Bolt tips are used to make enchanted gem-tipped bolts; in this case, rubies are used for enchanted ruby-tipped adamant bolts, which are used to score big hits on high level monsters. Cutting bolt tips is painfully slow, taking about a minute and a half for a full inventory, and gives only a tiny amount of Fletching XP. For these reasons, players hate doing it and will pay a premium to get pre-cut gem tips for making their bolts. And while this is a slow and boring task, that makes it nearly perfectly suited for making money while multitasking.
Note that the spread in price between a cut gem and 12 gem tips is not huge, and sometimes market conditions may mean that you cannot easily sell tips for the median Grand Exchange price. You can cut over 12,000 bolt tips per hour, and it would stink to get stuck with so many that you have to sell for little profit. For this reason, I advise that at first, you actually do the work at the Grand Exchange itself, so you can sell the tips you make regularly, rather than trying to dump tens of thousands of them all at once. This will ensure you are able to spot any market shifts and avoid getting left with a big inventory of tips you'll have trouble selling. Once you are comfortable with the process, switch to a one-click bank like Castle Wars, so you can also use a magpie familiar to earn extra money. Also remember that you can do the same process with emeralds and diamonds, so check to see if those have a better profit margin on any particular day.
Note that there is no level advantage to this task, so it is the same at high and very high levels. |
All information based on Grand Exchange price data from: May 19, 2012. Note that the three-day delay in price updates is waived for RuneScoop members. 