bronze-rune)
When making arrows, you will always make 15 shafts with one log, you can't use more than 15 feathers on 15 headless arrows at the same time, you make 15 arrows heads when you smith arrows, and you can only add 15 arrow heads to 15 headless arrows at the same time.
Note that the earned XP is from cutting, adding feather and adding the arrow heads.
Picture |
Name |
Needed level |
Earned XP |
 |
15 Arrow Shafts |
1 |
15 |
 |
15 Headless Arrows |
1 |
15 |
 |
15 Bronze Arrows |
1 |
39.5 |
 |
15 Iron Arrows |
15 |
57.5 |
 |
15 Steel Arrows |
30 |
95 |
 |
15 Mithril Arrows |
45 |
132.5 |
 |
15 Adamant Arrows |
60 |
165 |
 |
15 Rune Arrows |
75 |
225 |
Bows
To make bows, you need:
1. A log of your choice. You need normal logs for normal bows, oak logs for oak bows etc.
2. A knife to cut the logs.
3. A bowstring, obtained by spinning flax.
Flax can be found south of Seers' Village. To spin flax, you need crafting level 10.
After you've cut the logs into an unstrung bow, just use the bowstring on it, and it's ready to use.
NOTE: You will get 50% of the XP by cutting the logs, and another 50% by attaching a bowstring.
Darts
Before making darts, you must have completed The Tourist Trap. Darts are throwing weapons, so you can wield them in the weapon spot.
To make a dart, you need smith some Dart tips, and then simply add feathers to it.
Bolts
As you may know, normal bolts are NOT possible to make. But there are special types of bolts, which has a different bolt tip: Opal Tipped Bolts, Pearl Tipped Bolts and Barbed Tipped Bolts. To make them, you have to get some normal bolts, and then use the bolt tips on them.
There are three ways to get normal bolts:
– Buy it from Lowe's Archer Emporium in Varrock, or from a player.
– It's a fairly common drop from many monsters, so kill them and pick up the bolts.
– There are respawns some places in the Wilderness, where you can pick it up.
Here is a guide on how to make the different Bolt Tips:
Opal Tipped Bolts:
- Go to Shilo Village and mine some of the Gem Rocks (Read more in our Mining guide). You will need to have finished the Shilo Village Quest though.
- Use a Chisel on the Opal(s) to cut them, and then do it again to get the Opal Tips. You will get 2 tips per gem. (Read more in our Crafting Guide)
- Use the Opal Tips on normal Bolts, one tip per bolt, and you will get Opal Tipped Bolts.
Pearl Tipped Bolts:
- Try to fish some Oysters with a Big Net. Oysters are not too common, nor too rare, but you won't always get a pearl in them. Read more in our Fishing Guide.
- When you get an Oyster Pearl, use a chisel on the Pearl twice to cut it. You will get 2 tips per Pearl.
- Use the Pearl Tips on normal Bolts, one tip per bolt, and you will get Pearl Tipped Bolts.
Barbed Tipped Bolts:
- Go to the Ranger Guild (You need level 40 in Ranged to enter), shoot at the targets untill you have 140 tickets.
- Buy 30 Barb Tips for the tickets.
- Use the Barb Tips on normal Bolts, one tip per bolt, and you will get Barbed Tipped Bolts.
Ogre Bows and Arrows
Ogre Arrows
To make Ogre Arrows, you will need to have completed the Big Chompy Bird Hunting quest. Cut some logs from the Achey trees in Feldip Hills, then use a knife with them to make Ogre arrow shafts. You can get 2-6 shaft at once, that's random. Then, add feather to the Ogre Arrow Shafts to make Flighted Ogre Arrows, you will need at least 4 feathers per arrow! Get some Wolf Bones and use a Chisel on it to get Wolfbone Arrowtips, you can get 2-6 tips. Add the Arrowtips to the Flighted Ogre Arrows to complete your Ogre Arrow.
Ogre Composite Bow and Brutal Arrows
After completed the Zogre Flesh Eaters quest, you can make Ogre Composite Bows and Brutal Arrows.
To make the Ogre Composite Bow, you need to cut some logs from the Achey Trees in Feldip Hills, then cut the logs with a knife while you have Wolf Bones in your backpack.
To make Brutal Arrows, smith some Nails of your choice (also see our Smithing guide), and use them on the Headless Ogre Arrows, while you have a Hammer in your backpack. Composite Ogre Bows can also be purchased from Uglag Nor after you've done the quest.
NOTE: When making Brutal Arrows, you will get 1.5 XP per shaft you make, and you will earn the rest of the XP when you attach the heads to the headless arrows.
Picture |
Name |
Needed level |
Earned XP |
 |
Ogre Bow |
1 (Quest) |
N/A (Quest) |
 |
Ogre Arrow Shafts |
5 |
2 per shaft |
 |
Headless Ogre Arrows |
5 |
5 per shaft |
 |
Ogre Arrows |
5 |
Varies |
 |
Bronze Brutal Arrows |
7 |
1.33333 |
 |
Iron Brutal Arrows |
18 |
2.66667 |
 |
Ogre Composite Bow |
30 |
90 |
 |
Steel Brutal Arrows |
33 |
5.166667 |
 |
Black Brutal Arrows |
38 |
6.33333 |
 |
Mithril Brutal Arrows |
49 |
7.5 |
 |
Adamant Brutal Arrows |
62 |
10.16667 |
 |
Rune Brutal Arrows |
77 |
12.5 |
Using alchemy on bows
Instead of dropping your bows, you can use Low and High Level Alchemy on them to gain magic experience. Just withdraw all bows as notes, wear a Fire Staff and have the same amount Nature Runes as you have bows, and start using High or Low Level Alchemy on them. Nature Runes can be quite expensive, so you won't earn money if you use High Alchemy on low leveled bows, but you will earn alot of experience. Remember that you will get more money if it's strung, and High Alchemy will give a better reward and more XP than Low Alchemy.
Strung bows
Picture |
Name |
Low Alchemy |
High Alchemy |
 |
Shortbow |
20 |
30 |
 |
Longbow |
32 |
48 |
 |
Oak Shortbow |
40 |
60 |
 |
Oak Longbow |
64 |
96 |
 |
Willow Shortbow |
80 |
120 |
 |
Willow Longbow |
128 |
192 |
 |
Maple Shortbow |
160 |
240 |
 |
Maple Longbow |
256 |
384 |
 |
Yew Shortbow |
320 |
480 |
 |
Yew Longbow |
512 |
768 |
 |
Magic Shortbow |
640 |
960 |
 |
Magic Longbow |
1024 |
1536 |
Unstrung bows
Picture |
Name |
Low Alchemy |
High Alchemy |
.gif) |
Shortbow (u) |
9 |
15 |
.gif) |
Longbow (u) |
24 |
36 |
.gif) |
Oak Shortbow (u) |
20 |
30 |
.gif) |
Oak Longbow (u) |
32 |
48 |
.gif) |
Willow Shortbow (u) |
40 |
60 |
.gif) |
Willow Longbow (u) |
64 |
96 |
.gif) |
Maple Shortbow (u) |
80 |
129 |
.gif) |
Maple Longbow (u) |
128 |
192 |
.gif) |
Yew Shortbow (u) |
160 |
240 |
 |
Yew Longbow (u) |
256 |
384 |
.gif) |
Magic Shortbow (u) |
320 |
480 |
.gif) |
Magic Longbow (u) |
512 |
768 |