• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

Calling all fussy broadhead sharpeners

KYhunter66 said:
This is a great video I use this on my single bevel blades
Click to expand...
Good video, but he isn't addressing how effective the edge is during a forward, cutting motion. He is measuring the cut on a 90 degree, static cut...no foward motion involved That was the reason for my thread.
I'm sharpening 200 gr Grizzlytik Samurai heads, FWIW.
Straight age into the edge is a sharper penetration edge than one sharpened at a 90 degree or 45 degree trailing angle.
 
Still Kicking said:
I believe when you get down to the polishing level of sharpening it makes little difference on direction. Don't get me wrong, I see what you are stating and I want the sharpest edge I can obtain but anything past shaving is just bonus or "splitting hairs".
Click to expand...
Agree.
But there are all levels of knowledge and experience on these public forums. Some guys know and and some guys are just learning and some are somewhere in between.
I hunted with a file sharpened head for many years. Yeah, it was relatively sharp... in one direction of cut and maybe less sharp for that head in the opposite direction of cut. Which is the point of the thread...angle of sharpening (not the bevel angle) makes a difference in the head's ability to cut during penetration. Honing and machining scratches channel flesh and vitals.

And I'd venture to say that even a stropped edge still has the same principles.
The point of my thread is to help guys realize yet another little detail of things we should pay attention.
Might not mean the difference in a hero photo or not, but then again...
I have a few thousands posts and so many of them address dealing with little details (check out the thread about pull up ropes). Little, tiny, seemingly insignificant details, but they just might make a difference over the course of our bowhunting "careers". The accumulation of tiny details lead to big dividends.
 
Last edited:
This thread title is blatantly misleading.

I’m expecting some new method, not necessarily one I’m wanting to try, however possibly entertaining at the very least, but nope.
 
Tr33_n1nj@ said:
This thread title is blatantly misleading.

I’m expecting some new method, not necessarily one I’m wanting to try, however possibly entertaining at the very least, but nope.
Click to expand...
Ha, a "new method" is definitely not the point of the thread...no how, no way.
This is about a basic concept that a lot of hunters don't realize, not about some new and great way to get er done.
How many guys don't really know what a sharp broadhead is?
We find wounded game via blood trails and there is a proven increase in bleeding (and less clotting) relative to the sharpness of the broadhead. "Sharp" is relative and subjective. The the point of this thread is only about one aspect of one detail of improving the technique of sharpening a broadhead.
It's amazing how so many little unimportant details (unimportant in the minds of some hunters) can be vital towards a successful hunt.

Little details...
How many don't really understand wind?
Or deer's body language?
Odor reduction?
And 99 other details?
Every successful hunt comes down to either pure luck, or attention to little details, or a combination of each. Some things we can control and some we cannot. Control what we can.
I hunt with Grizzlystik Samurai heads and they advertise them as sharp of the package. Yeah, they ain't too bad as a starting point, and a lot of hunters will accept that factory edge, I used to think they were sharp out of the box. But they aren't as good as they can be. I can make mine better with one level of honing, but even at that, they aren't as sharp as ones honed while paying attention to a few details that don't take any extra effort to do correctly. It just takes awareness of the proper procedure. A tiny nick, in an artery can make the difference in us finding the critter, or losing it to the coyotes.
Sharp heads...as sharp as you can make them.
 
Allegheny Tom said:
Ha, a "new method" is definitely not the point of the thread...no how, no way.
This is about a basic concept that a lot of hunters don't realize, not about some new and great way to get er done.
How many guys don't really know what a sharp broadhead is?
We find wounded game via blood trails and there is a proven increase in bleeding (and less clotting) relative to the sharpness of the broadhead. "Sharp" is relative and subjective. The the point of this thread is only about one aspect of one detail of improving the technique of sharpening a broadhead.
It's amazing how so many little unimportant details (unimportant in the minds of some hunters) can be vital towards a successful hunt.

Little details...
How many don't really understand wind?
Or deer's body language?
Odor reduction?
And 99 other details?
Every successful hunt comes down to either pure luck, or attention to little details, or a combination of each. Some things we can control and some we cannot. Control what we can.
I hunt with Grizzlystik Samurai heads and they advertise them as sharp of the package. Yeah, they ain't too bad as a starting point, and a lot of hunters will accept that factory edge, I used to think they were sharp out of the box. But they aren't as good as they can be. I can make mine better with one level of honing, but even at that, they aren't as sharp as ones honed while paying attention to a few details that don't take any extra effort to do correctly. It just takes awareness of the proper procedure. A tiny nick, in an artery can make the difference in us fining the critter, or losing it to the coyotes.
Sharp heads...as sharp as you can make them.
Click to expand...
Oh I’m totally into sharp broadheads and am now interested in the topic of the angle of the grooves…but I was just trying to make a butt joke…
 
Tr33_n1nj@ said:
Oh I’m totally into sharp broadheads and am now interested in the topic of the angle of the grooves…but I was just trying to make a butt joke…
Click to expand...
Ha, I missed your point. Sorry.
I'll say this...
There are some things that I think, and there are some things that I know. I absolutely know without a doubt that the angle of sharpening has an effect on how sharp a broadhead is during forward motion of penetration.
 
It seems it would be difficult to quantify what you’re saying and the difference it actually makes. I’ll concede it does sound in the weeds and not something I fool with or will fool with.

I miss the days when allegheny tom used so many of his replies hyping up the Treehopper recon saddle that the mods thought he was a vendor or donating milkweed across the continental US for a good cause :tearsofjoy: Good times.
 
gcr0003 said:
It seems it would be difficult to quantify what you’re saying and the difference it actually makes. I’ll concede it does sound in the weeds and not something I fool with or will fool with.

I miss the days when allegheny tom used so many of his replies hyping up the Treehopper recon saddle that the mods thought he was a vendor or donating milkweed across the continental US for a good cause :tearsofjoy: Good times.
Click to expand...
Sorry to disappoint you.
What can I say? I'm a stickler for details. I think that's why Mark and I collaborated so well when he was reintroducing hand drills and slings like the Treehopper drill and the Recon. Speaking of that, I don't see much discussion on the Recon these days. I'm still a loyal user. I'm not "up" on all the newest saddle designs so I don't know if there is anything out there that I'd like better.

If you miss the "old Tom", you may not be remembering accurately about my quirks. So many of my posts over the years were all about paying attention to the little details. Ask my wife about going canoe camping with me. The seemingly insignificant details which initially seem like a PIA, actually have good reasons for doing them.
Odor reduction, wind behavior, stand access, gear mods and how I use stuff, heck even the pods that I rig and send out have little details that 99% of guys won't notice or would take the time to do. I suck at a lot of things so when there are details within my control, then I darn sure am going to address them.
When addressing a detail takes little, or no extra effort (like the direction a broadhead is sharpened) then why not do it?
The very goal of sharpening an edge is to get it down to a molecular thickness. That's the level in which it cuts best. We can't see it with the naked eye but maybe that's the point...it's so tiny and fine but it's also inherent in the quality of a sharp edge.

Before the invention of lasers for surgery, eye surgeons used obsidian instead of steel scalpels. Why? because steel could not be sharpened to the molecular level that obsidian is. The point is... the best, most effective cutting edge is something the human eye can't (or shouldn't) see. It should have zero flaws, but most broad heads have tiny tool marks from sharpening whether it be from file, stone, or even stropped. It takes me no extra effort to employ directional sharpening, so that's the way I sharpen. When I do the old rubber band test my heads cut the band better going forward than they do pulling in reverse. After I sharpen the kitchen knives I can definitely feel the difference in directional cutting. They just cut better in one direction versus the other.
 
I get it. In my younger years we chased blue marlin all over the Atlantic. Everything had to be perfect. Hooks had to be honed to a pyramid point and always sharpened away from the point. I've struggled with the method of a strop though... why do you finish with running a blade backwards? I was taught and learned from trail and error mostly, to remove material away from the edge.
 
Lucky13 said:
I get it. In my younger years we chased blue marlin all over the Atlantic. Everything had to be perfect. Hooks had to be honed to a pyramid point and always sharpened away from the point. I've struggled with the method of a strop though... why do you finish with running a blade backwards? I was taught and learned from trail and error mostly, to remove material away from the edge.
Click to expand...
I think you may have misunderstood me about how I finish. That referred to doing the rubber band test for sharpness. Stretch a band with your fingers and then drag a broadhead over it. A sharp broadhead will cut the band and a dull one won't cut it. My point was that my heads cut the band better when pushed in a forward direction than when drawn back in a reverse direction. Admittedly, the difference is almost negligible but there is a difference. Directional sharpening takes no extra effort and if, someday, somehow that fraction of a difference helps to better cut an artery on a marginal hit, it just might help me recover an animal.
And you are right, sharpen from the edge and into the bevel in order to remove the burr which you should have created earlier in the process.
The only time that you should draw the blade across the surface towards the edge is stropping. Stropping into the edge will ruin the edge you've created.
 
This thread has been whittling away at me (pun intended). I first read it to just read it, and found myself generally agreeing with @Allegheny Tom before really testing his hypothesis. It made sense based on the way I sharpen my 3-blade broadheads: I sharpen from tip to tail, as that’s the way they’ll be entering the animals they hit, and strop from tail to tip (I actually have been doing a “strop” on the fine stone, sometimes skipping the leather strop, and found it to be effective at removing the burr while keeping your scratch pattern parallel to the sharpening direction, and no rounding of the edges). I never thought I’d be quoting RF, but they are “greasy sharp” right now. If a piece of paper even looks at them wrong they leave a nice smooth slit.
On to my point…
So last night I tried what the majority of sharpening videos describe on my field dressing knife. I got the 21 degree guide out and started pushing towards the edge whilst following the curve, “slicing” thin layers off the stone on each bevel.
241F70F4-B344-4023-819F-A54335E7E004.jpegF198A9BF-0D84-40AB-956C-56E7E5365FFE.jpegGot a minor burr, knocked it off and with a little gust of effort it passed the paper test. Probably sharp enough to repackage and sell new but not as impressively sharp as my broadheads, and I need my field dressing knives to be seriously sharp. Used to work in many kitchens and nothing is more frustrating (or dangerous) than dull cutting tools. Anyway, I put it in the sheath and went to bed. Went hunting this morning and didn’t see anything so I came back to the sharpener. I couldn’t be satisfied with any effort being made to cut through paper, then I remembered this thread and tried what I believe to be Tom’s suggestion. I rested the blade on the 21 degree guide again, but this time I kept contact and pulled the edge from tail to tip (the direction I usually cut) maybe a dozen times on each side, and got a respectable burr almost immediately.E3CD6244-868C-449C-80B4-9FD7D5042534.jpegCFD947C7-1DA2-438D-A3D5-147724D7DC15.jpeg
Then I pushed lightly tip-to-tail just a few times and knocked off the burr. I went to the sheet of paper and barely touched it. The knife cut all the way up to the blade spine under a light grip and its own weight, no fraying of the paper fibers, GREASY sharp. A few passes on the strop for good measure and YIKES is all I can say to describe it now.
 
My approach to sharpening has mainly developed from a (amateur) woodworking/hand tool background. In my opinion it's all about the leading edge and not necessarily the rest of the bevel. This post explains it much better than I can how I attempt to sharpen (again, on a plane blade, not a broadheads but in my opinion it transfers, when you consider the cutting edge they are all metal triangles designed to slice as cleanly as possible) https://kmtools.com/blogs/news/plane-blade-sharpening-tips.

Full disclosure: I'm still using the easy button on my compound at the moment, QAD exodus broadheads and replacing the blades when they get knocked instead of trying to resharpen, but dabbling with single bevel/sharpening BH well and will likely go this way once I get some more recurve confidence/practice in.
 
I use a bastard file to sharpen my machete and it only takes a few pulls parallel down the edge to get a burr. You do NOT want to get any part of your body in the way of my machete.

I shoot 200gr Samurai as well and use the sharpening kit Grizzlystik sells. I use perpendicular stokes with low grit to set the angle then a sweeping base to tip motion to get the edge desired. When it comes time to strop there’s no choice but to go in the opposite direction because the blade will shave the leather otherwise.

Not sure what any of that has to do with butt stuff though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top